Mrs Simplesimon and I are currently going through the long and eye-wateringly expensive journey of buying our first property having been renting for the last 5 years.
Today I received a letter from our solicitor informing me of the risk of Chancel Repair Liability. This is something I'd never previously heard of, and now that I have heard of it I struggle to comprehend how in the hell it's still law. Apparently, if you own property on land that once belonged to the church (according to maps from around or before the time of Henry VIII) then you're automatically liable for a potentially unlimited sum of money, on an unlimited number of occasions, to fund repairs to the chancel of said church.
What century is this?!
Even more unbelievable is the fact that the church can and do still utilitise this anachronistic law to extort money for the upkeep of crumbling buildings with congregations probably numbering single figures. I'm totally baffled. Seems our only option is to pay the (admittedly tiny) insurance premium and suck it up.
I half expected to see the solicitors letter dated April 1st.
Has anyone else been stung by this injustice?
I feel a letter to my MP coming on.
Anyway, must dash. I don't want to be late for compulsory longbow practice...
Today I received a letter from our solicitor informing me of the risk of Chancel Repair Liability. This is something I'd never previously heard of, and now that I have heard of it I struggle to comprehend how in the hell it's still law. Apparently, if you own property on land that once belonged to the church (according to maps from around or before the time of Henry VIII) then you're automatically liable for a potentially unlimited sum of money, on an unlimited number of occasions, to fund repairs to the chancel of said church.
What century is this?!
Even more unbelievable is the fact that the church can and do still utilitise this anachronistic law to extort money for the upkeep of crumbling buildings with congregations probably numbering single figures. I'm totally baffled. Seems our only option is to pay the (admittedly tiny) insurance premium and suck it up.
I half expected to see the solicitors letter dated April 1st.
Has anyone else been stung by this injustice?
I feel a letter to my MP coming on.
Anyway, must dash. I don't want to be late for compulsory longbow practice...