Chancel repair liability - what is it?
Chancel repair liability is a rare financial liability on the
owners of some land or property in England and Wales under which
they may be required to pay for repairs to the chancel of their
parish church.
The historic liability originally affected land owned by rectors
and passed to laymen when land was sold following the dissolution
of the monasteries.
How can I tell if my property is liable?
With great difficulty! The liability may not have been recorded;
no diocese will have a complete register of parishes where rectors
were responsible for chancel repairs and there has never been any
requirement for new landowners to be notified of the liability when
land changed hands. The land may not even be near the church. Any
land in a parish with a medieval church (whether in a town or in a
rural location) could carry this liability.
The only way of finding out is to ask the Diocesan Registrar to
carry out an extensive search of diocesan records and/or to
undertake a personal search at the National Archive at Kew. There
are also companies that specialise in chancel repair searches.
These show if the property has a potential risk or not. They do
not, however, give a definitive answer if there is liability
because of the lack of full records. If a Chancel Check
search shows a potential risk of repair liability, insurance can be
purchased to protect a property against the risk of having to pay
towards chancel repairs.
Am I at risk?
Because the liability attaches to the land itself, not individual buildings, it is possible that any land acquired or leased may be affected land.
Chancel repair liability is so old – is it really still relevant?
In 2003 the House of Lords ordered a landowner to pay a repair
bill of around £200,000 plus substantial legal costs when
they contested the liability. Chancel repair liability may
still be an expensive burden.
Chancel repair liability has always been an overriding interest, so
the liability 'sticks' to the burdened land whether or not
the liability is registered at Land Registry.
The Land Registration Act 2002 sought to remove the concept of
overriding interests in relation to chancel repair liability.
Parish Councils were given 10 years to determine and register which
land was affected. An increase in notices on the registers of
land we have acquired for our clients since 2003 is not yet
evident.
What happens after 13 October 2013?
From 13 October 2013, the right to enforce chancel repair
liability will only be capable of protection by registration of a
notice against the property title at the Land Registry. The
liability will no longer constitute an overriding interest and
means that a buyer purchasing registered land or property for value
after 13 October 2013 will take free of the liability unless it is
protected by such a notice.
Where a notice or caution has been registered the right to claim
chancel repair costs from a property owner will permanently affect
the land.
The practical effect of this is that a chancel search will not be
required after 13 October 2013 for purchases of registered
land because if there is any liability to pay towards chancel
repairs, it will be shown on the register.
However, land acquired before 13 October 2013 will continue to be
bound by chancel repair liability indefinitely.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 16/04/2012.
