Restrictive Covenant

macman

Is the LL aware that her buildings insurance and mortgage is almost certainly invalidated by the business being carried out on this scale? Since appealing to her sense of good neighbourliness clearly has no effect, then pointing out the potential loss of her property due to fire risk etc, might? Storage of fuel on site is another safety issue on which they might well be in breach of the law, I think there is a limit of 30 litres that can be stored on domestic premises?

fashionvictim

Once you start with this and it doesn't work then your'll have to declare a dispute with your neighbour if you try to sell and if they are gypsies I wouldn't mess with them. Just move now.

moneyistooshorttomention

fashionvictim wrote: »

Once you start with this and it doesn't work then your'll have to declare a dispute with your neighbour if you try to sell and if they are gypsies I wouldn't mess with them. Just move now.

Errrm....but then your self-respect takes a severe knock on the head......:(,.. as in thinking "Mygawd...I am one weak wimp and cant stand up for myself and am letting people like that ride right over me....EEK! = coward!".

Been there...done that...and had to put up with something that took a severe knock on that self-respect (ie big gap between Retirement Age and my own personal revised State Pension Age) and its emerged that it was clearly very very obvious to other people that my self-respect had taken a severe bashing during that gap and everyone could see that my confidence was WAY lower during that time. Reason being because I was still making my financial decisions as per normal - but couldn't implement them because of the MUCH lower income I was on during that time.

Motto from that being that self-respect matters one heck of a lot....even if you are telling yourself that External Circumstances should absolutely not affect that.:(

Lesson from that being - it shouldn't matter to make decisions in accordance with retaining that Self Respect. However - it does...it does...it does...it does...and it really is astonishing to what extent your Life Confidence can take one heck of a whack because of external circumstances that are nothing to do with you personally.

You will NOT like yourself if you put up with that and don't even complain about it.

macman

Since the property will apparently be unsaleable in the current circumstances, declaring a dispute is not really going to worsen the situation. Even the most unobservant potential buyer is going to be deterred by the sight of Steptoe's yard over the fence.

moneyistooshorttomention

macman wrote: »

Since the property will apparently be unsaleable in the current circumstances, declaring a dispute is not really going to worsen the situation. Even the most unobservant potential buyer is going to be deterred by the sight of Steptoe's yard over the fence.

Put like that and, if I were a prospective buyer, then I would want "something was being done" about the junk merchants or the house would automatically be off my list.

If I knew that other houses in the road were in process of dealing with it - then I would want to know whether there were 20 odd houses wanting it dealt with (and, from that, would hazard a guess that maybe 10 were actively dealing with it and the other 10 staying quiet and being wimps).

Put like that - I would rate the chances of the vocal 10 as being a winner and maybe the house would be a possible one for me to buy.

But - if only one person or no-one was saying anything - then I'd walk off.

cannyberry

Very many thanks to everyone for your very valued comments.


I cannot, as one respondent suggests, "just move on", even if I wanted to, which I don't. I own my home outright (it's taken me a lifetime of work to achieve this) and as I have already said, the activities of my immediate neighbour have rendered it unsaleable.


This being so, I have no alternative but to stay here. And as another respondent has said, self respect is extremely important and my self respect demands that I do not tolerate the intolerable when means exist hopefully to remedy the situation.


And yes - people are ready enough to say they will support you but when you have started on your way and turn around to ask for a helping arm, there's no one there. That being so, I certainly shall not expect any financial or even much practical assistance in taking action but I do hope for at least a few supporting signatures on a legal document or whatever a solicitor may advise.


I made an appointment today to see a solicitor, since the matter has now reached crisis point. At the moment, it rather appears that the Covenant is enforceable.


I have been making notes and taking photos for some time and thank goodness I have, since the photos persuaded the Environment Department to take an interest. However, at the weekend I received a visit from the Police and was cautioned and threatened with arrest for harassment if I did not desist. Evidently although I was taking photos from inside my own property, the neighbour had observed the flash going off and made a complaint to the police.


It seems that the Law permits me, a woman in my late 70s, doing my best to protect the property I own and its surrounding environment, to be wrong-footed by the obnoxious tenant who is my neighbour and his criminal associates. I managed I think successfully to hide from the constable the sense of utter outrage I felt.


However, I am not finished yet. This is merely the most recent of a number of unpleasant challenges I have dealt with in a long life and there are times when you have to stand by your principles, even if that feels fraught with hazard.


(The police constable went on his way feeling just a bit foolish after he discovered the names of my tenant and his associates and after I had informed him of a most unpleasant incident, logged by the police at the time, involving intrusion onto my property, my letterbox and a bag of dog poo. I will say no more! Pity he didn't do his homework before interrupting my Sunday lunch.)

tlc678910

Hi Cannyberry,

The easiest way to resolve your issues would be via the owner. Could it be worth the first step of your action being a solicitors letter to the owner of the property?

You could inform them of the evidence/ concerns and the restrictive covenant. Ask the homeowner to take reasonable steps to put a stop to the business activities - I.e. warn the tenants they are breaching their tenancy/ the covenant/ causing the owner to breech the terms of their mortgage and insurance. Ask the owner to warn their tenants thay if they cannot stop the activities they are at risk of being evicted and to be prepared to follow this through.

You could mention to the owner that yourself and "a number of" residents of the close are considering legal action to enforce the covenant. As the owner they should not allow the breaching the terms of the deeds (which if they are aware of the evidence and do nothing they will be allowing it).

If this action is necessary you will be seeking to recover your costs from them. Advise that if they have not taken reasonable steps to enforce then you would be likely to be successful and awarded these costs. You are willing to use your own money because the behaviour of the tenants is having a significant effect on your property value and the quiet enjoyment of your home.

The owner of the property is likely to face considerable conflict, hassle and cost if they try to stop the business activities or evict. You need to make sure the cost and hassle of doing this is less than the hassle and cost of doing nothing.

You might find they put the house up for sale to rid themselves of it.

Good luck. I feel for you because the activities you describe sound beyond snobbery to me. If you wanted to live next to a rubbish dump you would have bought next to one.
Tlc

cannyberry

Many thank TLC678019.


An initial brief introductory interview with a solicitor this morning, for which I have not been charged, indicates that what you suggest may indeed be the way forward. If following further examination of the covenant it seems that enforcement is possible, I shall commit to proceeding and an unambiguous letter will be sent to the owner.


The owner will be informed that if she does not put an immediate stop to her tenant's activities, she will be in breach of a covenant to which she signed up on purchase and will also be in breach of the conditions of her mortgage and that this will lead to foreclosure.


That will, hopefully, do the trick and I totally endorse your view that by far the best outcome would be for her to sell the property. Almost certainly it would be bought by an elderly single person or couple, since it is far too small to suit anyone with children living at home.


Since to threaten action and then have to withdraw because your case is without sufficient substance indicates greater weakness, and thus vulnerability, than doing nothing in the first place, I need to be very certain of my ground before I sanction legal action of any kind (not to mention the financial cost to me.)


At the moment I am not thinking as far as possibly recouping costs from the owner, but should things get nasty (or nastier than they already are) this could prove a good bargaining chip.


Again, my thanks for everyone's input.

patman99

Might also be worth contacting the Environment Agency as these tenents may not have a waste carriers permit. In which case, they may well find themselves with a huge fine.

macman

Good luck with your campaign, but the fact that the tenant and his son may have criminal records has absolutely no relevance to any breach of restrictive covenants, or to any other breaches of law regarding waste handling or fuel storage.