House of God

Religion always used to be a matter of personal choice, as indeed did making a donation to help fix that leaky church roof or vandalised stain glass window. Not anymore it seems.
Now you can be part of the ‘House of God’ whether you like it or not.
It follows the unearthing of an archaic church law that could spell misery and financial uncertainty for thousands of existing home owners in England and Wales.

A high court ruling could see a pensioner and his wife facing potential financial ruin by the Church of England, which has succeeded in reactivating a medieval law stating the ownership of a piece of farmland makes the couple personally responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of repairs to the local church chancel, not to mention 15 years of legal costs which will leave them with a bill of around £500,000.00.

When the decision is made on exactly how much the Wallbanks must pay up it means the C of E can hunt down every other homeowner whose houses, gardens or even patios have been constructed on old church land, forcing them to pay unrestricted costs for building repairs to their local church.

When the couple lost their test case in the House of Lords 3 years ago, it gave one of the largest land owners the green light to seek out all other property owners in England and Wales who were in possession of land that once belonged to the church, often as far back as medieval times.
The imininent High Court ruling will then set a precedent for an estimated 5000 parishes opening the flood gates for demands on a range of payments.

Old church land now forms everything from parts of peoples kitchen floors to patios fields and private gardens. It is also part of communal and council land such as schools and hospitals.

Anyone owning this land, whether it’s a square metre or 5 acres, is likely to be liable to foot the bill for building repairs as soon as they are tracked down by the local church via the Parochial Church Council.

Somewhere I seemed to of missed the point but I thought the church was a spiritual organization not legalised extortion!

Article found in ‘Professional Builder’ magazine March 2007