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Land and responsibilities

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Comments

  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    rqy99g wrote: »
    The said Transfer also contains the following covenants by the
    Transferor
    THE Company hereby covenants with the Board as follows:-
    (a) To keep the Easement Land forever hereafter open and unbuilt upon
    (b) Not to substantially alter the level of the Easement Land from
    that existing at the date hereof


    Am I reading it correctly... I can't be built on?
    What's the "Easement Land" and what's the "Board"? Sounds like it relates to rights to run utilities through the land e.g. a gas pipeline, in which case the no-build area would just be along the route of the pipe - though that might make development awkward enough.

    There may of course have been other good reasons for the previous developer not building there!
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    rqy99g wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies.

    My main concern that the land could be built on. I've had a quick look through the Property Register most of which is double dutch to me: )

    The bit which caught my eye is as follows:

    The said Transfer also contains the following covenants by the
    Transferor
    THE Company hereby covenants with the Board as follows:-
    (a) To keep the Easement Land forever hereafter open and unbuilt upon
    (b) Not to substantially alter the level of the Easement Land from
    that existing at the date hereof


    Am I reading it correctly... I can't be built on?
    There's an agreement between "the company" and "the board" not to ever build on it, correct.

    That doesn't mean that it CAN'T be built on. That carries little-to-no weight with the planning authorities. It may well be that the "easement land" is not the whole site, anyway.



    The beneficiary of that covenant can have a right good ol' whinge if the "easement land" is built on, though, if they still exist and if they ever found out about it. I suspect there would be compensation payable, but I very much doubt it'd stop them being built.


    If you want to ensure it's not built on, you need to ensure it's in ownership that you trust never to succumb to a big pile of cash.


    If it IS the RoW, then the RoW itself would have to remain anyway. Even re-routing an RoW (say, from diagonally to round the edge) is a pain in the backside.
  • To me - I am reading it as the whole of the land is safe (bar the local Council trying to pull a fast one and somehow getting away with it - as per post from earlier poster).

    EDIT; Might be an idea to contact local Ramblers Association and check out their attitude to this.
  • 25_Years_On
    25_Years_On Posts: 3,030 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Easement land can include areas designated as open access land.
  • ProDave
    ProDave Posts: 3,785 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I saw a discussion here, or perhaps somewhere else about covenants that basically stated to be enforecable a covenant has to be to the benefit of some "land" A covenant that says without permission of "Mr Smith" without being attached to a parcel of land can be ruled unenforceable.

    I would go to the auction. If you get it for a song, then I would extend my garden a bit by taking some of the park, and keep the rest as it is. As long as you buy public liability insurance for it, there should not be any problems for you.

    If it is a true wildlife habitat look at gifting it to a well know appropriate charity, with a no building covenant.
  • 25_Years_On
    25_Years_On Posts: 3,030 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    ProDave wrote: »

    If it is a true wildlife habitat look at gifting it to a well know appropriate charity,


    Most wildlife conservation charities don't want areas like this. Too small and also they have higher priorities for their limited management resources. There are other smaller and local groups who might be interested depending on where it is. The usual advice is to form a community group.
  • rqy99g
    rqy99g Posts: 37 Forumite
    Many thanks for the replies, definitely food for thought!
This discussion has been closed.
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