Church Commissioners...

stinkeymonkey

Hi all.
We are in the midst of trying to buy a property that has access over an unmade lane, which is owned by the Church. The problem is that the right of access is on a rolling three-month contract, which has restrictive covenants such as not being able to drive down the track between midnight and 6am, and never being able to drive a motorbike or moped down it at any time!
If we breach the terms, we can be given three months notice, then have a property that we cannot access, so we have asked the vendor to obtain a 'free and unfettered' access agreement that has a long term, eg 999 years, from the Church Commissioners.
So...please does anyone have any experience of dealing with the Church Commissioners, and have any idea of how long they take to consider such requests?
Thanks in advance

Better_Days

When we sold our last property we were top of a chain of 7. At the bottom of the chain was a property being purchased by CofE.

The sale of this bottom of the chain property was agreed in August 2012, we accepted the offer on our property in early October. Everyone in the chain had all their ducks in a row for completion in late November/early December. In the end we didn't complete until 1st Feb 2013. The delays were wholly down to the CofE. They waited until everyone was ready to exchange until they started to raise queries regarding the purchase.

Everyone in the chain was tearing their hair out, thank goodness all were very motivated and there were no FTB's in the chain. I even got the phone number for the Commissioners and rung up their office to try and find out what was going on. The staff were downright rude. The person I spoke to couldn't answer my questions, so asked her colleagues and I could hear them laughing about me in the background. Very unprofessional all round.

It transpired that one of the problems that the Commissioners have scheduled meetings at which decisions regarding property are made. These meetings were not 'movable feasts' so their solicitors would ask for a decision about x, it would have to go to the meeting, which would throw up question y which would go to the solicitors, who would then ask for a decision which would not be taken until the next meeting. Agghhh.

Certainly the Commissioners appeared not to give a toss about the inconvenience they were causing everyone by the way that they worked, and that the chain was put under incredible strain by their inefficient way of working.

Things may have improved since then, I hope they have, or at the very least your issue can be sorted with minimal level of decision making by the Commissioners.

princeofpounds

It's going to take time. I wouldn't stop viewings, personally.

stinkeymonkey

Thanks for the replies folks...rather what I feared, and I somehow doubt the Commissioners have improved!
Whilst we don't want to walk away, I think we know that this is what we must do
Hey ho, onto the EA's for me then

JimmyTheWig

stinkeymonkey wrote: »

we have asked the vendor to obtain a 'free and unfettered' access agreement that has a long term, eg 999 years, from the Church Commissioners.

Why would the Church Commissioners grant this?

jbainbridge

So you couldn't have a motorbike, stay out late or drive to an early flight. Seems very restrictive! I wouldn't bother.

AdrianC

jbainbridge wrote: »

So you couldn't have a motorbike, stay out late or drive to an early flight. Seems very restrictive! I wouldn't bother.

...and could find yourself with an inaccessible property. Frankly - I think not, unless the place is ridiculously cheap.

WestonDave

The other approach is to look for other solutions - unless the property is entirely surrounded by church land, there might be another land owner that is willing to sell you land for a private access via another route. Its possible that a cheap price on the property and that additional land could still make it worthwhile.

shopbot

You might also want to check that the property isn't affected by Chancel Liability: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26373756

SB

stinkeymonkey

Thanks for the further thoughts and suggestions.
Unfortunately, the property is surrounded by Church land and other properties, so no chance of getting a different access, but was a nice thought WestonDave!
I guess the Church Commissioners might go for 'jam today' ref a proper agreement, as at the moment, they only earn £25 a year for the access, and are supposed to maintain the lane.
The fear of finding ourselves landlocked is why we are insisting on a proper access agreement, otherwise we could have a very expensive white elephant!
I've got my head (and heart) around the idea that we must walk away, but the OH hasn't yet, so it's making it difficult to get him to look elsewhere.