Neighbour has threatened a solicitor over restricted conevant

Jessheg

So at my house we have 2 parking spots one fully flagged and one with gray slate chippings and our beigh8also has gray slate chippings but uses her front land as a garden. We have erected a small border fence on our drive to establish our driveway. We checked all our boundary and everything our elderly neighbour was unhappy about this but never said anything while I put the fence up left it 3 days and then verbally abused myself with some very hurtful and personal things. I kept calm apologised she felt that way and when her son was at home and my husband was home we could all chat. Days went by and finally her son came around and said he likes the fence but she really dosnt and has threatened to go to a solicitor even after agreeing for us all to sit down and talk about it. Anyway he asked if we had looked at ou restrictive conevants which he said states we can't errect a fence. The conevants were written in 1987 when the house was first built. Our neighbour is threatening to get a solicitor involved which obviously we don't want. Where do we stand. The fence is more of a border edging it 30cm high. Should we take it down? We definitely want some sort of devide but in the conevants states no fence, wall or bushes can be put up. 

Jessheg

Should also mention we're looking to move house in the next 6 months so would like to avoid a dispute. 

SpiderLegs

Why do you care about a divide if you are looking to move?
Just take it down and save yourself the hassle.

m0bov

Jessheg said:

Should also mention we're looking to move house in the next 6 months so would like to avoid a dispute. 

Think you’ve answered your own question there!

davidmcn

Jessheg said:

Should also mention we're looking to move house in the next 6 months so would like to avoid a dispute. 

So, avoid the dispute. Sorted.

NameUnavailable

Jessheg said:

So at my house we have 2 parking spots one fully flagged and one with gray slate chippings and our beigh8also has gray slate chippings but uses her front land as a garden. We have erected a small border fence on our drive to establish our driveway. We checked all our boundary and everything our elderly neighbour was unhappy about this but never said anything while I put the fence up left it 3 days and then verbally abused myself with some very hurtful and personal things. I kept calm apologised she felt that way and when her son was at home and my husband was home we could all chat. Days went by and finally her son came around and said he likes the fence but she really dosnt and has threatened to go to a solicitor even after agreeing for us all to sit down and talk about it. Anyway he asked if we had looked at ou restrictive conevants which he said states we can't errect a fence. The conevants were written in 1987 when the house was first built. Our neighbour is threatening to get a solicitor involved which obviously we don't want. Where do we stand. The fence is more of a border edging it 30cm high. Should we take it down? We definitely want some sort of devide but in the conevants states no fence, wall or bushes can be put up. 

So, you have put up a fence (you called it a fence) when the covenants of your property state you can't - it doesn't matter when they were written.

I think your neighbour is right to be annoyed.

rach_k

I'd take it down but replace it with plant pots so there is a clear divider between your drive and her garden.  When you come to sell, there will be no dispute to declare, no covenants to worry about and your buyers will be able to see exactly what they're buying.  If you get the long, narrow trough-type, they won't take up much space.  

Doozergirl

If the covenant isn't specifically in the neighbour's favour ie. they sold you the land and wrote that covenant in to their own favour, then all they can do is complain whoever does own that covenant - likely the original builder who probably couldn't care less at this point, depending on whether they have any ongoing involvement in managing the grounds etc. 

princeofpounds

If you want to avoid a dispute, avoid the dispute. 

However, if you are prepared to think about it a little further - covenants are not laws. Only one person can enforce a covenant; the beneficiary of the covenant. Who is the beneficiary of the covenant? Not the neighbour I suspect, although it's possible. It's usually a previous vendor/developer. People often get confused by this because of the way covenants get phrased in the deeds - it sounds so absolute, but the deeds are an agreement between two parties, not a general order.

Once you have established who the beneficiary is, go and talk to them again, explain to them that your covenant is to the beneficiary, not to them, and if the beneficiary is not interested in enforcement then it doesn't matter. Any solicitor will advise them similarly, even a quick google will establish this.

However, most solicitors will write a letter to you that appears to threaten all sorts of legal horrors if instructed to do so. It doesn't mean they have a leg to stand on, and it will be phrased carefully with as a result; on a close reading it won't be quite as threatening as it seems. But if you are looking to sell, that may be something you would need to disclose if recent.

princeofpounds

NameUnavailable said: 

I think your neighbour is right to be annoyed.

Whether the neighbour is annoyed or not is their own personal choice. But unless the neighbour is the beneficiary of the covenant they have no say in the matter at all, as I've just explained.

Davesnave

Builders put covenants like that into the title documents for their own ends. In 1987 they probably wanted the site to look like the pictures in the glossy brochure, but once they sold the last house they'd not have cared so much about breaches of the covenants spoiling their open-plan design. After 33 years they probably don't care at all, so your neighbour would be on a hiding to nothing.

However, you want to sell your house, so it would seem sensible not to upset your neighbour and create a dispute you'd have to declare to a potential purchaser.

Personally, I'm on the neighbour's side here, as those little palisade fences are neither use nor ornament and certainly won't help you sell. They suggest to others that, "Fussy people live here" and quite often represent a trip hazard or obstruction where drives abut each other. Why do you suddenly need to "establish your drive" when it's presumably been there for well over 3 decades?