Commercial Property Focus - May 2009

The Holy Land

I am in the process of buying a property and have discovered that it may be subject to chancel repair liability. What does this mean and is there anything I can do about it?

Chancel repair liability is an ancient interest benefiting some 5,200 pre-Reformation churches in England and Wales. The rector received “tithes” from his rectorial land and used the income to discharge his liability to repair the chancel being the east end of the church (usually containing choir and nave). By the sixteenth century the monasteries had acquired most rectorships together with their attendant property and liabilities.

When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries the property, and the liability, was dispersed.  If the property of an individual rectory was sold to more than one person then the liability was divided between.

Until 2013 the liability will bind all owners of former rectorial land whether they are aware of the land’s former status or not.  Thereafter the liability will only bind new owners of registered land if the interest is protected by a Land Registry entry. The onus is therefore placed upon Parochial Church Councils to identify affected land and to register their interests. 

Currently there is no single register which can be used to identify land subject to chancel repair liability although it may be disclosed by an inspection of old title deeds or entries at the National Archive or even suggested by the name of the land if such name has an ecclesiastical connection.

Liability is not unlimited. It extends to meeting the cost of keeping the chancel wind and watertight and maintaining essential features. Nevertheless the House of Lords recently held an unsuspecting Warwickshire couple liable to pay a bill of more than £185,000 to maintain their local parish church’s chancel.

As part of the conveyancing process a search using one of the, often web based, specialist agents should be undertaken. Modern addresses are searched against ancient parish boundaries to establish whether there is potential liability and enquiries made at the National Archive to identify specific liability.

If potential liability is identified relatively cheap insurance to meet the potential cost is available for one off premium.

Chancel liability may be an ancient interest but it may continue to haunt landowners well into the twenty-first century. With the trustees of Parochial Church Councils under a fiduciary duty to pursue claims it really is a case of buyer be aware.

You have identified your potential risk so you should now consider insuring against it.

 Stephen Whittaker
Partner
Weightmans LLP
stephen.whittaker@weightmans.com