In just over a fortnight’s time it will be Christmas Day.
We will be sat with a mimosa, surrounded by 6ft high piles of wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, children demanding our attention and more than likely an unwanted Christmas present or two.
Some of us will have attended midnight mass and others will be getting ready for the Christmas morning service.
Perhaps this is the only time of year that we attend our local church, along with our neighbours, each wishing each other a very Merry Christmas. We may feel slightly guilty sat in a pew, so when the bowl subtly comes out for donations (for the leaky roof) we throw in a £10 or £20 note to repent our sins.
But what if the church demanded £100,000 from both you and your neighbours before you left for chancel repairs?
That’s an awful lot of sinning.
In the case of Andrew and Gail Wallbank they were presented with a bill for major repairs at their local church.
The couple inherited Glebe Farm from Gail’s father in 1990 and soon after a bill for £100,000 from St John the Baptist church.
They spent 18 years in a legal battle, but lost their fight and had to sell their property1.
Matthew Seward, Deputy Chief Executive of the National Churches Trust said: “Everyone wants these ancient churches always to be there and they would say in survey after survey that they would miss them if they disappeared. But it costs a great deal of money to maintain such buildings, and at present there just aren’t enough people willing to pay for that.”
Conveyancing Data Services offers a potential chancel liability insurance which will protect your client from a rather large repair bill.
From just £15.44 inc IPT for a residential policy and from £54.75 inc IPT for a commercial policy this insurance will give your client peace of mind that they won’t be getting an unwanted present from the church this Christmas.
References
1 http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/sep/28/glebe-farm-church-bill-sale
This article was submitted to be published by Conveyancing Data Services as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
