Chancel Repairs

Chancel Searches are a relatively new phenomenon seemingly following and piggy backing on the fallout from a high profile 2003 court case relating to chancel repair obligations. In brief the case was as follows:

Aston Cantlow v Wallbanks Case (2003)

Mr & Mrs Wallbank inherited a farm holding in 1986, which was within a historical parish boundary's. When they inherited the property they also inherited the Chancel repair liabilities by succession. In 1990 the Church (Chancel) was in need of repairs, and in 1994 the Parochial Church Council requested the the Wallbanks pay for the cost of repairs.

The Wallbanks chose to dispute their liability, and ultimately lost their case being ordered to pay somewhere in the region of £200,000 towards repairs (the cost increasing significantly in the 9 years the case took to get to the House of Lords! As well as a hefty bill for legal expenses incurred by the Church, around £250,000!

It is interesting to note that when the property was originally purchased by their preprocessors in 1970, at the time of purchase noted in the deeds was an ancient lay rector chancel repair liability, however at the previous owner had queries this in 1968 and recieved a response from the then vicar and Parochial Church Council (PCC) via the Coventry Diocese's legal advisors that the liabilty held no weight in current law.

It is estimated in England and Wales there are approximately 5200 churches that could enforce Chancel Repairs upon property / land owners, and that some 3.5 million of acres of land are affected and therefore have the potential liability of chancel repair liability.