Chancel Repair Search

diddlydum

Any insurance is a scam if you never ever need it, but there have been cases of the Church enforcing this, and leaving a liability that can run into the millions. When you consider how much it costs to move house, £80 really isn't that much money, and it leaves you safe. Most liability won't run over about £1million, so it's pretty good.

The problem with chancel liability is that it is very random, and even in parishes with a mediaeval chuch not everyone is affected. But all properties with a mediaeval church nearby will be flagged up as at risk.

Yasmin02

Hello ALl

Thank you very much for your replies. Yes the letter from the solicitor does sound quite scary. I think the vendors will say no they are not going to pay for it. THing is i wish my solicitor had ocme and asked me first before writing to them as i have quite a good relationship with the person i am buying the flat off. I think i will just end up paying for it. Its better to be safe than sorry! Does anyone know any good companies that sell this tpe of insurane or is better to talk to my solicitor about this?

THanks once again
Yasmin

Woby_Tide

tifnstav wrote: »

I'd say if you are buying for less than £150k you can get a policy for around £40 - if you are buying for less than £250k (this is just ballpark fiugures though) you are looking at around £50.

ask your solicitor to shop around for the best deal, they should be able to access different chancel indemnity insurance quotes online, joe bloggs usually can't obtain this insurance themselves (as i am finding now that I am trying to get the chancel insurance by my little old self).

stating the obvious but you are hitting the nail on the head. Have you wondered why you can't find many alternatives? I'd say your solicitor has access to a panel of '1', and the figures you quote are also way off, they sell 3 or 4 blanket policies of varying values, not to do with property value(and if you think that is a relevant factir then again you need to read up on the liability), with a minimum cost of about £60. So either the other insurers think it's such a big risk they won't cover, or they've seen it for what it is. However if ChancelCheck is correct and everyone gets stiffed, then at £60 a policy for cover of £250k minimum I'd suggest their reserves aren't going to last long either are they?

Richard_Webster

People may think it is all a scam - but the difficulty is that there isn't anything to stop some bright solicitor writing round to the Parochial Church Councils of medieval churches suggesting that he can help them register their rights...

This probably won't happen - but we simply can't be sure. I would suspect most PCCs don't know anything about it at all, and haven't thought about it.

In the Bath & Wells Diocese I've heard of a a couple of cases where the PCC has been advised to renounce its rights because they think it is too much hassle to try to collect the money! I have a client buying a property in Somerset where we have had produced to us a copy of a deed of renunciation of rights!

As with all these insurances you can just never be sure - that's why we have them.

Another factor from a solicitor's point of view is that it is frankly too much trouble to ask mortgage lenders what they think about it - we have to assume that they do want the point covered. If we wrote asking them what they thought, our poor buyer client could well be left waiting for a month or two while the lender's internal bureaucracy got to grips with the question - so it is usually easier for most buyers to pay £50-£60 and get on with their purchase.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients