Solar panels on new house with ten year alterations clause

SeanB743

Good evening all,

I am looking for some advice or some ray of hope. We recently moved into a second hand new house in a Bovis development that it two years old. I would like to put solar Panels on the roof as the house has an unobstructed south facing roof and if perfect for them.

However in the TP1 form there is a restrictive covenant that states:
4.1 Not during the period of ten years commencing on the date hereof:-
4.1.1 to make any structural and/or external alterations or additions to the Dwelling

We are also in a conservation area but one problem at a time. Could anybody tell me if I have any options in getting this put aside for the purpose of getting solar panels fitted to our roof?

Many thanks for any help or advice

Sean

AdrianC

If the development's all complete and fully sold, it's massively unlikely the developer will care.

The conservation area people are more likely to be an issue.

lisssa

Hi

I can't help with answering your questions , however I would recommend that if your home builder are happy for you to make these changes - get it in writing ! If you don't , when you go to sell you will end up having to buy an indemnity insurance policy because you have breached the covernant and there is a 'risk' that the builders could at any point enforce you to put it back to how it was.

These insurance policies are getting used more and more and are definitely a money making opportunity for someone !!

SeanB743

Hi and thank you for the replies.

Regarding the conservation area the wording is that you cannot put solar panels on a wall facing a highway, I am putting them on the roof so should be fine however i am talking to the local council to try and get this clarified.

The development is still on going they are building something like 1000 houses in total and are probably about halfway however the phase we are in is now complete with just a couple to sell off.

So is it the permission of the developer I need to be able to go ahead without concern of being bitten?