Caravan and restrictive covenant next door - what would you do?!

treacle

My neighbours are selling up and tonight the potential purchasers rang out of the blue to say that there is a restrictive covenant which requires them to get permission from neighbours either side in order to put a caravan on their drive.

I asked how big their caravan was and was told it is 20ft. Having measured the boundary it would seem that this is pretty big and is going to sit nearly the whole length of our front garden.

At the moment we have a low level boundary wall and the potential purchaser suggested they wanted to put up new 6ft fence. I'm not sure this will obscure the caravan as I'm guessing most will sit around 8ft tall?

A moving date has already been mentioned and I feel that this has put me and OH in difficult position. I'm assuming our neighbours knew of this issue but were hoping as things progressed we would accept situation. It seems there would be nowhere for caravan to go but directly the other side of boundary wall so always on view (even with a new fence).

We already have delapidated caravan sitting on our other neighbours drive (but there seems to be no covenant on theirs and our property).

I'm not particularly snobby about caravans - I'm more concerned about the size which would seem to be out of proportion to our property and outlook.

What would you do?!:money:

KellsBells

I would ask if there was anywhere else they could possibly house it - as much as you don't want to make waves with your new neighbours, it isn't really fair on you. (And you WERE there first!!!)

You are within your rights to refuse, I guess...

oldandhappy

In your situation I would not like it one little bit and would say so too....when we lived in a conventional street we stored ours in a nearby caravan storage compound which was worth every penny. Why should you have your views spoilt/changed. I hope you can resolve this without conflict.

MJMum

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catkins

Well personally I do not really see what the problem is with a caravan (or whatever) sitting on somebody else's drive. I am actually quite surprised that there is a restrictive covenant - would have thought you could put what you like on your drive.

I do not have a caravan nor have ever had one but if I wanted to put one on my drive I would not expect my neighbour's to complain. I don't see how it will spoil the outlook - how much time do you spend looking out the front? A neighbour across the road from me parks his very large transit van right outside my house every evening so if I look out that is all I can see - does not bother me after all he has every right to park it there

silvercar

object! This is your home that you live in, you don't want caravans on either side of you so object. Thats why the covenant is there so use it.

OK your neighbours' buyers may pull out, your neighbours will be peeved, but they are moving soon.

If nothing else, think how easy it will be to sell your house with ageing caravans on both sides of you.

RabbitMad

Ask yourself WWJD? (That's not "What would Jesus Do?" but rather "What would Jeremy (clarkson) Do?")

A caravan in a street near me reduced the value of the neighbours house by over £20K and it took over a year to sell. I viewed it and would have snapped it up if it wasn't for the the caravan.
The house was lovely, had a nice large south facing garden. The reason I know it reduced the value by over £20K was an Identical style house in another street (that wasn't quite as nice inside, was more overlooked and had a north facing garden) without a caravan next door went almost the instant it was put on the market.

Say NO! - Its the only sensible option.

Caravans are the spawn of satan and should be exorcised from the planet!

(You might get the impression that I don't like caravans?)

Doozergirl

I'd say no aswell. If your neighbour were to seek planning permission to build a permanent structure as big as this caravan on their drive (it's as long as my lounge :eek:) you can bet they'd turn it down. Just because a caravan isn't a permanent structure, doesn't mean it isn't an eyesore.

If you have the option of saying no to something which you are obviously not happy about, then you should do so. I'd go and have a chat with the other neighbours, see what they think. Safety in numbers and all that!

Our next door neighbours have a honking great one which appears sometimes, it obviously lives somewhere else most of the time.

TJ27

I got rid of my own caravan only a few days ago, partly because I got fed up with it being outside my lounge window. If my own caravan gets me down, imagine what somebody else's would do.

Secure compounds are relativley cheap and convenient. If I got another van that's where I'd be putting it.

Say no.

pinkshoes

I'd go and speak to the neighbour in the house the other side and see what they think. 20 ft long and 8ft high isn't pretty, and you'd have to look at it ever time you looked out your window...

Don't agree to it out of obligation, because you'll only end up feeling annoyed every time you look out your window. One caravan in the street is quite enough...

treacle

Thankyou for all your responses so far especially Rabbitmad (made me laugh after a sleepless night worrying about the god damn situation).

Our neighbour who is selling rang this morning first thing which makes us more convinced he was trying to avoid the issue "Oh didn't I mention the caravan".

As others have suggested we said to ask the potential purchaser to look to store it elsewhere first. Fortunately for our neighbour the other side, his house sits forward of their drive so he won't see it anyway, so obviously has no objections.

So at this stage we have said that we do object and am desperately trying not to feel too bad. I guess if they like the property that much that will look to store the caravan elsewhere!

Will keep you posted.