The responsibility to repair the chancel (eastern end) of a parish church passed from parish priests to lay landowners after the Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. All landowners, including of commercial and agricultural property, are potentially affected. Moreover, the liability is personal—not limited to the property value—and several, which means any one landowner can be pursued for the full amount.
Conveyancing searches for chancel repair liability typically add £30-£40 per transaction, which cumulatively add millions of pounds to property sales each year.
The potential risks of chancel repair liability came to the fore in a high-profile case in the 1990s, when a couple, Andrew and Gail Wallbank, were landed with a bill for nearly £187,000 in chancel repairs followed by £250,000 in legal costs, in Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank [2003] UKHL 37. Consequently, the Land Registration Act 2002 removed the liability as an ‘overriding interest’ from October 2013. However, its legal status remained unclear.
The Law Commission therefore proposes amending the 2002 Act to clarify that purchasers of registered land can only be bound by the liability if it appears on the property title.
Sir Peter Fraser, chair of the Law Commission, said: ‘These proposals aim to deliver the certainty that was intended when the land registration rules changed in 2013.
‘By clarifying the law, the aim is to reduce unnecessary costs for those who buy land such as homebuyers, while ensuring the rules work as Parliament expected.’
The consultation also examines the scope of liability in Wales, which is subject to the Welsh Church Act 1914.
The consultation, ‘Chancel repair liability and registration’, opened this week and ends on 15 November.
