History - Chancel Repair Liability
Parochial System
Chancel repair liability has existed since before the accession of King Richard 1 in 1189 when the parochial system was first getting established. The local land owners would build the church and provide the land for the church yard. They would also provide the rectory (also called parsonage) where the rector lived and the glebe (land to farm) by the way of endowment for the rector. So every parish had its rector whose principle sources of income were the glebe (such land was not necessarily situated close to the proximity of the church or next to the rectory/parsonage) and tithes (payment in kind) from the parishioners. This income provided both for his maintenance and a fund from which he could pay for chancel repairs.
Tithes
The tithe (payment in kind) was an annual payment of an agreed proportion (originally one-tenth) of the yearly produce of the land. E.g. wool, milk, corn, barley etc).
Advowson/Monasteries
The rector had a value due to the ownership of the rectory, glebe and having the benefit of the tithes. The right to appoint the rector (known as an advowson) generally belonged to the land owner who originally built and endowed the parish church and his successors. Advowsons could only be given to ecclesiastical persons – either an individual or an entity. During the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries many advowson were acquired by monasteries who waited for the current rector to vacate, then presented themselves, appointed deputies (vicars), and thereby appropriated the rectory, the glebe and also the responsibility of the chancel repair.
The Reformation
During the reign of Henry VIII the reformation took place and in 1536 the dissolution of the monasteries. Their property, which included the rectories and their glebe, were appropriated to the Crown. The Suppression of Religious Houses Act enabled the Crown to dispose of the property, including the rectories and glebe to non clergy (lay) to institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge, and also to many individuals. Where the rectorial property went so did the benefit of the tithes and chancel repair liability. If the glebe was distributed between more than one new owners, then there was a (joint and several) division of the chancel repair liability. The numerous remaining rectories remained in the hands and ownership of the rector who continued to receive the income from the glebe and tithes.
Enclosures Acts (Parliament)
From early times, money payments (tithe rentcharge) had begun to be substituted for tithe. This process accelerated from the beginning of the 1700s up to 1836 with the drive to improve the land and its yields. There were approximately 2230 Enclosure Acts covering half of English parishes of which the majority of the records with a map are held locally. This enclosure was a purely local affair; achieved by the passing of an individual Act of Parliament, called an Enclosure Act and was prompted by local landowners. It removed obligation to pay tithes, either by allotting land to the rector (approx 75% of the 2230) in lieu of tithes, or by substituting a fixed money payment (approx 25% of the 2230) called a rentcharge (corn rent) which was based on the price of corn. With land acquired by the rector went the chancel repair liability. The Tithe Act 1936 did not deal with existing tithe rentcharges (corn rent) prior to the Tithe Act of 1836.
The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836
By 1836 tithes were still payable in most of the parishes in England and Wales. A commission was set up to oversee the commutation of all tithes (payment in kind) to a monetary payment called a tithe rent charge (corn rent) which were to be based on the price of wheat, barley, and oats. The annual payment was not subject to local variation, was adjusted annually thus preserving the purchasing power and a record was to be kept so that a prospective purchaser of land would know exactly what he would have to pay annually to the tithe owner. The process of commutation was long.
The commissioner’s first task was to establish to what extent commutation had already taken place (Tithe Files). Then a survey of the whole of England was necessary to determine the boundaries of land and their acreage. The resulting maps, were to become known as tithe maps and in the majority of case reflected the tithe districts upon which apportionment was to be based,. The tithe owners and landowners then agreed the apportionment, the tithe rentcharge to be paid.
Existing tithe rentcharges (corn rents) which already existed under any previous Enclosure Act before 1836 were left unaffected and continued to be paid instead. The chancel repair liability remained with the land owner.
The Tithe Act 1936
Prior to 1936 various acts made provision for the liability to pay tithe rentcharge (corn rents) to be extinguished by redemption of the charge by payment of a lump sum only. The Tithe Act 1936 abolished all tithe rentcharge (corn rents) prior to 2nd October 1936 and replaced them by redemption annuities payable for 60 years ending on 1st October 1996 unless redeemed or other wise extinguished in the meantime. The Tithe Act 1936 did not deal with existing tithe rentcharges (corn rent)prior to the Tithe Act of 1836.
The Tithe Redemption Committee checked the claims submitted by the tithe owners who had been entitled to collect the rentcharge payable under the Tithe Act 1836. It then compensated the former tithe-owners out of Government stock and set up the Tithe Redemption Commission to collect the redemption annuities for the State. It was abandoned in 1956, by which time about 5,900 of the 11,830 tithe districts had been dealt with. The whole scheme as envisaged by the 1936 Act was wound up prematurely under the Finance Act 1977.
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