Church expense?

It is a little known fact that having a church local to your home can be a very expensive experience as a home owner found out approximately 18 months ago when the High Court awarded the home owner to pay a local church the sum of £186,986.00 plus VAT and costs to repair part of the damaged church under a very little known about law called “Chancel Liability”.

Following this case which was widely published everyone became much more aware of the existence of this law first of all and secondly, the fact that the churches were willing to use this law to obtain contributions towards the churches repair where they felt appropriate.

The Law of Chancel repair liability dates back to Medieval times when parishioners were responsible for the repair of the nave where the congregation sits and the Rector was responsible for the chancel.

In order to meet his obligations the Rector was allowed to take 10% of the farm produce of the parish as well as the income from any of the land in the parish owned by the church.

Following the rights and obligations of the church being sold off the purchase of the land became “Rectors” and as this land was sold and divided over time the rights/responsibilities became more diverse.

Unfortunately, Parliament on updating these various laws did not do so with the Chancel Repair Liability which therefore remains as an “interest” as far as land is concerned.

What this means in real terms is that whenever buying a house a search must be made to make sure that the prospective house that you are buying is not within an area with a Chancel Liability and if it is there are specific insurance policies that can be purchased to guard against this risk of having to contribute towards the repair of the local church.

It is also wise, if living within a reasonable distance of a church, to carry out a search to see whether or not your house is within an area of chancel liability which Brearleys can do for you for a relatively small fee and if it is then the appropriate insurances can be purchased to protect against the awful scenario of having to pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds as in the court case of 18 months ago.