Covenant on House

drummer_666

Hello,

I've just exchanged on a house. I'm developing it and it will be a 2-3 month turn around project.

And I'm wondering something about a covenant.
It says I'm not allowed to park a car or caravan on the space outside of my house. But all the other houses have got driveways.

Do you think it's likely the covenant would apply just to my house - 1 out of 6 of the properties?

Do you know if there's a way I can find out if the other houses have this covenant and are ignoring it? Because I'm guessing if that is the case if I turn it into a drive it won't effect selling the property for the worse. Or else I'd be able to apply to remove the covenant / get idemnity insurance

Thanks

DRP

drummer_666 wrote: »

Hello,

I've just exchanged on a house. I'm developing it and it will be a 2-3 month turn around project.

And I'm wondering something about a covenant.
It says I'm not allowed to park a car or caravan on the space outside of my house. But all the other houses have got driveways.

Do you think it's likely the covenant would apply just to my house - 1 out of 6 of the properties?

Do you know if there's a way I can find out if the other houses have this covenant and are ignoring it? Because I'm guessing if that is the case if I turn it into a drive it won't effect selling the property for the worse. Or else I'd be able to apply to remove the covenant / get idemnity insurance

Thanks

Download your neighbours documents from the land registry - costs about 4 quid a pop , i believe.

societys_child

How old is the property? It's possible the covenant is so old, there's no one around who is interested or cares or who can enforce it, or even knows it exists . . .

drummer_666

it is from the transfer deed dated 13th March 1967 - what do you think about this date?

Realistically even if i got rid of the big bush going across the front garden and paved over the grass, it doesn't classify it as a driveway...

I already known one covenant is being breached - keep fenches in good condition as there is no fence and doesn't look there has been for some time

societys_child

1967, is that the year it was built or the last time it changed ownership? Did the covenant carry over from previous deeds?

Probably worst thing that could happen, someone could turn up and ask you to stop doing it, which I think is unlikely to ever happen.

* Note that paving a front garden could require planning permission, all to with drainage etc. Gravel and/ or some other methods are ok

lincroft1710

drummer_666 wrote: »

I already known one covenant is being breached - keep fences in good condition as there is no fence and doesn't look there has been for some time

No.

Covenant is not being breached unless it says "no fence may be removed without being replaced". If a fence exists it has to be kept in good condition. If no fence then the covenant will not apply.

stator

You can try to get the covenent removed. If you want to sell the house the buyers conveyencer will hopefully pick up on the drive way that violates the covenent and it might hold up the sale.

societys_child

I had a house with a covenant regarding extensions, it already had one when I bought it, I built another two (it was an old end terrace with lots of land)
Covenant was not mentioned when I bought it, or when I sold, 35 years later.

phoenix_w

stator wrote: »

You can try to get the covenent removed. If you want to sell the house the buyers conveyencer will hopefully pick up on the drive way that violates the covenent and it might hold up the sale.

I'm struggling to see how this could happen. If the OP converts the front garden into a drive, this isn't a technical breach of the covenant unless they parked their car there (assuming the OP's description of the covenant is accurate). The conveyancer would need to prove that they are parking there and don't just want a smooth paved surface that makes putting the wheelie bins out a bit easier. Don't park there for the duration of the sale and don't describe it as off road parking, and you're laughing.

My own view on covenants seem to be that they're particularly worthless. Our 80's estate has lots of common ones regarding appearance of houses at the frontage which are routinely ignored. You're supposed to notify the builder about extensions - yet they went bump years ago, so you can't. I'm not sure anyone could enforce them. Ours is a starter home and has a covenant about not parking a caravan or speedboat outside, yet the drive is plenty big enough to do so without upsetting any of the neighbours - some people have smaller drives than ours yet manage to fit a caravan on!

Hoploz

You can get indemnities if a covenant has been breached. We had to get one when we sold our house as we had not asked the builder (from 1958) before alterations were carried out.

I think you can apply to get covenants removed, but you would need to contact the person who has the right to have it agreed by them that they no longer wanted to pursue the right.

Land_Registry

Restrictive covenants can be tricky to understand but it is far trickier to get them removed.

The example given and replies posted can probably be combined with the following very general observations regarding most restrictive covenants imposed by a developer at the time of building/selling an estate made up of numerous plots/properties.

Developer imposes a series of covenants (some personal re fencing) a number of which will be restrictive - in Victorian times they were concerned with people not setting their homes up as asylums, public houses and/or keeping chickens but nowadays (last 30 years) the focus has been more on not parking caravans, putting up For Sale signs and so on

The covenants imposed are in effect for the benefit of the remaining land which formed part of the development. The benefit does not remain with the developer but therefore passes on with the land so in effect a development of 40 plots equates to potentially 40 landowners then having that benefit.

Having the benefit, and being able to prove it, potentially gives that landowner the right to enforce the covenants

However such covenants, in my experience, are invariably imposed by the developer in an effort to 'protect' their development whilst they are in the process of selling each plot, which may take a number of years to achieve depending on it's scale. Selling each plot whilst people are parking caravans on driveways, putting For Sale signs up so soon after buying and so on might impact on selling the remaining plots for obvious reasons.

But the benefit, as mentioned, runs with the land so remains even after the developer has sold everything and moved on.

How likely, as the years roll on, it is that one of the new plot/landowners would seek to enforce a restrictive covenant is unclear but whether it is 5, 10 or 30 years later rarely matters if the covenant is still in place and they can prove that they have the benefit.

Enforcement though can be quite expensive depending on how far they are willing to take it as ultimately it is a court who would arbiter on such matters. Clearly in most cases a solicitor's letter would often suffice to explain that you were in breach of the covenant but land law being land law nothing but a court would, in theory, be able to make you comply and hence how sometimes such matters do make it to court and receive a degree of publicity.

In my experience, and also repeated in this thread and on other forums, the advice given really relates to assessing the risks involved in breaching these covenants - hence referral to indemnity insurance to cover legal costs should anyone seek to enforce them.

Looking at what neighbouring properties have done over the years is often a useful indicator re awareness and breach but a defence of 'well, next door did it and nobody said anything' is unlikely to be a very strong defence for obvious reasons.

So, in response to your original post I would simply say
Yes, the covenants are likely to apply to other properties forming part of the same development

Yes you can check what is registered against each property for £3 per register - there may be little point though if your register refers to the Transfer/Conveyance by the developer and it contains details of the whole development as the odds are the Transfer/Conveyance used would be generic for all plots on this.

Removal is extremely unlikely unless you can identify all the benefiting land/property owners and get them to all agree to it's removal through a formal and legal deed

Breach of such covenants can impact on future sales (if noticed as others have mentioned) and invariably, after a property has changed hands a few times the cheapest way of dealing with it is through indemnity insurance.

And finally, it should also be stressed that the registration of such covenants is a key aspect re land registration.However we are not here to enforce them or to explain their meaning/importance. We will always recommend seeking legal advice as a result to understand the full impact and wider legal issues involved. The above is based very much on experience of such matters over the years from both a registration perspective and dealing with enquiries and with the more recent added benefit of personal experiences of others as shared in such forums