Commercial Vehicle

Miss_$

Hi All,

Currently in the process of buying a house and have today received documents in the post from our solicitor, the usual fixtures and fittings forms, plans etc. Included in these documents is a transfer which was made by the original builders to the first owners it is dated 2001, so 11 years ago.
Within this document is a section titled 'Restrictive covenants by the transferee' one point being "not to park any part or parts of the property any commercial vehicle caravan house on wheels boat or trailer whatsoever'
Now my partner works for sky and has a works van, is this going to cause issues? I see it as everyone has to make a living and because he has a commercial vehicle we potentially may not be able to live here?
Should I be worried about this or will it be ok?

Thanks
Sarah

FutureGirl

It's a commercial vehicle, it therefore cannot be parked on the property.

Is there anywhere else he can park it?

alex_163163

A lot of new build estates have this or similar clause in the contract these days.
In fact there is a clause in a 1970s house that I am currently buying that says we can't park caravans, boats etc on our drive, but from looking around the neighbourhood other properties certainly aren't abiding to this rule. However our particular estate doesn't have a management company and no one else seems to have enforced this rule here.
Is there a management company managing your estate? If so then it could be possible that they would try to enforce the no commercial vehicles rule as you would be breaking a restrictive covenant which is in the legal contract you will be signing. Your neighbours will also have the right to challenge you and stop you parking the van on the property.
Whilst driving on the estate, have you seen any other works vans parked up belonging to neighbours? Maybe ask them if it's even been enforced? However just because it's not been up until now doesn't mean it won't be in the future I guess. It's at your own risk that you choose to ignore the covenant!

Have a google of 'new builds commercial vehicles' and it brings up some articles with stories of these covenants. Granted not all the articles are from the greatest sources but gives an indication I guess.

Miss_$

It's at the bottom of a culd de sac not really.

There's isn't a company managing the estate no, they went bump, the houses are 11 years old.

I will have a drive around and see if any other commercial vehicles are parked there

giddypenguin

My estate is 9 years old, has covenants saying no satellite dishes or commercial vehicles. Every house has a satellite dish (originally the area didn't get free view signal or virgin media cables) and there are always vans around.

Take a look at neighbours - I imagine (but cannot guarantee) it's not enforced.

G_M

Your husband would be in breach of the covenant.

The questions are:

* who has the legal benefit of the covenant now?
* will they know of the breach?
* will they care?
* will they enforce?

In the majority of these cases, nothing happens and Sky (etc) employees have no problems.

But there is a risk - albeit small.

JP1978

If all new houses has this covenant on (as far as I am aware, they do) - then surely, at some point in the future, anyone with a van or caravan wont have anywhere to live?

Its been said before that the covenants are generally there to make the scheme look more attractive when the house builder is trying to sell - imagine a street where half the houses had a van, boat or caravan on the drive or in the street - it could put people off moving to that scheme.

Of course, others seeing that now may put people off, but its only affecting the homeowners who are selling, and not the housebuilder any longer.

On our scheme of about 60 houses - there are several vans, incl a council van, several plain white vans and a van from a rival house builder (who has the same covenant on as we do).

davidmcn

JP1978 wrote: »

If all new houses has this covenant on (as far as I am aware, they do) - then surely, at some point in the future, anyone with a van or caravan wont have anywhere to live?

They could park them somewhere else, surely? Or hide them inside the garage (though in this case I suppose that's still "on the property" and would be a breach).

mysterymurdoch

FutureGirl wrote: »

It's a commercial vehicle, it therefore cannot be parked on the property.

Is there anywhere else he can park it?

Have you any experience of having a house with a restrictive covenant on it? I think not.

The reality is what counts, and if people park vans and the lane isn't full of busybodies, you'll be fine. Even if the lane IS full of busybodies, they'd have a hard time forcing you not to park a van on your drive.

NeilCr

As others have said "it depends"

We own the freehold of our estate and I am a director of the management company. Many residents aren't that bothered about covenants (unless they are directly affected). A few do raise issues - funnily enough often about commercial vehicles. I think it's unfair to label them busybodies - in most cases they stick to the "rules" and wonder about people who sign a contract and then ignore it if it suits them. Break their word, really.

In reality, I'd say it's unlikely to be enforced to be honest. It would have to be pretty bad for people to get that enraged to push the management company into legal action. But we would - we had an instance of someone running a business from home (child minding) which impacted a lot because of the thoughtless parking of parents dropping off their children. We were about to start action when the person concerned moved out

Davesnave

I can't remember a time when someone came here to say they have a problem because an old covenant against parking works vans was being enforced.

My memory is quite poor, however!