Covenant in flat deeds, help

Oriana_2

Hi everyone,

First post, so will try and remember everything.

I am up in Scotland. We recently completed on a flat (not exchanged yet, but offers are binding here) and have now had the deeds through with a heap of stuff from Barrett Homes. The covenants were attached in 1986 when the place was built.

One of the covenants is that the owners of each feu can only have one cat or one dog. We have three cats. We did not know this until now and had specifically asked the owner if our cats would be a problem. Our cats are indoor, so our solicitor said to just ignore the covenant as it probably wouldn't be enforced unless the pets caused a problem. She has also said they may find it hard to enforce because the cats wouldn't be present in any communal areas being indoor etc.

I am obviously still a bit concerned in case we get a neighbour who hates animals and reports us to Barrett. Does anyone have any advice as to whether we should just ignore the covenant and see what happens, or if we should write to Barrett homes etc and explain the situation (probably = lots of money)

Does anyone have any experience on this?

The other covenant is each flat can only have one car parked in the car park, but obviously this could be enforced. Again something we asked vendor before buying as I was thinking of getting a car and there's nowhere to park nearby.

Raggie

not sure if this helps.. but our house (in england) has a lot of covernants on it.. clolours & Styles of windows.. no rabbits.. front garden to be turffed... garden could not be converted to right of way (?!!??) ours was built in 1990. along with the other 200 odd houses in this development..

they may have been enforced once.. but as far as I can tell no one pays a blind but of notice any more.. windows in every style and colour.. neighbours had rabits.. etc.. not saying it may not be a problem when some come to sell.. but in the main they are being ignored..

I understod from those who know (or not).. that the convernants are generaly in place to ensure a development did not breach its original planning application guidlines.. but after 20 years.. I think your on good ground..and should listed to your solicitor..

or if your realy worried.. try to get them to put it in writing.. that way any comeback in the future you were going on their advice....

jennifernil

Are Barratt what are known as the "Feu Superiors"? I have been told that the rights of Feu Superiors to enforce conditions in the title were abolished a couple of years ago, now it is up to neighbouring owners to do this. In our daughter's title for her flat (in Glasgow) which we bought in 2003 it says the property can only be occupied by families. We nearly pulled out as she is a student and needs to rent out a room. However we discovered that most of the flats are either owned by or rented out to students, so our solicitor said it was unlikely any of them would want to enforce the condition!
This may be what your solicitor was talking about, ask him about it.
Sounds like you will be ok if your cats keep out of the way of any cat haters!
And don't bother contacting Barratt.

The parking is a bit more difficult. Will you have an allocated space? There may also be space for visitors. Some residents may not own a car, you may be able to "rent" their space. Our daughter has no parking so has to pay for an on-street residents permit, £135 per annum.

samspam

Nobody takes a blind bit of notice of their covenents. I live in a brand new house and already somebody has paved over their front garden which should only be turfed and someone else has painted their front door black when it should remain blue.

They re in place to keep the development looking uniform and respectable, hence there are often covenents about only keeping domestic pets.

I wouldn't worry, unless someone complains!

cattie

In the area where I live there is a covenant on all the land stating that no premises selling alcohol are allowed.

However, about 18months ago a late night opening grocery store selling alcohol opened up. This shop has created a quite a few problems with gangs of youths hanging around it every night.

Despite petitions & the intervention of local mp's, it seems that the covenant is not actually enforceable. I suspect it may be different if it were the builder/developer taking action instead of just the concerned residents.

tifnstav

Don't contact Barratt! They won't come round looking, they'll probably never go near your property again!
I'm sure that you will live happily ever after with your cats in perfect harmony!
Even when people do breach covenants they can either rectify it, ie get rid of some cats or paint the door blue again or relay a lawn, or alternatively get indemnity insurance.