Trowers & Hamlins

Under laws dating back to Henry VIII’s time certain land and property owners are obliged to pay for potentially huge repair bills to a parish church’s Chancel (the eastern part of the church).

According to Trowers & Hamlins in the absence of a comprehensive registry properties with this chancel repair liability will not always be unearthed by a conveyancing search with the Land Registry. Even specific chancel repair searches now required as part of Home Information Packs are not guaranteed to always bring the liability to light.

Christopher Munday, a Partner at Trowers & Hamlins, comments: “Homeowners may be unaware that their property carries a chancel repair liability, with the risk that they could face repair bills running into several hundreds of thousands of pounds in the future.”

Trowers & Hamlins says that whilst it is possible for homeowners to buy an insurance policy against chancel repair liability this can cost hundreds of pounds.

Christopher Munday says: “There is a misconception that only homeowners in rural areas are at risk as these obligations were originally attached to tithes but many rural areas have been urbanised for hundreds of years.”

The upmarket Fulham area in London is considered by some Chancel search firms as a “risk parish” for Chancel liabilities.

Christopher Munday explains that as the liability is attached to the land the property is built on, rather than the structure itself, it can also affect new build property. It can also affect commercial, as well as residential properties.

Christopher Munday says: “The liability can be very hard to quantify. Whilst a number of properties within the parish may be affected it is possible that rather than spreading the repair bill across all of those liable just one homeowner will be landed with the entire bill.”

Christopher Munday says the Government should be moving far faster to remove what most homeowners would consider an anachronistic and unfair law.

Says Munday: “Churches have until 2013 to register chancel liabilities with the Land Registry and that is a long way off. Until then homeowners are faced with a very unfortunate lottery.”

“Even then, whilst new owners who buy a property where no notice of the liability has been registered will be protected, current owners will remain liable.”

“In a modern multi-faith society some people might question why what is in essence a law permitting a property tax that is unquantifiable and undiscoverable and which support one faith has not been repealed many years ago.”