AIBU to ask buyers to pay for Chancel liability insurance?

[Rooferxoxo]

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?

I'm pretty sure we as the buyers paid for the chancel liability insurance when we bought our house but I might be wrong.

That sounds really expensive. I’m sure we got it for less than £30!

As the seller we paid as in the grand scheme of things it was a small amount and at that stage we just wanted to complete.

I paid it as the seller, but the chancel indemnity policy was only £45. I thought the buyers were petty to ask me to pay but it certainly wasn’t worth arguing over

We paid Chancel insurance on one house we bought. It was a new build, so no choice. I think the buyer should pay.

Are you going to make me google wtf you’re talking about?!

When I bought my flat I paid for it as the buyer. I actually looked through my papers last week and it cost £25 and that's in South Hertfordshire/London border

@MsEllany there's a weird british thing that some older churches have the ability to levy fees on homes in their parish if they need repairs. Realistically they are probably never going to do it but lawyers recommend you get chancel repair liability insurance just in case for a really nominal fee. I paid £25 for lifetime cover

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.

Buyer pays for chancel liability.

Should be under £50.

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.

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.

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.

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

@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.

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?

@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.

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.

@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"

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

And it’s completely ridiculous!

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.

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)

Seller should pay. £50 admin fee is disgraceful.

My policy is through GCS

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

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

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.