Background
Please select one of the following:
ChancelCheck®
ChancelCheck® is an online, low cost screening report designed to inform conveyancers and their clients of a potential chancel repair liability.
Chancel repair liability is a real and continuing problem with a direct financial impact on the title held by a Homebuyer. Current chancel repair searches are costly, often inconclusive and, where a liability is discovered, exacerbate the problem by dramatically increasing the cost of insurance.
ChancelCheck® is the only service which combines historical parish boundary data, modern Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping techniques and information derived from the relevant Inland Revenue Indices held by the National Archive. ChancelCheck® accurately establishes whether or not a property is within a parish that still retains the potential to charge for the cost of repairs to the church chancel as recorded within the relevant Inland Revenue Indices held by the National Archive and in accordance with their Guidance Notes.
ChancelCheck® issues either a Report stating that there is a potential liability within the parish or a Certificate confirming that there is no risk identified for that parish within the National Archive records.
Currently conveyancers operate under a number of common misconceptions about which properties may be at potential risk of chancel repair liability, such as:
- that a property must be in a rural location
- that the liability is in respect of repair costs for the whole church (the chancel is normally less than 20% of the total footprint)
- that the property has to be adjacent or close by a church.
The fact is that any property within a parish can be at risk.
ChancelSure® Insurance Policies
These insurance products have been specifically designed to work in conjunction with ChancelCheck® and are fully compliant with lender requirements.
Where a property has been identified as being within a parish that retains the right to charge for repairs to the chancel, ChancelSure® Insurance offers a cost effective solution protecting the owner/occupier, mortgagee, lessees and successors if required.
Bespoke polices are available for larger areas or higher cover levels than those shown below, or where there is prior knowledge of a risk and/or a caution noted in the title deeds. Contact Client Services - sales@clsl.co.uk.
Residential ChancelSure® Insurance
The residential ChancelSure® Insurance range of chancel repair liability insurance provides cover from £250,000 to £1m for chancel repair liability claims and legal costs for 25 years for 2 to 5 acres.
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| Insured: |
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The person who purchases policy (non-successor policies) or Successor policies |
| Premium: |
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From £54.00 (inc IPT) + Admin fee of £5.75 (inc VAT) = Total £59.75 |
| Period of Insurance: |
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25 years |
| Underwriters: |
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Hardy Conveyancing Insurances, underwritten by Syndicate 382 at Lloyd’s |
Commercial ChancelSure® Insurance
The commercial ChancelSure® Insurance range of chancel repair liability insurance provides cover from £250,000 to £1m for chancel repair liability claims and legal costs for 25 years for up to 2 acres.
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| Insured: |
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The person who purchases policy (non-successor policies) or Successor policies |
| Premium: |
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From £150.00 (inc IPT) + Admin fee of £5.75 (inc VAT) = Total £155.75 |
| Period of Insurance: |
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25 years |
| Underwriters: |
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Hardy Conveyancing Insurances, underwritten by Syndicate 382 at Lloyd’s |
What is Chancel Repair Liability?
Chancel repair liability only affects parishes in which there is a medieval church. The liability runs with the land and is an overriding interest. As such it does not have to have been registered against the title of a property in order to be enforceable by the Church of England - the "conveyancing trap" (Law Commission working paper 86).
In the words of Lord Scott of Foscote in the Aston Cantlow case:
"A description, even a brief one, of the law on chancel repairs must, if it is to be comprehensible, start with mediaeval times when every parish had its parish priest, the "rector". The rector had, by virtue of his office, a number of valuable proprietary rights which, collectively, constituted his "rectory". These rights included the profits of glebe land and tithes, usually one-tenth of the produce of land in the parish. Responsibility for the repair of the parish church was, absent some special custom to the contrary (see Bishop of Ely v Gibbons (1833) 4 Hagg. Ecc. 156), shared between the rector and the parishioners. The parishioners were responsible for repairing the part of the church where they sat, the western end of the church. The rector was responsible for repairing the chancel, the eastern end of the church. The rector's glebe land and tithes, the "rectory", provided both for his maintenance and a fund from which he could pay for chancel repairs."
Since the time that the rectorial property was first defined, Enclosure Acts have converted certain rectorial tithes into rectorial property thus attaching chancel repair liability to the ownership of those lands. As rectorial tithes were widespread through historical parishes, so too is the liability to pay for an apportioned amount of the chancel repair liability for that parish. It is therefore very difficult to define what land within an historical parish boundary has chancel repair liability. It is possible but requires an expensive personal search of the national Archive.
"The liability to pay for chancel repairs mainly affects rural communities, but it can apply in towns and cities {such as Brighton, Manchester, Bedford and Lancaster}, especially where ancient settlements now form part of larger urban conurbations.
Until then, homeowners should be wary because that cherished view of their local parish church just might come with a price tag attached."
Chancel Repair Liability Fact Sheet
- The Aston Cantlow v Wallbank case, where the Church "invested" approximately £250,000 to ensure that the "archaic and capricious" law relating to chancel repairs was kept alive, shows intent on the part of the Church to prosecute their rights
- The House of Lords confirmed that the law, while unfair, would stand and that those found responsible had to pay
- Even though the law was seen to be unfair and outdated, the rights of the Church to charge individuals for the cost of repair to the chancel would continue in perpetuity when the Church has "registered" their interest in the appropriate properties
- Owners of property purchased after 12th October 2013, where no registration at HMLR has taken place, will bear no risk of liability on this issue.
- Parochial Church Councils are being encouraged to seek out the relevant properties
- Approximately 35% of all Parishes have the right to charge "lay rectors" and others within the parish for contributions to the cost of repair to the chancel
- The 35% represents approximately 40% of the total land area of England and Wales
- Parishes that were once in rural areas are now in the centre of cities and large towns (Fulham being an example) due to the massive growth in and migration of population to towns and cities
- The responsibility attaches to the land and that development of plots may mean that far greater numbers of homes are liable than were first thought
- The "problem" will increase over the period to October 2013
- Liable properties do not have to be adjacent to or close by a church
- The right to charge is worth 10's of millions of pounds - see Church opinion at http://www.oxford.anglican.org/detail.php?id=468 and Peterborough Diocese
- Part of the activity over the next 8 years will include actual repairs and that churches requiring repair will, logically, investigate their rights to seek payment from third parties to help pay for these repairs as part of their move toward "registering" properties
- Parish boundaries have altered significantly over recent history and so one cannot rely on current parish boundary information
- The main way of investigating the potential "risk" of chancel repair liability was a full search of the records of the National Archive costing up to £150
- For only £15 plus VAT ChancelCheck® provides an instant screening report that will confirm whether of not the subject property is within the boundary of an historical "risk" parish that could charge and/or register the subject property
- Chancel repair liability affects the title of a property and that carrying out a low cost screening report would appear to be both a "necessary and appropriate" search
Legal Position Going Forwards
The Government has acted recently on this issue and a Transitional Provisions Order covering chancel repair liability has been made and which took effect when the Land Registration Act 2002 came into force on 13th October 2003. The Order preserves the status of chancel repair liability within the Land Registration systems and for the next 10 years chancel repair liability will remain an interest that binds successive owners of a property even though it may not be protected by an entry in a register
The Land Registration Act 2002 (Transitional Provisions) (No 2) Order 2003 (S.I. 2003 No. 2431) came into force on 13 October 2003.
Liability to repair the chancel of any church was an overriding interest under section 70(1)(c) of the 1925 Act. The Order extends the overriding status of this interest for a transitional period of ten years.
After 13 October 2013 the right to enforce the liability will be capable of protection by registration of a notice. The liability will no longer constitute an overriding interest. This means a buyer for value will take free of the liability unless it is protected by a notice on the Register.
Summary Cases and Reports
Summary of Aston Cantlow v Wallbanks Case
Mrs. Wallbank inherited a farm which was not adjacent to their parish church (St John the Baptist Church in Aston Cantlow) but it was within the parish and when they inherited the property they also inherited the liability to repair the chancel. The case went to the House of Lords and they lost.
In the words of LORD RODGER OF EARLSFERRY:
In 1986 Mrs Gail Wallbank became the owner of the freehold of Glebe Farm near the village of Aston Cantlow in Warwickshire… As owners of Glebe Farm Mr and Mrs Wallbank are the lay rectors or impropriators of the parish church and, as such, potentially liable to pay the cost of repairs to the chancel. By 1990 the chancel was in disrepair, [the Parochial Church Council ("the PCC")] simply asked Mrs Wallbank to pay for the repairs. She disputed the liability. In 1994 the PCC, as the responsible authority, served notice on Mrs Wallbank under section 2(1) of the Chancel Repairs Act 1936, calling on her to repair the chancel. When she still refused to do so, the PCC began these proceedings under section 2(2) of the 1936 Act to recover over £95,000, the estimated cost of the repairs.
In the words of LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD:
The liability to repair the chancel is, [one of the incidents of ownership of] land which consists of land allotted under the inclosure award in lieu of tithe or other rectorial property. It is, of course, an unusual incident because it does not amount to a charge on the land, is not limited to the value of the land and imposes a personal liability on the owner of the land.
Case History Relevant To Chancel Repair Liability
The following cases all deal with the issue of chancel repair liability:
- Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank {2003} UKHL 37 View case PDF
- Wickhambrook Parochial Church Council v Croxford [1935] 2 KB 417 View case PDF
- Chivers & Sons Ltd v Air Ministry [1955] 1 Ch 585, 593 View case PDF
- Walwyn v Awberry (1677) 2 Mod. 254 {see case PDF}
- Hauxton Parochial Church Council v Mr Stephens {1929} P. 240 View case PDF
- Representative Body of the Church in Wales v Tithe Redemption Commission [1944] AC 228. View case PDF
Useful Reports On The Subject:
- Liability for Chancel Repairs (1985) (Law Com No 152) {see report PDF}
- Land Registration for the Twenty-first Century (1998) (Law Com No 254; Cm 407) {see report PDF}
- Transfer of Land, Liability for Chancel Repairs (1983) (Law Commission Working paper No 86) {see report PDF}
Useful Articles On The Subject:
There are many other articles on the subject and press articles can be found in our PRESS section.
Parochial Church Councils – their fiscal responsibilities
Click here to download a copy of the Diocese of Rochester’s statement regarding the fiscal responsibilities of PCC members.
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