ChancelCheck

 

Chancel repair liability is a real and continuing problem affecting millions of areas in England and Wales and has a direct financial impact on the title held by a homebuyer. Current manual chancel repair searches are costly, often inconclusive and, where a liability is discovered, exacerbate the problem by dramatically increasing the cost of insurance.

 

ChancelCheck is a unique, online screening report that instantly identifies whether or not a property is located within the boundaries of a tithe district (a sub-division) of an historical parish), which has a continuing potential to charge for chancel repair liability

 

ChancelCheck® is the only HIP compliant, online service which combines historical tithe district and parish boundary data, modern Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping techniques and information derived from the relevant Inland Revenue indices held by the national archive. As an authorised search in the new Home Information Packs, ChancelCheck should be included in every pack ChancelCheck® accurately establishes whether or not a property is within an historical tithe district that still retains the potential to charge for the cost of repairs to the church chancel as recorded within the relevant Inland Revenue indices held by the national archive and in accordance with their guidance notes.


ChancelCheck® issues either a report stating that there is a potential liability within the tithe district within the parish the property is situated or a certificate confirming that there is no risk identified for that tithe district within the national archive records.

 

Currently conveyancers operate under a number of common misconceptions about which properties may be at potential risk of chancel repair liability, such as:


  • that a property must be in a rural location

  • that the liability is in respect of repair costs for the whole church (the chancel is normally less than 20% of the total footprint)

  • that the property has to be adjacent or close by a church.

  • that the liabilitydoes not affect properties in Wales.

 

The fact is that any property within a parish can be at risk. The liability runs with the land and is an overriding interest. As such it does not have to have been registered against the title of a property in order to be enforceable by the Church of England.

 

All conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyancers should be aware that the Law Society’s Conveyancing Handbook (13th Edition) states: Where the liability is not recorded in the tithe deeds, consideration should be given as to whether it is appropriate to make enquiries

 

ChancelCheck also meets lender requirements, per the lender’s handbook to "make make all usual and necessary searches and enquiries" & "carry out any other searches which may be appropriate to the particular property taking into accounts its locality and other features".

 

Jordans is an Approved Reseller for Chancel Liability Search Limited and Additional terms apply.

 

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