Churches in England asking neighboring homeowners to pay for church repairs

[Stavro]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-26373756

 

An ancient law which can force homeowners to pay for their local church's repairs is blighting properties and depressing house sales, say campaigners. But what is chancel repair liability and what is the best way to deal with it?

 

When Elaine Hession opened the letter she almost passed out and her partner Jonathan Hill turned "as white as a ghost".

 

Last month the couple received a notice from the Land Registry informing them their local church had registered its right to make them contribute to the cost of repairs.

 

Under chancel repair liability, homeowners living within the parishes of churches built before 1536 can be held liable for costs. The law dates back to the time of Henry VIII and, although actual claims are rare, in 2009 Adrian and Gail Wallbank from Warwickshire sold their home after losing an 18-year legal case and being left with costs of £250,000.

[Miss Bea]

Bad enough for them. For us, I'd jolly well make sure my home was not any near one of those!

[stuagu]

Very interesting... Im only 200 yatds from a church... Hope they dont get any ideas!

There are apparently.loads of odd laws that are years... Sometimes centuries out of date... I temembet when we took exams a teacher said that because of some old law if we wore a sword or something you could half way thru the exam demand beer and cheese!!!.... I live in a strange strange country. :-)

[tekmantwo]

Very interesting... Im only 200 yatds from a church... Hope they dont get any ideas!

 

Stu, your house is the personal home of a minister of another religion, who also holds an appointed position in that organization, and it will go against the beliefs of your chosen religion to further the interest of an opposing system by paying for building upkeep.

 

youll be ok.....lol..

[LeslieDean]

HAHAHA! We are in the Bible Belt and I know,how,that would go over here! What, give up my money for,shine and meth? Rednecks are funny people in these parts.

[Miss Bea]

Very interesting... Im only 200 yatds from a church... Hope they dont get any ideas!

There are apparently.loads of odd laws that are years... Sometimes centuries out of date... I temembet when we took exams a teacher said that because of some old law if we wore a sword or something you could half way thru the exam demand beer and cheese!!!.... I live in a strange strange country. :-)

We all do, brother!

[Miss Bea]

HAHAHA! We are in the Bible Belt and I know,how,that would go over here! What, give up my money for,shine and meth? Rednecks are funny people in these parts.

Leslie, you are just funny. Love this comment!

[retroHelen]

The only way you could be sure of not being liable for chancel repairs is to move out of England.

 

All the land in England belonged to the Catholic church and then under Henry VIII 's dissolution of the Monasteries, he took over all the land as head of the Church, but it was still ruled at a local level by Parish Councils ( all rural areas still are, bigger towns and cities are just conglomerates of wards into Boroughs of old parish areas too) though from Henry onward they were parishes of the Church of England that became the Protestant Church by the time of the rule of his daughter Elizabeth I.

 

If you are within any ancient church parish or an area under a Parish Council, you are liable to the nearest church and the Church of England still claims lots of Parish areas and is still the country's biggest land owner. Many times on the Ministry, we have been challenged by a rattled C of E clergyman has complaining about us preaching on' his Parish area' and we should leave His People alone - bit of a joke if you met Moslems, Buddhists, atheists or pagans etc there!  

 

Sad for those sent an enormous bill for church repairs and challenge it, lose and have to sell their property to pay for it and legal fees. Then the next buyer has the same worry hanging over them:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/8316340.stm

 

Time this was sorted. Publicity of this has added to the problem. In the past churches that were declining and unable to look after their upkeep were closed and the few remaining parishoners sent to the next parish. the building was then sold off,to be demolished or converted to private homes/apartments. Now some Parish Councils are seeing an opportunity, and sending thousands of warnings of bills to people who are not C of E themselves, just living on what was once church land or within it's ancient parish boundaries.It's an act of desperation that is not enamouring the waning church with anyone.

 

If they are going to insist on reviving this old law, just because it was never officially ended, then  to add to what was said above, - all men should be doing 2 hours of longbow practice most days except Sunday, in case the sovereign needs them in war. All the taxis in London should carry 'a bale of hay for their horse', as it was never officially repealed and there's many more similar ridiculous laws out there that could apply too.

Edited March 29, 2014 by retroHelen