On 15 July 2025, the Law Commission published a consultation paper proposing that chancel repair liability (CRL) should only affect property buyers if it is registered against the property title.
What is Chancel Repair Liability?
Chancel Repair Liability (CRL) is a little-known historic legal obligation requiring certain landowners, known traditionally as “lay rectors”, to contribute to the cost of repairing the chancel (the Eastern part) of a parish church.
Although rare in practice, CRL can still affect both residential and commercial land and has long been a source of uncertainty in property transactions.
Current Legal Position
Historically, CRL was classified as an overriding interest, meaning it could bind new property owners even if there was no registered entry and the owners were unaware of its existence.
However, when CRL ceased to be an overriding interest on 13 October 2013, it was generally understood that it would become subject to the substantive provisions in the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002), which introduces new requirements for enforcing CRL against purchasers of land for valuable consideration:
Registered Land:
It is generally accepted that a purchaser is only bound by CRL if it is protected by a registered notice on the title. If no such notice exists, the purchaser will acquire the land free from CRL.
Unregistered Land:
The LRA 2002 does not apply directly to unregistered land, so CRL continues to bind the landowner until the land is first registered.
A church may protect its interest by lodging a caution against first registration. If a caution is in place, the Land Registry will notify the cautioner when an application for registration is made, allowing the church to enter a notice on the register.
If no caution is lodged, the liability may be lost upon first registration.
Ongoing Uncertainties and Legal Loopholes
Despite the 2013 reforms, several legal uncertainties remain:
- Nature of CRL as a proprietary interest – there is a technical argument that CRL may not constitute an interest in land capable of registration. If correct, this would mean that CRL falls outside the scope of the LRA 2002 and could still bind purchasers regardless of registration.
- Transfers without consideration – where registered land is transferred without consideration (e.g. by gift, inheritance, or insolvency), the transferee may still take the land subject to CRL, even if no notice is registered.
- Challenges with unregistered land – the uncertainty over whether CRL is an interest in land also raises doubts about the validity of lodging a caution against first registration.
Moreover, even after registration, the title may be vulnerable to rectification, meaning there is no definitive mechanism to ensure CRL is extinguished if not protected at the point of first registration.
Because of these uncertainties, people often pay for expensive searches or insurance just to be safe, which adds time and cost to property transactions.
What is being proposed?
The Law Commission wants to remove all the remaining uncertainty by proposing new rules that would:
- Make It Official and amend the LRA 2002 to specifically confirm that CRL is a registrable interest in land and therefore is only enforceable against buyers of registered land if it is registered by notice on the title.
- Apply retrospectively with the rules applying to all CRL notices and land transfers since the LRA 2002 came into force in 2002.
- Address the uncertainty around unregistered land by confirming that CRL can be protected by a caution against first registration and requiring that any notice must be recorded at the time of first registration.
- Reduce costs and delays in property transactions by removing the need for CRL searches and insurance where no notice is registered.
Why it matters to you
- For Property Buyers: These changes would provide much-needed clarity, reduce risk, and save you money and time. You would know for sure whether a property has this liability just by looking at the official record.
- For Churches: The proposal still allows churches to protect their rights by making sure they are registered. The new rules simply require transparency, which is fairer for everyone.
Next Steps
The Law Commission is inviting feedback from all stakeholders, including property owners, buyers, conveyancers, and churches. The consultation closes on 15 November 2025.
Interested landowners, particularly those involved in church property or rural estates, may wish to respond to the consultation.
If you have questions about how this might affect you, please contact us.