Indemnity insurance - Restricted Covenant from the 1800s!!

Jill_1980

Hi there, we're in the process of re-mortgaging and our lender's solicitor have said we need to pay an indemnity for an unknown restricted covenant spanning 999 years, which is just under £200!. We've lived here for 12 years and never had this request before.

I was just wondering if anyone can advise on if there is any action we can take regarding the covenant which is documented in all our title deeds. Apparently it's in case those third parties (who will now be around 200 years old!!!) decide to take over the land. It seems that we are going to have to pay this insurance every year now which is £200 so not ideal at all. We weren't made aware of this when we purchased the house back in 2007 (I found a policy with the house builder paperwork that shows an indemnity was taken out from 1986 when the planning application was made up to 2013, so that might be why our solicitor didn't flag it as an issue).

Any help would be most gratefully received as there is so much legalese and references to documents and titles, I just can't get my head around it. Thank you!

dunstonh

. Apparently it's in case those third parties (who will now be around 200 years old!!!)

Those third parties pass on their assets to beneficiaries.  Or they are owned by trusts or companies.    Much of the land in our area that is not privately owned is owned by a medieval estate.  That estate used to own much of the land that is now privately owned and covenants can go back a long time and may never get activated but there could be a time when it's in their interest to do so.  So, in your case, the facts its 200 years ago doesn't really mean it's not applicable today.

Jill_1980

Yes I assumed that would be the case - I guess my query is can I follow this up somehow, either by trying to track who would manage this covenant now with a view to seeing what exactly it is. Perhaps I could check the local Archives department to see if I can find any more detail. Is there an amount of time that can pass before we can apply to Land Registry? I just have no clue how to proceed and it's really frustrating that we potentially have to pay this every year without being able to do anything about it?

D_M_E

Doesn't the policy already in place which the developer bought not provide continuous cover - is this why it was not picked up when you bought?

Jill_1980

D_M_E said:

Doesn't the policy already in place which the developer bought not provide continuous cover - is this why it was not picked up when you bought?

Yes, they seemed to take a policy out before the houses were built so it covered all the land the developers purchased to build four houses and three garages. This expired in 2013 so I'm guessing the solicitors who sorted our last re-mortgage should have picked up on it but I don't recall receiving anything, and we got the mortgage okay. The new lender's solicitors are saying we can't have the mortgage unless we have the indemnity, which I guess is fair enough if the risk is there!!

ThePants999

I'd love to see this covenant - indemnity policies are not usually that expensive!