Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask buyers to pay for Chancel liability insurance?

57 replies

Rooferxoxo · 06/07/2020 17:04

Selling house and buyer's solicitors have said that there may be a liability on thour house for Chancel repair and have asked us to pay £125 to cover cost of indemnity insurance for our buyers. AIBU to think the buyers should pay for Chancel repair insurance themselves as it would be for their benefit?

OP posts:
PicsInRed · 06/07/2020 18:17

What I'm getting at is that the buyers may think they need this because they've read that they need this, but the chancel liability may have lapsed for your deeds.

PicsInRed · 06/07/2020 18:16

Iirc it's only needed if the church had registered their claim by a particular date. Or something.

Our wee church didn't, so I escaped this. 🎉

So if you check your particular deeds, it may not be necessary.

JacobReesMogadishu · 06/07/2020 18:13

I had a solicitor ask me to pay a right of way liability insurance once and told them to bugger off. Money making scam in the circumstances and totally unnecessary. I said if the buyer really wanted it they could pay. Never heard anymore about it.

FishOnPillows · 06/07/2020 18:10

Our seller paid. I’m pretty sure they offered to, it wasn’t much at all. They were desperate to sell though.

cologne4711 · 06/07/2020 18:07

I didn't think it was even still an issue now, I thought there was a cut-off on it?

KatieB55 · 06/07/2020 18:07

Our solicitor identified this risk & arranged the insurance for us - £25

MeepleMe · 06/07/2020 18:00

@User7764217 why should the seller pay?
I struggle to see how this insurance policy is so different to buildings insurance which the buyer undoubtedly pays for. I'm not legally qualified though!

MeepleMe · 06/07/2020 17:57

When we bought we paid it, £15 4 years ago. Now selling up and did see something in the buyer's paperwork asking us to pay her insurance, but our solicitor had knocked it back before we'd even queried it. We will also be buying it for our new property.

User7764217 · 06/07/2020 17:51

Should have said seller should pay but rarely does. Buyer will usually pay if they want the house enough

User7764217 · 06/07/2020 17:50

Seller should pay. £50 admin fee is disgraceful.

My policy is through GCS

gcs-title.co.uk/instant-issue/quick-quote-online/

Bearlyawake · 06/07/2020 17:50

Buyer should pay. Ours was less then £10 I think. It does vary by location but that price sounds like a rip off (and you shouldn't have to pay anyway)

Osirus · 06/07/2020 17:47

We pay around £6 for transactions at work? It’s usually under £10. You don’t need cover that high - there’s different tiers and the very basic is enough.

Smileyaxolotl1 · 06/07/2020 17:44

Yanbu- it’s definitely something the buyer pays for.

And it’s completely ridiculous!

Original poster
Rooferxoxo · 06/07/2020 17:43

@WannabeMathematician
Bought it as the buyer. Ours was only £45 so £125 seems very high! If you are going to buy it shop around and get a cheaper quote. They can't pick the provider and make you pay for

Our solicitors have said the policy itself is £75 and they would charge £50 As an administration fee to "sort it out"

OP posts:
Billben · 06/07/2020 17:43

We had to pay that when we bought our house. Never even occurred to me to try to get the seller to pay for it. Why would I?
If I was selling, no way would I be paying for it for the buyer.

Original poster
Rooferxoxo · 06/07/2020 17:40

@NewKittyMeow
We don't have Chancel repair insurance ourselves. It wasn't identified as an issue 22 years ago when we bought house. We don't have to sell as could rent out property instead.

OP posts:
NewKittyMeow · 06/07/2020 17:29

I suppose you can ask but it really depends how much you need to sell and how much they want to buy, doesn’t it? Is it a hill you want to die on? Are you likely to find another buyer easily?

Just out of interest, do you have the insurance yourself? And how much did it cost you?

ProfessorSlocombe · 06/07/2020 17:26

@ThousandsAreSailing

Well you learn something new every day, I'd never heard of it Has anyone had to pay for church repairs?
It used to happen quite regularly. You'd get stories of people who suddenly had to find hundreds of thousands of pounds ... they'd go to court but be told they had to pay it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancel_repair_liability

and

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2430660/Humbleton-residents-face-church-repair-Henry-VIII-law.html

It was due to be tacked with a bill in parliament, but Brexit put paid to that and (as predicted) all legislation has now disappeared for the next decade.

So it's best to take out insurance "just in case".

That said £125 sounds a tad pricey - makes me wonder if the insurers know something ...

I'm not an expert in property law, but the problem arises because while it's the church that has a list of properties that need to pay it may not be the local parish one. And you can't really go around asking.

ThousandsAreSailing · 06/07/2020 17:16

Well you learn something new every day, I'd never heard of it
Has anyone had to pay for church repairs?

Undies1990 · 06/07/2020 17:16

We paid around £40 as a buyer of the property. It is in the buyers interest, not the seller. Ask your solicitor to advise on this.

Freetodowhatiwant · 06/07/2020 17:16

Just as an aside we went through this and at the very last minute our mortgage lender said they couldn’t lend to us because of the church land issue! It was northern rock though and of course they’re no longer with us.

peeperpig · 06/07/2020 17:14

Also, sorry if for the potential derail but has anyone ever been faced with a bill for chancel repairs? The only time I've ever heard about it is when buying a house and being recommended insurance for it.

Grilledaubergines · 06/07/2020 17:14

Should be under £50.

Grilledaubergines · 06/07/2020 17:13

Buyer pays for chancel liability.

WannabeMathematician · 06/07/2020 17:13

Bought it as the buyer. Ours was only £45 so £125 seems very high! If you are going to buy it shop around and get a cheaper quote. They can't pick the provider and make you pay for it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread