Buyers Could Be Forced To Pay Repairs Of Your Local Church

[3 Men In A Boat]

Chancel

The above link has a report that says

''3.5 million acres of land in England and Wales, and the homes, schools, hospitals and factories built on it, are now thought to be potentially at risk from this archaic law'

''But, according to Francis, 35 per cent of parishes are at risk, and, of all the full searches Chancel Check has carried out 14 per cent have been found to be on liable land''

**To be fair Francis has a VI when making the above comment**

''Some believe the risk is being exaggerated by those with a vested interest. Francis, naturally, disagrees, pointing out that the PCC would have dropped the case when the Wallbanks won at appeal if they weren't interested in setting a precedent.

"We're aware of eight dioceses that have instructed the PCCs to look into it," says Francis. "Members of the PCCs actually have a duty to find these funds, or they could become potentially personally liable."

Under the Land Registration Act 2002 the church has until 30 September 2013 to hunt down and register chancel repair liabilities at the Land Registry.

The good news is that if they are not registered by then, and the property changes hands, any liabilities will become unenforceable.

Current owners will, however, remain liable, though Nick Francis believes that the likelihood of being targeted after this date will decrease.

There are an estimated 5,200 churches in England and Wales that could benefit from funds raised from chancel repair liability, so over the next six years we can expect a flurry of activity from the PCCs''

I guess you takes your money, you makes your choice. I did it on the basis of where the land was. However guess what, I am no expert. As the report showed I was at no risk so you could say I am a sucker? However, I will take that for the sake of £15 and what could have been (whatecer the odds ).

[GrillsBears]

Chancel

The above link has a report that says

''3.5 million acres of land in England and Wales, and the homes, schools, hospitals and factories built on it, are now thought to be potentially at risk from this archaic law'

''But, according to Francis, 35 per cent of parishes are at risk, and, of all the full searches Chancel Check has carried out 14 per cent have been found to be on liable land''

**To be fair Francis has a VI when making the above comment**

''Some believe the risk is being exaggerated by those with a vested interest. Francis, naturally, disagrees, pointing out that the PCC would have dropped the case when the Wallbanks won at appeal if they weren't interested in setting a precedent.

"We're aware of eight dioceses that have instructed the PCCs to look into it," says Francis. "Members of the PCCs actually have a duty to find these funds, or they could become potentially personally liable."

Under the Land Registration Act 2002 the church has until 30 September 2013 to hunt down and register chancel repair liabilities at the Land Registry.

The good news is that if they are not registered by then, and the property changes hands, any liabilities will become unenforceable.

Current owners will, however, remain liable, though Nick Francis believes that the likelihood of being targeted after this date will decrease.

There are an estimated 5,200 churches in England and Wales that could benefit from funds raised from chancel repair liability, so over the next six years we can expect a flurry of activity from the PCCs''

I guess you takes your money, you makes your choice. I did it on the basis of where the land was. However guess what, I am no expert. As the report showed I was at no risk so you could say I am a sucker? However, I will take that for the sake of £15 and what could have been (whatecer the odds ).

I wouldn't quibble with £15. Though I reckon a first stop at the COE parish finder software might have told you the same for nowt. What I find objectionable is solicitors pushing £150 or insurance without giving enough information to make an informed decision.

Information asymmetry is the con artists best friend.

[3 Men In A Boat]

I wouldn't quibble with £15. Though I reckon a first stop at the COE parish finder software might have told you the same for nowt. What I find objectionable is solicitors pushing £150 or insurance without giving enough information to make an informed decision.

Information asymmetry is the con artists best friend.

True, but I didn't know about the parish finder software. I only found out about Chancel surveys following the purchase of property and the conveyancer bringing it to my attention and selling it to me. And yes, I think I did get screwed for the £150 or whatever it was!!

I came across the Geodesys site because I was searching for drains and water mains layouts for a self build site and saw the Chancel survey as an option. Remembering that it cost a lot more than the £15 Geodesys wanted, I thought stuff it, I will save the £135 that a solicitor would be charging for the survey.

I guess the beauty of a forum such as this is that the debate and subsequent information gathering brings knowledge to its users, on topics that most people would just not be bothered to research.

[catmandu]

There's a lot of petty arguments in this topic, but no one seems to be discussing the rights and wrongs of this. Why, in this day and age are regular people being asked to pay for a church. Why is the government allowing this to continue. If my house is near a swimming pool or a Scientologist cult HQ I wouldn't expect to have any liability for their upkeep.

Shouldn't the upkeep of the church be paid for by those who attend it and therefore presumably believe it's worth keeping. Personally I think they should all be turned into pubs and I'd be very unhappy to be giving them money because of some ancient law.

[GrillsBears]

There's a lot of petty arguments in this topic, but no one seems to be discussing the rights and wrongs of this. Why, in this day and age are regular people being asked to pay for a church. Why is the government allowing this to continue. If my house is near a swimming pool or a Scientologist cult HQ I wouldn't expect to have any liability for their upkeep.

Shouldn't the upkeep of the church be paid for by those who attend it and therefore presumably believe it's worth keeping. Personally I think they should all be turned into pubs and I'd be very unhappy to be giving them money because of some ancient law.

Oh absolutely it's obviously quite mental and is furthermore backed by the government who not only refused to rule against chancel law but said something along the lines of "just take the ******ing insurance, money well spent"

I reckon it's way past time that Parishes should be able to ask for the church to be demolished if it impinges on their wellbeing.

[johnny5thumbs]

There's a lot of petty arguments in this topic, but no one seems to be discussing the rights and wrongs of this. Why, in this day and age are regular people being asked to pay for a church. Why is the government allowing this to continue. If my house is near a swimming pool or a Scientologist cult HQ I wouldn't expect to have any liability for their upkeep.

Shouldn't the upkeep of the church be paid for by those who attend it and therefore presumably believe it's worth keeping. Personally I think they should all be turned into pubs and I'd be very unhappy to be giving them money because of some ancient law.

Unfortunately, we now live in an era where companies / councils / churches etc carry out whatever they can within the legal letter of the law, rather than what seems morally justifiable. Then they dress it up with "we have to do it as a duty to our our shareholders / electors / parishioners, otherwise they could sue us.

Don't expect any favours from anyone corporate, church included. If they can dredge up some bunch of 500 year old s**t that allows them to screw people, then they will. It wasn't THAT long ago that they were applying thumb screws to people, literally. They may need another 500 years to move on past the legal thumbscrews phase.

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Edited November 28, 2009 by johnny5thumbs