THE Law Commission published a consultation paper this week on reforming land-registration law with regard to chancel-repair liability (Synod, 1 March 2024).
The laws dates back to the dissolution of monasteries within the mid-Sixteenth century, and the resulting sale of land to put landowners.
The chancel-repair liability is an obligation on a landowner to pay for certain repairs to the chancel of the parish church when it falls into disrepair. The liability is personal to the landowner and just isn’t limited to the worth of the landowner’s property. Legally, a PCC can ask a landowner to pay more for chancel repairs than the property is price.
If many landowners are all liable to repair the identical chancel, the PCC can pursue any considered one of the landowners for the complete amount. The landowner who’s required to pay can then attempt to get well a contribution from the opposite landowners.
Although the chancel-repair liability is an obligation that isn’t enforced, it was claimed successfully in 2003 by the PCC of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley against the landowners, Mr and Mrs Wallbank, who had inherited the land from her parents in 1974.
The landowners fought the claim all of the approach to the House of Lords. Their defence, which failed, was that the enforcement of the PCC’s claim would breach their rights, under the First Protocol to the Human Rights Act, to peaceful enjoyment of their property. The landowners incurred nearly £187,000 in chancel repairs plus £250,000 in legal costs. That case drew attention to the potential impact of the chancel-repair liability on homeowners.
Amendments to the Land Registration Act 2002 had been widely understood since 2013 to be that the chancel-repair liability affected property-buyers provided that it was registered against the title of the property. Consequently, property-buyers incurred additional costs for searches and insurance against any potential chancel-repair liability.
Since the 2002 Act got here into force in 2003, nevertheless, a matter had arisen concerning the legal status of the chancel-repair liability and whether homeowners were nevertheless sure. The Law Commission proposes to finish the uncertainty by clarifying that a purchaser of registered land will probably be sure by the chancel-repair liability only whether it is noted against the title to the land.
The chair of the Law Commission of England and Wales, Sir Peter Fraser, said that the “proposals aim to deliver the knowledge that was intended when the land registration rules modified in 2013. By clarifying the law, the aim is to cut back unnecessary costs to those that buy land akin to homebuyers, while ensuring the foundations work as Parliament expected.”
The Law Commission also proposes that the amendment to the 2002 Act should apply retrospectively, ensuring that any transfers of registered estates or first registrations of unregistered estates which have occurred since 13 October 2013 are taken into consideration.
The Law Commission’s aim is to place an end to any doubt that exists concerning the effect of the land-registration regime on chancel-repair liabilities by making sure that it does what it was understood to do in 2003 when the 2002 Act got here in force.
The 2002 Act governs only registered land. Purchasers of unregistered land could still find that they were sure by an unexpected and undiscoverable chancel-repair liability.
The Welsh Church Act 1914 ended the appliance of ecclesiastical law in Wales, even though it preserved some forms of chancel-repair liability. It appears that the scope of chancel-repair liabilities in Wales is significantly reduced, however the Law Commission is inviting information concerning the extent of any liability that also survives.
The consultation paper invites views on the Law Commission’s provisional proposals, and the Commission wishes to know whether or not they would create more certainty within the law governing chancel liabilities. It also invites participants to supply details about any experiences or encounters that they might have had with chancel-repair liabilities, or another matter directly related to them.
The consultation will close on 15 November. The responses will probably be analysed, with a view to publishing a final report, with recommendations, next yr.
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