What chance of chancel repair liability reform?
In July 2025, the Law Commission launched a public consultation seeking to end uncertainty over chancel repair liability (CRL) in England and Wales.
The risk posed by a pre-existing, unregistered, sometimes unknown CRL was supposed to have been resolved back in 2013 following the Land Registration Act 2002, which introduced new requirements for enforcing these liabilities against property buyers after 12th October 2013.
However, despite the provisions of the Act, some legal question marks have meant that uncertainty has remained as to whether property buyers continue to be liable in certain circumstances.
The key changes being considered by the Law Commission are to amend the Land Registration Act 2002 to ensure that it works as originally intended. This will mean that purchasers of both registered and unregistered land will not be bound by CRL unless it is either recorded on the registered title, or a caution has been lodged against first registration of the title (with a subsequent notice recorded when the title is first registered).
Where are we now?
The consultation closed in November 2025, and the Law Commission is currently reviewing responses, with its final report containing formal recommendations expected to be published sometime in 2026. Until the position is clarified, we will continue to handle requests for this policy in the same way that we have always done, providing comfort policies where a ‘potential liability’ has been identified, as well as offering cover where a specific liability has been imposed. Alongside this, we will monitor the ramifications of any legal changes as they are announced and consider the impact on our range of chancel covers. Whatever the changes to help clarify the legal position, we will still consider cover for known, registered chancel repair liability as we have always done.