Newbuild covenants

novanic

My husband drives a small work corsa van but we are about to exchange contracts and now find there is a convenant that means we aren't allowed to park a van on our own driveway?

The solicitor says we can park there as it's unlikely anyone will say anything but it's at our own risk!

Can covenants be changed? seems ridiculous!!!

getmore4less

If the estate is still in development there is a risk the developer might seek to protect the image of the estate while still marketing properties.

Round our way all the developer covenents get ignored, vans, sheds fences... as they(developer) left the site years ago.

marksoton

It almost certainly can't be changed. Whether it is enforced or not...

These covenants are highly ironic. Most of the people who built the bloody place and it's infrastructure probably drove a van for tools etc...

Couldn't possibly have them moving in though could be....

PasturesNew

It won't be as unsightly to the neighbours as the scrap metal dealer that moves in the other side of you and thinks the same.

Shenl0101

These are almost never enforced by anyone but some neighbours might decide to kick up a fuss and you don't want neighbours on bad terms. If it's a small work van it sounds reasonable enough.

patman99

If the road outside the property is/becomes adopted by the Local Authority then you can simply park a large commercial vehicle outside your home as the covenant won't cover the road once it has been passed from the developers hands to the Council's.

However, if you are in a developement that is still being built then the builders may well say something about the van parked on your drive.
You could purchase a large frost cover (non-see through) to cover the van so they cannot identify it as such.

If you are in a development where the developer has sold all the houses and no longer has a prescence on site, then ignore the covenent and park the van on your driveway as no-one will complain.

novanic

Ugh, the new house is on a road leading to the new estate (if that makes sense) and we bought off-plan so there are plenty of new houses to be built. Just seems ridiculous and I have no idea where else we would be able to park it. Just as we were overjoyed at the prospect of having a double-driveway to avoid parking issues, this happens!

mark5

There were loads of covenants like that when we bought our new build but people moved in with work vans etc from day one with no problems.

The 2 times arguments have kicked off around by us and the covenants have been brought up and solicitors involved were both involving car businesses, one selling cars and another fixing cars from the home address and both times the ppl backed down when solicitors got involved.

If the van is clean and tidy I doubt anyone would care, what used to pi** me off was the old car that constantly leaked oil everywhere apart from outside the owners house.

makeitstop

novanic wrote: »

Ugh, the new house is on a road leading to the new estate (if that makes sense) and we bought off-plan so there are plenty of new houses to be built. Just seems ridiculous and I have no idea where else we would be able to park it. Just as we were overjoyed at the prospect of having a double-driveway to avoid parking issues, this happens!

I think perhaps you need to check the covenant clearly, as most prohibit the parking of larger vans over a certain wheelbase / kerbweight.

I'd say a Corsa van is fine, although I may be wrong on that.

chanz4

we have sky dishes and sheds, even built up by the builders the convernants say you cant lol

wwl

Corsa is technically a "car derived van" and may or may not be covered by the exact wording.
As others have said chances are it won't be a problem. It would cost someone significant money to do anything about it.
How much are the houses on the estate in demand ? If they aren't moving quickly then you may be able to negotiate an exemption if you threaten to pull out.