THE Government is "not persuaded" that chancel-repair liability
(CRL) needs to be reformed, the junior Home Office minister Helen
Grant told MPs last week.
Mrs Grant made her comments in response to a debate sponsored by
the MP for Mid Worcestershire, Peter Luff (News, 13
October).
Mr Luff told MPs that, after the Aston Cantlow case, "the then
Government reflected on the advice that they had received from the
General Synod of the Church of England, the Law Society, and the
Law Commission, that the liability was an archaic law that should
be scrapped, and ignored that advice.
"They were right to do so. The major institutions that own land
to which the liability attaches can afford the burden, and budget
for it. To remove that useful source of income from the
cash-strapped Church would provide a windfall for some very rich
and privileged institutions."
The Government of the day amended the Land Registration Act
2002, requiring PCCs to register CRL by October 2013. Otherwise the
right to enforce it would lapse when the property was next sold.
This has led to a situation where many private homeowners,
previously unaware that their homes were subject to CRL, have been
informed that the right was being registered.
"PCCs generally do not want to enforce the liability against
their neighbours and friends. If they enforce the liability for the
first time in living memory, they incur the wrath and indignation
of the householders and landowners who were living in happy
ignorance of their liability. If they do not, they become
personally liable for the repairs and lose all grant aid from
English Heritage.
"It is no surprise to me that, since I began this campaign, I
have heard from parishes and dioceses the length and breadth of
England," Mr Luff said. "The issue is alive again, and communities
around the country are living in fear."
He used the debate to call on the Government to introduce "a
simple piece of legislation . . . to ensure that, where a PCC acts
on the advice of the Charity Commission and chooses not to enforce
the liability, its decision is binding in perpetuity and cannot be
revisited."
He said that the law at present meant that, where a PCC did not
register CRL, the liability would remain on the property until it
first changed hands after October next year. "In practice,
therefore, every landholder aware of his liability, which continues
until the time of first sale after October 2013, cannot obtain
insurance, and, until his property is sold, could still face the
possibility of a future PCC coming after him for the costs of
chancel repair."
The MP for Llanelli, Nia Griffith, urged the Government to
abolish CRL; while the MP for Stafford, Jeremy Lefroy, highlighted
research by the Team Rector of Penkridge, the Revd Greg Yerbury (Letters, 5
October), and warned: "The matter applies not just to rural
parishes, but to many urban parishes as well."
Mrs Grant said that she did not "underestimate the seriousness
and difficulty" of CRL, and "the problems that they can cause for
communities", but said that she was "not persuaded that any change
in the law is necessary. In most situations concerning private
property rights, only the parties directly involved are engaged;
but with chancel-repair liability the surrounding issues may be
important for the relationship of the clergy, congregation, and
wider community in parishes where the liability exists and may be
enforced."
She said that the requirement to register CRL by October next
year did not create any new liabilities, but merely "removes the
uncertainty and unpredictability . . . that currently surround the
possible existence of chancel-repair liability."
PCCs, she said, "cannot wish away their responsibilities, and,
in any event, the providers of public funding for the maintenance
of historic buildings will almost certainly take a close look at
the reasons behind any decision not to register or enforce the
liability".
During the debate, Mr Luff criticised the advice given by the
Church of England to parishes, and said that he hoped that the
debate would "focus the national church authorities on what I see
as serious neglect of their responsibilities".
The debate took place in Westminster Hall; so there was no
motion or vote.
Commons response. In the House of Commons, the
Second Church Estates Commissioner, Sir Tony Baldry MP, gave a
written answer on Monday to a question on CRL.
The MP for Stafford, Jeremy Lefroy, had asked: "How many acres
of land are encumbered by chancel-repair liability by the merging
of tithes with the land, either by deed or under Section 1 of the
Tithe Act 1839?"
Sir Tony replied: "The Law Commission's 1985 report Property
Law: Liability for chancel repairs estimated that around 3.75
million acres in total carried chancel-repair liability. It is
thought that some 1.5 million acres of this land is land in which
the rent charges have been merged."