This online event is a part of our public consultation, following publication of the Chancel Repair Liability and Registration Consultation Paper. The Consultation Paper and a summary are available on the project webpage, here, together with more information about the project. A form for responding to the consultation can also be found on that page.
Following 13 October 2013, the relationship between chancel repair liability and registered land was supposed to have been clarified. From that date, chancel repair liability ceased to be an overriding interest under the Land Registration Act 2002, and it was thought that a chancel repair liability would need to be registered by entry of a notice in order to bind a purchaser of registered land.
Nevertheless, many purchasers of registered land continue to buy chancel repair insurance or pay for chancel repairs searches even where there is no registered liability. We think that the continued use of insurance and searches may be due to uncertainties about the effect of the current law and, in particular, about whether a purchaser of land may be bound by an unregistered chancel repair liability.
The consultation paper is split into two parts.
Part I provides a history of the law governing chancel repair liability from its medieval origins through to the 20th century (including the effect on the liability of the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, and of the enclosure of common land and the abolition of tithes in the 18th and 19th centuries). Part 1 also discusses the nature of property rights and the question of whether the LRA 2002 applies as intended to chancel repair liability if the liability turns out not to be a property right.
Part II of the paper discusses potential reforms of the LRA 2002 to deal with uncertainties about the legal status of chancel repair liability and contains consultation questions about consultees' experiences with the liability.
The response to our questions and provisional proposals will inform our recommendations to Government. Consultees can respond during the consultation period, which will run until 15 November 2025.
This event is open to all and will be held online. There will be at least 30 minutes at the end of the presentation for questions.
Book your place now.
