Chancel Insurance - anyone heard of it?

[BornInGlasgow]

Apparently there are certain parishes that can legally force homeowners in its area to cough up towards upkeep of the church. It's only happened once or twice in the last 50 years but it has happened and it became so costly some poor bastard ended up having to sell their home - though I'm not sure if this was due to a legal battle.

My Solicitor has offered to take out insurance to protect me from this before I exchange, a one off sum of less than £100. I'm going to take it out because I'm a worrier.

But has anyone else even heard of this bullshit? It should be fucking abolished!

Yes I have several times. I'd rather pay the £100 now instead of potentially thousands later.

Yes, we had to take it out. It's extremely unlikely that they'd ever claim money from you - but old laws say that they can, and they've never been updated.

Yep, it's a thing. Get the insurance.

Yes we have it on our house. Not worth the risk for the small cost

Yes. We took it out as our house is on what used to be church land.
It's worth paying for peace of mind. Just make sure the premium is for lifetime cover

I think we have it - it was a one-off payment and a long time ago. I think it's a legitimate risk, albeit very, very unlikely, hence the relatively small premium.

I'm an actuary, and my mind boggles about how insurance companies come up with the right premium for this!

I'm also a church treasurer and we've got some expensive repairs on the horizon for our ancient parish church, so this has got me wondering...

The rules did change in October 2013. If a property has been sold for value (I.e. not gifted) since then and there’s no notice of that liability on your title you’re very probably ok. No one is 100% sure that you definitely are so it’s worth buying the insurance or maybe ask the seller to pay given it’s their title defect.

My Solicitor told me she can do a search to see if I'm liable at all but her fee would cost more than the actual one off premium so I might as well just pay it regardless.

I'm definitely taking it out but I've asked a few people and most of them have never heard of it. I never have.

Yes we were due to move to a small village in Devon and the house had a Chancel on it. It was a nice modern house, only 18 years old but fell within the area of the village church so was subject to a Chancel. As a staunch Atheist this really irked me but if I wanted the house I had to suck it up! As it turned out it all fell through in the end.

I honestly would ask if the seller will pay. Either way depending on the size of the property, where it is, how likely the risk is, the premiums aren’t very much. The seller might even have an insurance policy they can pass on to you from when they bought - worth an ask.

Yep, this is a standard thing - get the insurance!

I'm not sure how to take this out? When I Google it I'm just taken to home insurance quotes and there's no mention of the chancel liability. Do I have to appoint my Solicitor to do it for me? She wants a £60 admin fee 😡

I've heard of it but I didn't think it was a thing anymore. But it is - the government made some changes but didn't do away with it altogether. This article explains it very well: www.homewardlegal.co.uk/blog/chancel-repair-liability-still-worry-when-buying-home

@Adamcgrathagain I think it would be very cheeky to ask the seller to pay for your insurance. Presuming they paid for their own already it's like making them pay your bills 🤨

Apparently, if you’ve got it, its a condition of the insurance that you can’t tell anyone you’ve got it.

No idea why!

Collector - you can't tell anyone you've got it? where did you get that from? it sounds unlikely, so it would be good to follow that up.