Chancel repair indemnity policy

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

Our buyers solicitors have just asked if we would be willing to pay for this. Apparently it’s in case something happens to the church about a mile and a half away and the buyer was asked to contribute towards repairs? Can we say no to this?!

Of course you can say No. How much do they want your house, and is it worth the cost of the premium to let the sale fall through over it?

I am the buyer in this scenario - our solicitor advised us to take out a policy, so we did - never occurred to us to ask the seller to pay for it!

Did you buy such a policy when you bought the house?

What does your solicitor say you should do?
How much would the policy cost?
We had such a policy when we bought a house fairly recently and it was only approx £30 which didn't seem much to pay to us.

We were the buyers and we paid by the way (in case that's unclear).

I've paid for this in a previous property, it was around £30 I think. Not worth losing a sale for really if yours is also such a small amount.

check that church if it's eligible for chancel repair.
only a very limited number of churches are affected.

Our solicitor advised it would be “in the region of £80” and asked if we would like to offer to pay for our buyers to have this? I have emailed back and said we feel it would be their responsibility to pay for, but obviously if it was a deal breaker then we would swallow it.

@purplesequins Apparently the searches are back and this church still has this in place

If it's still in place then it's essential. I'd do what you've done. Say no, but if turns out to be a deal breaker, just pay it.

We were advised, when we bought our previous house, to get this policy for ourselves. It's a 'one off' and accompanies the property when you sell. I'm surprised you weren't advised to get one when you bought (though if it was quite a long time ago, this issue wasn't rearing its head).

Cost us about £30.

Might as well agree to it, it won't cost much. Paid £50 for mine 8 years ago.

in that case go for indemnity! a new roof after someone has stolen the lead can be expensive.

Ive just sold my house and had to pay 3 indemnity policies for various things.. .windows not having a fensa certificate....boiler and my property had a flying freehold...total cost £186....i thought it was very reasonable.

They are taking the piss with that cost. They cost around £15. I did them at work all of the time. They are not allowed to charge you more than the rrp

That cost seems really high. We bought a few months ago and had the same, but it only cost us about £22.

I bought one purchasing my first home and I paid under that price for an indefinite policy which went on with the house for all future owners, this was about 12 years ago.

We had to have one of these when we bought our house (about 15 years ago) I can't remember who paid but I remember it was £14

@myusernamewastakenbyme

Ive just sold my house and had to pay 3 indemnity policies for various things.. .windows not having a fensa certificate....boiler and my property had a flying freehold...total cost £186....i thought it was very reasonable.

What is the boiler one for? I googled and it doesn't cover repairs or replacement of the boiler but not clear what it does cover

@DynamoKev im not sure....we were so close to exchanging contracts i agreed to pay it as i didn't want to hold up the sale any longer...my buyers paid way over asking price so i don't feel too cheated.

I thought there were some parishes where this is a legal requirement?

I’ve always paid as the buyer. Shouldn’t cost that much.

I've never had one of these but does every mew purchaser of the house have to buy it? I would have thought one would last the life of the house?

Mew = New

Chancel repair liability expired several years ago.

@myusernamewastakenbyme

Ive just sold my house and had to pay 3 indemnity policies for various things.. .windows not having a fensa certificate....boiler and my property had a flying freehold...total cost £186....i thought it was very reasonable.

I always think the flying freehold one is a scam. I sold a house years ago and was told to buy an indemnity for this and did. Still annoyed I didn’t argue it. The house was over 100 years old, every terrace in town is built the same. The neighbours were hardly going to refuse me access as I could equally have then refused them access.

I hadn’t had one bought for me three years earlier when I bought the house but at some point these indemnity policies seem to have become a money making industry.

Next house I sold they tried to get me to buy a policy for not having building reg sign off for removal of a chimney breast which for all anyone knew had been removed 70 years before. Again I hadn’t had one bought for me a couple of years before when I’d bought the house. I told their solicitor point blank no with that one and sale went ahead no issue.

new roof after someone has stolen the lead can be expensive.

Never part of chancel repair.