Chancery repair liability?

[kilmuir]

How do the church determine whether your property is liable. We have had a letter from land registry saying the local baptist church has placed a unilateral notice of a liability to contribute tochancery repair, . Thanks

[prh47bridge]

Are you sure this is a Baptist church? Chancel repair liability applies to CofE and Church in Wales churches. If it is, for example, St John the Baptist Church that is CofE, not Baptist. A Baptist church is usually named after the community in which it stands.

Whether or not you are liable depends on the history of your property. At one time the rector of a church would be responsible for repairs to the chancel, parish members being responsible for the rest of the building. In some parishes, presumably including the one where you live, the land that was formerly the rector's was sold in such a way that all future owners of any part of the land are liable for chancel repairs.

The Land Registration Act 2002 says that Parochial Church Councils must identify all land to which chancel repair liability still applies and register their interest before 13th October this year. In theory if they don't register by then they will lose the right to claim against the landowner. Your local parish church is therefore acting to protect its right to claim for chancel repairs against your property. It doesn't mean they are about to ask you for any money. It is possible to get insurance to cover you for any possible liability.

[kilmuir]

Can i get insurance once they have put the notice on my deeds?
Sorry yes it is church of england.

[PatriciaHolm]

Churches have until mid October to register their claim to chancel liability in the future to affected homeowners. It almost certainly doesn't mean they want money now, it just means they are reserving their right to ask in the future (for which you can get chancel liability insurance).

It's based on what land the church used to own as the liability goes with the land in some cases.

[PatriciaHolm]

Ah sorry cross posts!

[Prawntoast]

Yes you can get insurance, unfortunately it will be more expensive now as your property now has a known potential liability registered against it. shop around though premiums vary greatly.

[kilmuir]

No mention of it on our deeds, but i understand may not necessarily be on it when we bought 20 years ago

[TakingTheStairs]

Kilmuir, slightly off your question, but for what it's worth, I thought you might like to know that our chancel repair insurance was about £50 for lifetime insurance.

[Prawntoast]

Won't have been on your deeds unless the church had registered their interest, which they have now done. a few years ago solicitors starting including a chancel search in the conveyancing process so if you purchased in the last few years you would have been told if there was a potential liability.
We purchased a property earlier this year and were advised that the property was in an area where there was a potential liability even though nothing was registered so we took out insurance which covers successors in title for about £30. We now wait until the end of Oct to see whether a church registers an interest or we have blown £30! We asked our solicitor to shop around though as the first quote for insurance was £125.

[kilmuir]

That sounds very reasonable. Hubby was imagining never being able to sell the house etc

[Prawntoast]

It's a remote possibility that you would ever have to cough up and they can only claim for the chancel not the whole bloody church. Pisses me off as I'm an atheist!

[kilmuir]

takingthe stairs did you get the insurance when you were notified you had chancel liability or was it a precaution

[kilmuir]

It is very bizarre. Yes i am an atheist too!

[TakingTheStairs]

Sorry for the delay in replying to you. We're in a new build that was built beside a church and when our solicitors were looking through our lease they advised that we get it. Does that help?

[TakingTheStairs]

It said in our lease that we had chancel liability. So the policy was taken after that and I checked old emails to double check the cost of the policy. It was £47 in 2010

[prh47bridge]

I disagree with Prawntoast regarding the premium. People only take out insurance if their property is known to be liable for chancel repairs. You are therefore in the same position as anyone else when it comes to insurance. You may be able to get cover for up to £1M for as little as £15. It would be different if your local church was about to make a claim but there is no reason to believe they are doing so. At the moment they are simply protecting their position.

[kilmuir]

We have been to see the vicar. She apologised and said we were only household they had not visited to explain what the local church body were going to do/ have done.
Said they had passed a referendum not to claim for chancery repairs, but would have been failing as executors? If they had not obtained the order.
We are looking at insurance to cover ourselves. Thank you