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We will search for liability for repairs for any named property. The National Archives have produced a leaflet with an introduction to this subject. Chancel Repairs: an Introduction The duty of repairing the chancel of an ancient parish church fell on the owner of the rectorial property and was more particularly associated with the rectorial tithes which, in so far as they had not already been commuted into corn-rents or allotments of land, were either merged or commuted into tithe rentcharge under the Tithe Act 1836. Until the Chancel Repairs Act 1932 transferred jurisdiction to County Courts, legal proceedings to enforce liability for repairs could be brought in ecclesiastical courts. As far as spiritual rectors were concerned, their liability was for the most part transferred to parochial church councils by the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Measure 1923. However, there still subsisted in 1936 a substantial amount of rectorial rentcharge in the ownership of ecclesiastical corporations, universities and colleges and other corporate bodies as well as private persons (commonly known as lay rectors). In other cases rectorial tithes and tithe rentcharge had been merged in land under the Tithe Acts and liability attached to the ownership of that land. Following the Tithe Act 1936 which extinguished all tithe rentcharge, it was necessary to provide for liability for chancel repairs that had hitherto attached to the ownership of rectorial tithe rentcharge and any vicarial rentcharge that exceptionally fell into the same category. The proportionate liability of all these tithe-owners was ascertained and this is set out in a Record of Ascertainments (IR 104). The liability continues in the case of ecclesiastical corporations, certain universities and colleges, the owners of merged land and the owners of land in which tithe rentcharge was constructively merged by the operation of the Tithe Act 1936, s.2l. In all other cases where there was liability in respect of the ownership of tithe rentcharge, it was extinguished and compensation paid by the tithe-owner to the appropriate ecclesiastical authorities. This compensation took the form of an issue of stock, which was deducted from the amount which otherwise would have been issued to the tithe-owner. Bob (Contact us by email) Return to Home Page
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