Chancel repair liability

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Chancel repair liability is a liability on some property owners England and Wales to fund repairs to the chancel of their local church. This responsibility of owners of once rectorial land exists in perpetuity.

Since before the Reformation churches in England and Wales have been ministered by either a vicar, who received a stipend (salary), or a rector, who received tithes from the parish. The rectors (of around 5,200 churches) were responsible for the repairs of the chancel of their church, while the parish members were responsible for the rest. Many monasteries acquired rectorships and thus became liable for chancel repairs. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and sold their land the chancel repair liability passed to the new owners and persists today, even after subdivision. These owners are called lay impropriators or lay rectors.

The recovery of funds from lay rectors is governed by the Chancel Repairs Act 1932.

The land may not have been adjacent to the church, and the liability may not have been recorded. It can be difficult to determine whether or not such liability applies to a particular piece of land as it may not be identified on the deeds nor at the Land Registry. Insurance can, however, be taken out to cover the costs of repairs. The premium is usually a relatively small amount, is normally paid by the property owner on purchase, and covers the property for up to 25 years.

Through provisions made under the power of the Land Registration Act 2002, this situation will change with effect from 13 October 2013. Thereafter chancel repair liability will only bind new owners of registered land if it is protected by an entry in the land register. This puts the onus on Parochial Church Councils to identify all affected land and register their interest before that date (no fee is charged).

A online petition to the Prime Minister requesting legislation to remove this liability resulted in the following response from 10 Downing Street on 6 March 2008:

Chancel Repair Liability has existed for several centuries and the Government has no plans to abolish it or to introduce a scheme for its redemption. The Government has, however, acted to make the existence of the liability much simpler to discover. From October 2013, chancel repair liability will only bind buyers of registered land if it is referred to on the land register. By that time, virtually all freehold land in England and Wales will be registered. The Government believes that this approach strikes a fair balance between the landowners subject to the liability and its owners who are, in England, generally Parochial Church Councils and, in Wales, the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. The Government acknowledges that the existence of a liability for chancel repair will, like any other legal obligation, affect the value of the property in question, but in many cases this effect can be mitigated by relatively inexpensive insurance. It is for the parties involved in a transaction to decide whether or not to take out insurance.