Worth the paper they are written on?

david89999

When I exchanged contracts for my new build Wimpey house, I signed a long and detailed contract, some of which included clauses dealing with acceptable behaviour, this included amongst other things no commercial vehicles, no caravans, and various other things. Now my question is does this contract actually mean anything? The reason I ask is because there are already a number of things that other residents are doing which are clearly in breach of the contract. For example: item 7 - not to permit any vehicles or articles to obstruct the roads paths and gardens on the estate. Now you cannot walk around anywhere without having to go onto the road to get round a selfishly parked car.
As far as I am concerned the wording of this contract helped to convince me that this would be a nice place to live. I suspect that a lot of the houses have been sold to let, in which case who is responsible for compliance with the contract? The landlord or the tenant?
Is the contract even enforecable? If not why bother?
If it is enforceable, my first plan was to write to the company and bring such issues to their attention, what should I do if (as I expect) nothing comes of it?
Sorry for all these questions, but I wasn't planning on moving into a council estate!

Debt_Free_Chick

david89999 wrote: »

I suspect that a lot of the houses have been sold to let, in which case who is responsible for compliance with the contract? The landlord or the tenant?

The LL initially - but he should have put those conditions in the contract too, to bind the tenant in.

Is the contract even enforecable? If not why bother?

Yes - it sounds as though they're covenants only enforceable by the developer.

If it is enforceable, my first plan was to write to the company and bring such issues to their attention, what should I do if (as I expect) nothing comes of it?
Sorry for all these questions, but I wasn't planning on moving into a council estate!

Usually, they're put there to keep the development looking "perfect" until the last house is sold. After that the developer doesn't care so even if you complain, they're unlikely to do anything.

Parking on the pavement - you could try the local police community support officer but, again, it's unlikely to be high on their list of priorities.

david29dpo

Convents can be enforced by a householder when the developer has lost interest but this will be expensive.

EliteHeat

No commercial vehicles? so it's an estate full of office workers then?

I wasn't aware that tradesmen were supposed to be relegated to council estates. We just don't know our place.

Debt_Free_Chick

EliteHeat wrote: »

No commercial vehicles? so it's an estate full of office workers then?

I wasn't aware that tradesmen were supposed to be relegated to council estates. We just don't know our place.

It's a silly rule. I live in what many would describe as a picturesque village in an AONB - and we don't have a "no commercial vehicles" rule. Just as well, really, as there's no local employment and just about everyone works for themselves in some trade or other.

Plenty of tractors and cess pit emptying tankers, too

Doozergirl

The selfishly parked cars are probably trying to be helpful to other road user by keeping out of the way. New build estates are notorious for having not enough parking spaces for the houses and for not having wide enough roads.
Where I am the choice is to park on the pavement to allow cars to pass each other or to park on the road and cars have to wait for each other. Either way, the car is either blocking the path or the road - which your contract says not to do!

The van with the rather homemade sign with very large writing was rather annoying to start with but now I don't notice it. I wave to the bloke instead Trying to make a living is hardly the crime of the century.

Our road is just about to be resurfaced as building has finished - we live on a square which is the entrance to the rest of the development. There are double yellows here at the moment - pretty pointless but you know they're only there to keep the square pretty for viewers. They won't be there when the road is resurfaced. The park in the middle of the square has only just been unlocked even though some people have been here for three years!

It's all for developers purposes. Sometimes you just need to find something else to do than concern yourself with what the neighbours are doing. You don't live on a council estate - you should probably be grateful for that. If you don't like neighbours and the things that they do - don't live on a new build estate where density is high!

Someone wrote to the local paper to complain about people having barbeques in their gardens this year. You do wonder

olly300

If the council doesn't deem it necessary to put in double or single yellow lines and parking restrictions on a public highway then no one is going to enforce the parking. Developers can write anything they like about parking but it's councils who have to enforce it.

scrummy_mummy_2

I am a bit anal when it comes to reading the Deeds of Convenants that come with my 3 BTL properties. All of the houses are only about 10 years old, but I want to upgrade the windows to UPVC (warmer for tenants, less maintenance re mould/mildew where they can't understand the principle of 'ventilation!' etc)
there is a convenant tha says I can't make ANY home improvements such as replacing the windows without the prior approval of the developer.
I rang them last week and was advised that this sort of stuff is only in the covenants to get the planning permission for the initial development from the local council...after that you can do what you like cos they don't care...HOWEVER.....if I wanted to be sure, I should write to them to get written confirmation that it was OK to replace the windows in case a solicitor gets stroppy/picky if ever I come to sell the house(s)

I suppose that response goes some way to answering your question....the person who is supposed to enforce the convenants will probably only ever do so if there is something in it for them (probably money and lots of it!)

Running_Horse

EliteHeat wrote: »

I wasn't aware that tradesmen were supposed to be relegated to council estates. We just don't know our place.

When house hunting we preferred the sight of vans to bloody 4X4s.

As for covenants, when I buy a house its my right to do whatever I want with it (within reason; I'm not talking about grazing rights or a bright pink repaint).

jonewer

Running_Horse wrote: »

When house hunting we preferred the sight of vans to bloody 4X4s.

I once lived in an area so rough, they had 4x4 vans :eek:

david89999

I am not fussed about the vans, as you say they have to earn a living, what I am fussed about is the vans and cars parked so far onto the path that there is no path left. What I am concerned about is that there are a number of court yards which have car parking spaces, many of which are empty. What I am concerned about is that many people are not even parking on the path near their own homes! Perhaps the reality is that wherever you go people are selfish, and I expect too much. It's a shame when every house on the estate has two spaces, either a garage and a space or two parking spaces. I wouldn't have thought people Thanks to those of you who explained the reason for the covenants, it makes sense on my steep learning curve about the ways of developers!