Leaseholder permission for a woodburner?

duggo1

Daft question maybe but has anyone ever been prevented from installing a woodburner due to restrictive covenants in their title deeds?
As we are leaseholders we are supposed to ask our leaseholder before we alter the property. We phoned to check if it was ok with them, and they said we would need to check our deeds to ensure it was allowed, and were going to charge us £99 for the privilege. (Or free if we did it ourselves!)

I've downloaded our register title from the land registry and can't see anything in the restrictive covenants re woodburners, but I'm not sure if there is something else I should check, or am I and our leaseholders being paranoid, and deeds would never prohibit a woodburner?

Would appreciate it, if anyone has any experience of this, as its the last hurdle before going ahead :j

Swipe

How would they ever know even if there was a clause? You don't know and neither would your neighbours. You could just take the stove with you when you move and block the fireplace up and no one would be the wiser.

duggo1

I guess I just don't want someone saying we can't have it and having to take it out again.

Ectophile

I can't help thinking that if a house has a chimney, then it was always intended to have a fire of some sort - so there's very little chance that someone would be daft enough to put in a covenant saying you can't have a fire.

Of course, that wouldn't apply if you don't have a chimney and need a new flue added.

duggo1

Lol
We don't have a chimney!

Swipe

duggo1 wrote: »

Lol
We don't have a chimney!

If you have gas central heating I'd forget it then. Definitely not worth the expense and hassle. I'd swap my stove for gas central heating at the drop of a hat.

duggo1

Don't worry we would keep the central heating, just get rid of the ugly gas fire we rarely use.
The woodburner is more for ambience than convenience or cost. I grew up with a real fire and really miss it. Evenings in the garden with a blazing chiminea just aren't the same.

Land_Registry

When they said check your deeds did they really mean the lease itself rather than the restrictive covenants on the title register?

As you mention the terms of any tenancy would normally require the tenant to seek the landlord's permission for any alterations but the details would most likely appear in the lease itself.

Whilst restrictive covenants on a title can be quite varied most are fairly standard in origin and rarely so specific as to prohibit a 'woodburner' e.g. not to use the property as a place to sell intoxicating licquor, keep wild animals or use it as an asylum are but three examples often seen depending on the age of the property!

If you remain unsure as to whether the restrictive covenants do impact on having a woodburner or whether the lease also prohibits then may be best to seek legal advice. Although I think some clarification from the people who have asked you to check the deeds might be warranted as well?

duggo1

We aren't tenants - we own our house outright. It was the other half who spoke to them, so I shall find out, although he probably won't know. We only phoned them as apparently we have to ask their permission to make any changes, ie when we changed our double glazing. We thought we would get a straightforward yes from them. We didn't anticipate having to check deeds or whatever.

duggo1

Our house is quite new (12 years) and the covenants on the registry I downloaded just mention not carrying out business which could be a public nuisance, but it does mention rights of light and air in buildings on the west side- but we think this refers to erecting any buildings in that vicinity.

duggo1

Apparently it is the lease they want to check - and charge us £99 for the privelidge. Haven't done it as I object to the charge and there was a waiting time for the installer we wanted to use, so it may be this autumn before we get the woodburner .... If we are allowed.
Makes it tempting to buy our lease, but that's another £4k