From pre-
Reformation times, churches in England and Wales have been ministered by either a
vicar, who received a
stipend (salary), or a
rector or
parson who received
tithes from the parish. The rectors (of around 5,200 churches) were responsible for the repairs of the chancel of their church, while the parish members were responsible for the rest of the
building.
Monasteries and
Oxford and
Cambridge colleges could buy or receive rectorships, and thus become liable for chancel repairs. When
Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and sold their rectory (with land), or the relevant university college sold this, the chancel repair liability passed with that land and persists today, even after subdivision. The owners of such land are thus equally called
lay impropriators or
lay rectors. As far as spiritual rectors are concerned, their liability transferred to
parochial church councils by the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Measure 1923. The recovery of funds from lay rectors is governed by the
Chancel Repairs Act 1932. In concept, to be a lay rector is now entirely a burden for having taken rights over land such as
impropriated glebe (the vast majority of glebe formerly held by a vicar or clerical rector has no liability) or abbey lands, and therefore being exempt from paying the
tithes that other parts of that parish paid, as the agricultural produce or (after 1836)
rentcharges the landowner used to receive no longer apply. Lay rectors would usually be wealthy landowners owning a substantial amount of property in the parish. If a parish's liability only falls under headings a) or b) then those persons (a corporate/charitable body or private individual) are liable only; however, some geographically diverse parishes had extraneous
tithings and in a few cases in the 19th century a merger of the rectory/rectorial land and tithes into one piece of land as a whole took place, The case is constitutionally significant for finding that a parochial parish council is not a "core public authority" under the
Human Rights Act 1998. The historic rectory of St John the Baptist church, Aston Cantlow was acquired by the
Priors of Maxstoke in 1345 leaving a
"discharged vicarage" (as the name for the
living of the priest) and creating lay impropriators (lay rectors) of the
glebe land – e.g. in 1848 this was the
Earl of Abergavenny.
Registration of liability Subsequent to the 2003 case, it became best practice Through provisions made under the power of the
Land Registration Act 2002, the onus was put on
parochial church councils to identify all affected land and register their interest before 13 October 2013. This means that chancel repair liability is no longer an "overriding interest" protected under the Land Registration Act 2002. The assumption has been made that, since that date, new owners of land are only bound by chancel repair liability where it was already entered on the
Title Register database kept by the
Land Registry. The
Law Society expressed doubts about this in 2006. Some parochial church councils have therefore followed the process in order to secure a valuable asset. Others may have concluded that registering the right to claim chancel repair was likely to damage the church's mission or reputation in the local community, and have taken no action. An online petition to the Prime Minister requesting legislation to remove this liability resulted in the following response in 2008:
Peter Luff,
MP for Mid Worcestershire led an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on 17 October 2012 to seek a change in the law, above and beyond the required registration entries and notifications on all affected properties by 13 October 2013. The minister responsible was not convinced that a change was necessary at the time.
Chancel Repairs Bill 2014 On 16 July 2014,
Lord Avebury gave the first reading to a new Chancel Repairs Bill, which would have had the effect of ending all liability of lay rectors for the repair of the chancels of churches and chapels in England. Lord Avebury caused to be printed these Explanatory Notes. This Bill made no further progress in the session of Parliament, and, consequently, it has been "lost" – the bill is no longer before Parliament. ==See also==