Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on a small number of property owners in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

to pay for certain repairs to a church, often the local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. Where people purchase property within land that was once rectorial (part of a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

), they may acquire a responsibility to fund repairs to the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

-founded

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

church which that glebe land supported. This can still be invoked by the

church council A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

of some

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. It is common practice for purchasers of land to check whether the local parish includes a church where such a liability may apply, and if so to take out chancel liability insurance.

History

From pre-

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

times, churches in England and Wales have been ministered by either a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

, who received a

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

(salary), or a rector or

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...

who received

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques or via onli ...

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 of the

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

Monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

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colleges could buy or receive rectorships, and thus become liable for chancel repairs. When

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

dissolved the monasteries and sold their rectory (with land), or the relevant university college sold this,National Archives#19446 5. What Does a Record of Ascertainment show? Archive IR104

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

the chancel repair liability passed with that land and persists today, even after subdivision. The owners of such land are thus equally called ''lay impropriators'' or ''lay rectors''. As far as spiritual rectors are concerned, their liability transferred to

parochial church council A parochial church council (PCC) is the executive committee of a Church of England parish and consists of clergy and churchwardens of the parish, together with representatives of the laity. It has its origins in the vestry committee, which looke ...

s by the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Measure 1923. The recovery of funds from lay rectors is governed by the Chancel Repairs Act 1932. In concept, to be a lay rector is now entirely a burden for having taken rights over land such as impropriated

(the vast majority of glebe formerly held by a vicar or clerical rector has no liability) or abbey lands, and therefore being exempt from paying the

that other parts of that parish paid, as the agricultural produce or (after 1836) rentcharges the landowner used to receive no longer apply. Lay rectors would usually be wealthy landowners owning a substantial amount of property in the parish. Tithes have been terminated or ''commuted'' for centuries and en masse since the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, the remaining ones terminating under the Finance Act 1977, so it is sometimes possible to discover definitively from any free source whether a given piece of land is still glebe in a present parish that must have had a rector but no longer does; maps and records held by the

can be consulted. Also, in some cases it is possible to see which plots of land fall under headings ''c)'' and ''d)'' of apportionment of chancel liability, from the church website itself. If a parish's liability only falls under headings a) or b) then those persons (a corporate/charitable body or private individual) are liable only; however, some geographically diverse parishes had extraneous

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

s and in a few cases in the 19th century a merger of the rectory/rectorial land and tithes into one piece of land as a whole took place, such as in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire. The liability can be compounded (bought out) by a procedure introduced by the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Measure 1923 (14 & 15 Geo. 5. No. 3).

Liability-free parishes

In a majority of parishes there is a vicar, and crucially the historic university college or other rectory-owning major landowner only sold their land free from tithe under the Tithe Acts so they, or more commonly, the local church, bear the liability for the local chancel. In a minority of parishes a rector persists and his/her predecessors in that role never sold any land, as permitted after 1836, while granting the new owners the right to levy a rentcharge, automatically co-opting all successors to that land to potential liability for the chancel, or conducted a similar sale with a "merger of tithes", or saw part of an

inclosure act The inclosure acts created legal property rights to land previously held in common in England and Wales, particularly open fields and common land. Between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 individual acts enclosing public land were passed, affecting 28,0 ...

swap

for common. In liable

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es, only a minority have exercised their rights to apportion the cost of chancel repairs among the affected landowners, despite the common nature of checks and insurance.

Wallbank case

In the vast majority of ecclesiastical parishes (into which all of England and Wales is split) chancel repair liability is not applicable. However, it was brought into use for the first time in a few years in 2003 in a particularly lightly populated glebe. Andrew and Gail Wallbank received a demand for almost £100,000 to fund repairs of their parish's medieval church at Aston Cantlow in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. After a protracted legal battle, as they sought to challenge this ruling, the

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

found in favour of the parochial church council, leaving the Wallbanks with a £350,000 bill including legal costs. The case is constitutionally significant for finding that a parochial parish council is not a "core public authority" under the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the ...

. The historic rectory of St John the Baptist church, Aston Cantlow was acquired by the Priors of Maxstoke in 1345 leaving a ''"discharged vicarage"'' (as the name for the

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

of the priest) and creating lay impropriators (lay rectors) of the

land – e.g. in 1848 this was the Earl of Abergavenny. He held the glebe land, in this case helpfully named ''Glebe Farm'', so was responsible for the chancel. Later buyers of this land remain liable.

Registration of liability

Subsequent to the 2003 case, it became best practice for new purchasers to be advised to request a check as to whether the local parish (one of the 15,000 ecclesiastical parishes into which all of England and Wales is split) included an older rector's church, not evolved from a chapel but now with a vicar, and if so to take out chancel liability insurance. Unless such a check was made, homeowners who had lived in their property since before 2003 were unlikely to be aware of their liability or to have insurance, as chancel repair liability would not have been registered on their

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

and may not have been researched by their conveyancers on purchase. If it was not noticed by solicitors and the church enforced the liability across the affected land, action against the solicitors may be time-barred after six years. Through provisions made under the power of the

Land Registration Act 2002 The Land Registration Act 2002 (c. 9) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though ...

, the onus was put on

s to identify all affected land and register their interest before 13 October 2013. This means that chancel repair liability is no longer an "overriding interest" protected under the Land Registration Act 2002. The assumption has been made that, since that date, new owners of land are only bound by chancel repair liability where it was already entered on the Title Register database kept by the

Land Registry Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded (usually with a government agency or department) to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, ...

. The Law Society expressed doubts about this in 2006. Some parochial church councils have therefore followed the process in order to secure a valuable asset. Others may have concluded that registering the right to claim chancel repair was likely to damage the church's mission or reputation in the local community, and have taken no action. An online petition to the Prime Minister requesting legislation to remove this liability resulted in the following response in 2008:

Peter Luff Sir Peter James Luff (born 18 February 1955) is a British former politician and previous Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Formerly a British Conservative Party politician, he was the Member ...

, MP for Mid Worcestershire led an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on 17 October 2012 to seek a change in the law, above and beyond the required registration entries and notifications on all affected properties by 13 October 2013. The minister responsible was not convinced that a change was necessary at the time.Hansard transcript of debate
/ref>

Chancel Repairs Bill 2014

On 16 July 2014, Lord Avebury gave the first reading to a ne
Chancel Repairs Bill
which would have had the effect of ending all liability of lay rectors for the repair of the chancels of churches and chapels in England. Lord Avebury caused to be printed thes
Explanatory Notes
This Bill made no further progress in the session of Parliament, and, consequently, it has been "lost" – the bill is no longer before Parliament.

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

A Church Near You - Church of England parish finder
Note:

land can be in an outlying part of another parish, a ''detached part'' not shown in this map.
Chancel repair liabilities in England and Wales
Legal Records Information Leaflet 33 at National Archives

''The Independent'', 15 November 2006

the Statutory Instrument setting out transitional arrangements 2003–2013 Housing in the United Kingdom Public liability Property law