Property Restricted Covenants - Advice

modd1uk

Ok, our solicitors are absolutely useless, and I mean terrible. They don't contact us, they write the incorrect name on the contract, send only half of the transfer document and only yesterday were we made aware of a Covenant on the property.

This document states you cant put a fence up, a shed or any buildings without consent from Beazer Homes LTD who according to companies house are a dormant company, is this Covenant still enforceable? Both next door neighbours have conservatories outside the back, one is a brick built extension and the other is a simple conservatory, now the neighbour with the simple conservatory never asked for permission for it to be erected and its been standing for about 4 years.

The reason I ask is that we are buying the house with a half decent size garden to fit a pent roof garage in it for our car/tools etc, but if this Covenant is enforceable even though the garage falls well within the building regs then we still might not be able to erect it...if we aren't then what about a large shed, again we might not be able to erect it.

This is the property stated on the Covenant document we have.

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/935d301a0b25eb57c37ff96939f83c70/compdetails

Would be greatly appreciated if anybody has any advice as I say our solicitors are absolutely useless. The house is around 15 years old.


Just did some research and it seems Beazer Homes was purchased by Persimmon Homes who are still active, and that covenant will still stand even though beazer were the original builders, great. I bet half the people on the estate aren't even aware of this, i know the neighbour next door who erected a conservatory wasnt.

martinsurrey

These covenants are in general put in by developers to cover them while they are building the rest of the site.

They don’t want to sell half a terrace and then someone to erect a monster ugly extension which makes the rest of the houses harder to sell.

After they have finished on the site and sold everything, they generally don’t care what people do.

They could come back and try and enforce it, but why would they bother? There is nothing in it for them as they don’t generate fees through it, and it would cost a fortune to enforce.

You can purchase indemnity insurance to cover this kind of thing if someone insists if/when you come to sell, and given the simple nature and how common these are, it won’t cost much.

Search for restrictive covenant insurance

modd1uk

Ok, considering the solicitors are useless i did a bit of ringing around.

Turns out Persimmon homes who bought out Beazer homes now own the covenant because they bought out Beazer.

To erect a shed, garage or any other structure I have to provide detailed photo's, drawings and measurements along with £150+ VAT and send it all to Persimmon homes where it will be reviewed and either accepted or declined.

This has my blood boiling, they didn't build the houses they just bought the company that did after the houses were all built. The house is freehold and 15years old, numerous houses on the estate have extensions, conservatories and sheds.

The last thing we want to do is drop £115k on a house to find out we can't build the garage...one of the main reasons we bought the house for given the space it has in the rear garden.

This is our first house and I can now understand why people say buying a house is stressful. We were discussing pulling out last night and its heart breaking to say the least.

modd1uk

Ok, finally managed to get the full transfer document off the solicitors instead of 3 pages...

The first page reads something like this.

In consideration of " Insert amount here " at the direction of COMMISSION FOR THE NEW TOWNS of Glen House, Stag Place, Victoria, London, SW1E 5AJ (hereinafter called "the Transferor") paid to BEAZER HOMES LIMITED whos registered office is "blah blah "(Hereinafter called "the Developer".

Few pages on in the document, the actual restrictions read :

"Not to make of suffer to be made any substantial alterations or additions affecting the elevation external structure or stability of any building on the Property nor to erect or set up or permit to be erected or set up upon any part of the Property any new building or structure (including a wall or fence) without the previous consent in writing of the Transferor"


Now..that to me is interesting, Persimmon homes claimed they owned the Covenant, however the first page of the document clearly lists COMMISSION FOR THE NEW TOWNS to be the Transferor and BEAZER HOMES LIMITED to the "The Developer".

So yes persimmon bought out BEAZER homes, but according to this document it wouldn't of been beazer homes I had to report to anyway it would be COMMISSION FOR THE NEW TOWNS ?

If this is correct i shall see if i can contact the commission for the new towns tomorrow.

Apologies for long reply,

modd1uk

If my above post is correct....

And I have just found this....

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/801/note/made

Then is the covenant null and void ? As the Transferor who we would seek permission from no longer exists.

Ah just read that again, says " and that anything being done by the CNT or the URA immediately before 1st December 2008 may be continued by the Homes and Communities Agency (or Welsh Ministers, as the case may be).
"

I don't understand the "immediately before" bit, i shall try and ring the Homes and Communities Agency tomorrow see what they say.

propertyman

I think the "a few more pages" and that is where you have missed the point.

There is restriction on the land between the C4NT ( whose duties and rights etc and now vested in the HCA) and the developer who now own Beazer Homes, and those pages you skipped likely state that those covenants are binding on what is known a transfer of part ie the freehold of your home.

How they would come to know about your shed is another thing entirely....

modd1uk

propertyman wrote: »

I think the "a few more pages" and that is where you have missed the point.

There is restriction on the land between the C4NT ( whose duties and rights etc and now vested in the HCA) and the developer who now own Beazer Homes, and those pages you skipped likely state that those covenants are binding on what is known a transfer of part ie the freehold of your home.

How they would come to know about your shed is another thing entirely....

Not entirely sure what you mean by the transfer of part ? I know the house is freehold.

Even though it states on the document that i should contact the Transferor (Was then CNT now HCA) would I need to inform Persimmon homes of anything ?

Is there any chance i can somehow send you the transfer file (PDF) for you to have a quick glance and and see if you can make sense of it, our solicitor is worse than useless and has no idea..even though thats what she is getting paid for. It would be greatly appreciated and help me understand exactly what needs to be done.

EDIT --- It does say "Transfer Of Part - imposing restrictive covenants" at the start of the first page ?

Andy

Catti

In reality, most 'estate' houses have the same restrictions on them. Some builders are better than others and only impose the restrictions for a time period to allow them to complete the development and sell all their houses before the houses start to look different!

Others make the covenants ongoing and this always causes problems. Most people never look at their deeds and never consider that they might need to ask for permission to carry out some development on what is their own freehold property. Only when they come to sell do they find out they have breached such a covenant and then they usually offer an indemnity policy to cover that breach. However, indemnity cover is not available where attempts have been made to seek the necessary consents so do be careful about the enquiries you are making! Shouldn't be a problem before any work is carried out, but it could be if you were to do so retrospectively.

modd1uk

This is our first home so would rather do things by the book if possible, just need to make sure I ask the correct person for permission, as Persimmon (who bought out beazer) seemed to think it was them who i needed to pay and apply too, but if I have read that document correctly then it is indeed HCA who need to give approval.

There estate is full of sheds and garages, some prefabs some brick built.

It would of made sense if the restrictions were for say 10 years, as all the houses would be sold and changed by then anyway, but to have to seek permission to put up a garden shed is just simply stupid ! I can safely say that not everybody will have applied..if anybody as its not something you would think about, after all its just a shed right ?

Yorkie1

What sort of conveyancer are you using?

You can't make such important decisions on the say-so of people on a forum who have not seen the full documentation and may / may not be qualified to offer an opinion ("advice" isn't allowed on here).

I suggest you write to your solicitor, asking them to confirm in writing: a) whether the covenant binds the property you intend to buy, and b) who has the benefit of the covenant (and therefore who you should apply to for permission, if you choose to do so after purchase).

I would think that this is relatively straightfoward if all documents are in order - it's a matter of strict interpretation. It becomes more complicated if some documents are missing.

If they aren't prepared to give you a categorical assurance in writing, ask why not, and consider whether another solicitor would be prepared to do so.

dimbo61

A garden shed is not a permenant building and the same for a prefab garage ( as long as its under a certain size) but a brick built garage with Concrete base is.
So if you are going to spend £6/8000 on a brick garage it might be wise to speak to Persimmon.
If you buy and erect a prefab garage out of concrete sections and put down a concrete base ( which you can break up with a Jack hammer) you can always take it down and resell it on EBAY if they kick up and take you to court ( very unlikely but you never know)