Covenants of sale

Joewise

I am a first time buy and am currently in the process of purchasing a 2 bed house.

My solicitor has sent through a report on the property drawing my attention to covenants contained in the original sale by the developer in 1986 which would still apply to the property.

One for example says you cannot make any external alterations to the property without permission from the developer who originally built the house.

My confusion is firstly would the developer still have so much sway on the house over 20 years on.

Secondly it appears the developer no longer exists so how would I even go about contacting them?

Just wondered if anyone else has come accross something similar...?

firstaspect

Covenants are pretty common as when the developer built the estate they would have wanted to make sure no-one made changes to one of the houses which might affect the value of the others they were also trying to sell.
It is likely that when the last one sold the developer stopped caring but the covenants still remain as they often have no time limit.

In practical terms, it is highly unlikely that anything would ever come of you making alterations, especially if the developers can't be tracked down. However theoretically someone could complain and if they could get hold of the developer the developer could come back and tell you to change it back, but it's pretty unlikely.

Richard_Webster

If the developer no longer exists and it's consent (as opposed to anyone else's) is required then the covenants is no longer enforceable and can be ignored.