Where chancel repair searches are still required

Overriding interests are legally binding against a landowner even if not apparent from an inspection of the title register or unregistered deeds. Largely these are of considerable historic origin and include interests such as 'manorial' rights and rights for churches to claim a contribution towards chancel repair.

Manorial rights date back to the time of William the Conqueror, and include sporting rights, rights to hold fairs and markets, and rights to mine below-surface minerals. Chancel repair liability came to prominence in 2004 when the House of Lords upheld a liability against Mr and Mrs Wallbank, requiring them to contribute around £250,000 in repair expenses and costs towards the upkeep of the chancel of their parish church.

Both interests come into the limelight last year following the government's decision to remove 'overriding' status from a number of interests on 13 October 2013. This change was introduced to make title registers more transparent, so that anyone buying land or property will have more information about rights affecting that land or property.

As a result, to ensure these interests remain in existence they must be registered. If not registered, they will eventually be extinguished. The Land Registry has received many applications for registration of manorial rights and chancel repair liability, and has sent out more than 82,000 notices to property owners across the country advising them that an application has been made against their land.

However extinguishment is not immediate - the interests will only be extinguished if they are not registered at the time of the next 'registrable disposition' of registered land or, in the case of unregistered land, first registration.

Conveyancers have for some time been carrying out chancel liability searches to establish whether a property being purchased is within a tithe district or parish with a known record of liability to make a financial contribution. Such searches will continue to be required after 13 October 2013 unless there is certainty that the property being purchased has since been transferred for 'valuable consideration' or registered for the first time. SJ