FTB- are these covenants "normal"?

sheepy21

So we're ftb and received all the paperwork yesterday, we've been left rather shocked at the list of restrictive covenants :eek:
We can't park anything over 1.5tons out the front or a caravan (had planned in the future to buy one)
We can't add parking space to our driveway (we're planning on widening it to fit two cars next to each other)
No fence, plants or any sort of divide out the front between houses (again we're planning a fence)
No sky dish etc on front of the house
Can't object to any future planning permission

That is just a few, there's many more. We'd expected some, like no illegal behaviour etc, but feel we're being completely tied up by the seller.

Would any of those put you off buying? Even if we're happy to live with them, I worry that in the future it could be harder to sell? Thoughts would be appreciated

da_rule

Unless you!!!8217;re buying a new build it!!!8217;s unlikely that the seller themselves is imposing these, instead just passing on what already exists.

But to answer your question, these are quite common covenants. If the property isn!!!8217;t a new build, look at when they were imposed and who has the benefit of them, that way you!!!8217;ll be able to judge the likelihood of anyone taking action against you should you breach one.

davidmcn

Tied up by the seller? Are these new covenants?

"Can't object to any future planning permission" surely can't be as wide as that, what does it actually say?

Otherwise they're all pretty normal for modern estates. If of course the neighbours all have front fences, fat driveways, caravans etc, you may be safe to ignore them.

NeilCr

Pretty much what I took on. Not the planning permission one.

Is this a completely new build or are you buying "second hand'? I assume you are buying a house (freehold or leasehold?) Builders like these when they are selling as they make the site look clean. And some covenants have a time restriction.

From my pov

Get the caravan or van thing

Nope. We can't change anything about the house.

Fence/plants seem harsh

Sky. We have a communal dish. Do you?

Thing with covenants is that once somebody breaks one - everyone can follow. Your caravan might be fine - someone else will see that and break the 1.5 tons limit and stick a lorry out there. I am slightly exaggerating but....

In terms of sellability as far as I am aware the covenants have no effect on our estate. They work for some people who like that sort of environment so you may well have future buyers. Others would rail against the restrictions.

EmmyLou30

All pretty standard and unless it's a new build development where the developer is still building, highly unlikely to be enforced! You need to check who the beneficiary of the covenant is and therefore who could (if at all) enforce them. Also look at the surrounding houses....if everyone is abiding by them all then I'd be very surprised.


We've added a fence, extended the drive, have a shed, changed windows and getters without approval from a defunct building company etc etc and breached loads of ours. But so has everyone else and no-one cares. At my old house 18 out of 20 houses had a satellite dish they shouldn't have....chances of them being made to take them down, pretty much zero!

NeilCr

In general, the people who will object to covenants if it isn't still under builder new build control are neighbours if it affects them,directly. Or they take against you.

From my experience, from your list, the caravan/van thing is the one that people get worked up about.

cloo

That seems fairly usual, I have definitely heard of the caravan rule (must have been broken by some former neighbours of my parents who had a massive coach-sized RV parked in front of theirs for years!)

dunroving

I have a very similar list for the house I am purchasing. Interestingly, no-one on the estate seems to have a caravan on their driveway (prohibited in the covenants), though many have widened their driveway (also prohibited in the covenants).

sheepy21

Thanks for the replies everyone! The estate was built in the 1970s, was bought a few years ago by developer who has then been refurbishing all of them. He's retaining pieces of land to build more houses, hence the bit about being unable to contest any future building works. The part of estate we're buying on currently isn't inhabited at all, so can't see yet if neighbours will breach the covenants, on other parts of the estate people have erected fences, hedges, changed driveways etc which is why we'd assumed we could. I don't know however if they could have different covenants to us? I'm assuming that as there's still quite a few to sell and upcoming building work, that he will potentially uphold these covenants
These have been put in place by him to protect his own interests, which I find irritating as we all will be the ones living there and not him :mad:

moneyistooshorttomention

sheepy21 wrote: »

So we're ftb and received all the paperwork yesterday, we've been left rather shocked at the list of restrictive covenants :eek:
We can't park anything over 1.5tons out the front or a caravan (had planned in the future to buy one)
We can't add parking space to our driveway (we're planning on widening it to fit two cars next to each other)
No fence, plants or any sort of divide out the front between houses (again we're planning a fence)
No sky dish etc on front of the house
Can't object to any future planning permission

Re putting off future buyers - my thoughts if I were viewing the house would be:

No caravans - oh good. Bonus that the neighbours won't have one

Can't extend driveway - oh good. Bonus the neighbours can't do that

Divide between houses - I'd surreptitiously put out huge plants in huge nice pots along the invisible boundary just inside my plot

No sky dish - oh good. Bonus the neighbours can't have one

No objections to future planning permission - darn cheek. If I decide to object I'll object (that would be a downside - worrying about that). I suspect that one is invalid and there is some law somewhere that covers everyone in Britain for making the objections we are fully entitled to make and that covenant is a try-on by him.

CHlHlRO

It was an amusing few minutes !!!8216;walking!!!8217; round the estate we!!!8217;re buying on using Google Earth, counting all the satellite dishes that are forbidden by the covenants...