Chancel repair liability

LV_426

Our solicitor tells us that the house we're buying is liable for chancel repairs, and we can take out an insurance policy to cover us for various amounts. For £100k to cover in perpetuity, it's £90.
Not a huge amount. But do people generally go for this, and have there ever been instances where the church has asked local residents to cough up for repairs?

RAS

Has the church entered a notice in the Chancel Repair Register?

amanda1024

I went for this when I bought my house - better safe than sorry, I figured. I remember seeing a few extreme cases in the news a while back

Robin9

Don't bother - their isn't a Church in the land that would try to enforce this after the fiasco of the Aston Cantlow case.

Can you even imagine a piece of land now a housing estate of 50 houses.  What would happen if one house says "take a running jump"
t

RAS

The relevant date seems to be October 2013. If a property isn't already on the Register, the church can't add it for any house purchased after that date.

BlueVeranda

We took out indemnity against it when we bought close to a church prior to 2013, having read about the headline cases where one household ended up being liable for expensive repairs.

I understand that the law has changed since then so that church councils need to register their interest on properties but I am not sure whether it's obvious unless the house has been sold since 2013. If this is the first such sale and your solicitor has concerns it may be liable then the indemnity is great value for peace of mind.

LV_426

BlueVeranda said:

We took out indemnity against it when we bought close to a church prior to 2013, having read about the headline cases where one household ended up being liable for expensive repairs.

I understand that the law has changed since then so that church councils need to register their interest on properties but I am not sure whether it's obvious unless the house has been sold since 2013. If this is the first such sale and your solicitor has concerns it may be liable then the indemnity is great value for peace of mind.

I trust the solicitor and she has raised it as a possible risk, so I think I'll take out the indemnity policy. It's a drop in the ocean, compared to the other huge costs of moving.

RAS

If the old owner bought the house before October 2013, they needed this.

There are only about 12k properties in total on the register, and unless your house is listed, you don't need it.

bouicca21

The liability might be mentioned on the deeds. Check.  Otherwise it’s likely that someone has just consulted an index which lists parishes which may or may not have a liability attaching to former glebe land (not on the entire parish).  The wording these checking companies use is somewhat deceptive, drill beneath them and it usually actually says ‘might’ be liable.  A local solicitor really ought to know whether there could be a real problem without relying on that index search. 

A proper  search can be quite quick and straightforward.  If OP wants to put the time and effort in there is online guidance 
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/chancel-repair-liabilities-england-wales/

It can get more complicated, but taking the first few steps will clarify whether it’s easy or one of the few that take more effort.  It’s really a question of how MSE the OP wants to be.

Sg28

I might start selling this insurance, ill offer it for a bargain £75. 

BlueVeranda

I'll just link to some of the pages I found that say the indemnity may still be needed if the house hasn't been sold since the changes took effect in 2013. If it has and it's not registered you're all clear, they all agree on that. But if it hasn't then it's possible it could still be registered on this sale which is not a surprise I'd want to deal with personally, however unlikely it might seem that they'd claim on it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/historical-rights-that-could-affect-your-property/historical-rights#chancel-repairs

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice-points/chancel-repair-changes/5040583.article

https://www.hayesparsons.co.uk/chancel-indemnity-insurance-what-is-the-risk-and-do-you-still-need-it/

https://www.gocompare.com/home-insurance/guide/chancel-repair-liability/

Bouicca's link also looks useful as a starting point for researching a specific property.