How to find unlisted covenants!

LeonandAlison

This may be stating the obvious but i thought i would offer some advise as there are a lot of FTBs right now. The title deed for the house we were buying did not have the covenants listed, and there was no record of them since the original plot of land was used to build houses on.

However, a quick and easy way of finding the covenant on the original plot of land is to check the title deeds of the neighbouring houses/buildings particularly if a terrace is involved. This can be done on the land registry website, https://www.landregistry.gov.uk, and only costs £3 per house.

As they may be built from the same original plot of land, the other deeds may list the covenants, and this will help give you an idea of any risks relating to restrive covenants for your potential property. Its also worth showing this to the covenant insurers if you take out such insurance as it allows them to measure their risk.

We recently followed this advice and were successful (the advice came from my mother-in-law, a solicitor with a background in conveyancing). Hope some of you find this useful.

Doozergirl

That's really clever, thanks.

LeonandAlison

No problem, it will be probably be most useful where plots of land from a large estate were sold off, hence the restrictive covenants in the first place.

poppysarah

Isn't that the job of the conveyancer to ensure that you know about all covenants?

LeonandAlison

Yes it is. Normally they will be listed on the deeds but sometimes there is no trace of them. If your using a cheap solicitor or one of those conveyancing companies they may just leave it if they are unlisted and suggest the insurance route.

The solicitors will always charge you for the search fees etc anyway as their costs, the difference with doing this bit yourself is your not going to get charged for their time etc.

If theres no trace you can usually get insurance anyway, however it will reduce the premiums if you can provide some evidence of the risk.

WillowCat

Last year I was buying a 1930's bungalow, which had nothing untoward on the deeds.

While doing my research for the property I had inadvertently downloaded the land registry details for the property next door (inadvertently because I guessed the wrong address - doh!)

I noticed that the property next door had rights over the one I was buying in their title, but the details were not included in my title.

Needless to say I informed my solicitor - but if it hadn't been for my mistake the issue would not have been found during the conveyance.

I had to pull out for other reasons so I'll never know what would have happened, but certainly when I buy again I'll download title for adjoining properties. At only £3 per time it seems crazy not to.

Robert_Sterling_3

I might have £6 worth on my two neighbours deeds.

I did not think that the Land Registry had a copy of the deeds ???

Perhaps I am mixing that up with the Actual Original Paper Version perhaps they have an electronic copy.

LeonandAlison

There are electronic copies of the both the title deeds and plans of houses registered with the land registry. Both cost £3 a time.

Land should be registered with the land registry.

Doozergirl

LeonandAlison wrote: »

No problem, it will be probably be most useful where plots of land from a large estate were sold off, hence the restrictive covenants in the first place.

It's absolutely applicable to us. Original deeds lost, unknown covenants registered and there's now an entire housing estate on the land that belonged to the big old house of which we own the barn. We have insurance, not sure if it covers the next buyers but it will be good for them to know what those covenants might be.

Richard_Webster

Yes, this is a common ploy in these circumstances.

If I am acting for a buyer and there is a reference to the property being subject to covennats but no details were supplied etc on first registration then I ask for an indemnity policy. If the seller's solicitor supplies me with official copies of nearby properties showing details of the covenants then, depending on the details, I may well be satisfed and tell my client it is OK, but I would still warn him that a future mega fussy buyer's solicitor might want an indemnity policy.

If I am acting for a seller I would see if I could find othe covenants on nearby properties as OP suggested. Here it is a question of time and cost. If I can get the info from LR enquires without having to buy official copies on the off chance then the client may be happy if I spend £3 on one set that does show the covenants rather than £100-£200 on a restrictive covenant indemnity policy. If they won't tell me on the phone, then I would have to apply for copies of a few nearby titles in the hope that the covenants might be shown - this would take extra time and the client might still end up paying for an indemnity policy as well as for the official copies because the copies don't show anything. Also, of course, mega fussy buyere's solcitor might refuse to accep tthe details on the nearby title, so we would be no further forward!