A couple hit with a notice from the Land Registry informing them that their local church had registered its right to make them contribute to the cost of repairs to it have set up a Facebook campaign to publicise the problems the ancient law can bring.
Chancel repair liability requires landowners living within a parish of an Anglican parish church built before 1536 to pay for the repair of the chancel, which is the part of the church containing the altar and the choir.
When local rectors owned land in the parish, they were responsible for repairing the chancel using money produced from the land and then monasteries often acquired this land, together with the responsibility for paying for the repair of the chancel.
However, when Henry Vlll sold the monasteries’ land, the liability to pay for the repair of the chancel remained with the land sold and the only way to remove a liability now is to either prove it is incorrect or persuade the parochial church council (PCC) to withdraw it.
The couple leading the social media campaign said that the value of their house has been diminished because of the registration made by the PCC and called the law “medieval madness”.
Unfortunately, liability for chancel repair does not necessarily show on the title deeds of a house and people are often advised to take out insurance against potential liability claims with premiums costing from about £50.
However, applications for policies in respect of properties where a liability had already been confirmed could cost thousands of pounds or even be declined altogether, the uncertainty of which may put buyers off, or, at the very least, probably reduce the market value of the property.
Calling the law “financial vandalism”, the National Secular Society is campaigning for the liability to be abolished, as the Church has registered properties even when they have no intention of calling on property owners to contribute, thereby compromising the values of the properties in the parish.