BELLWAY - commercial van prohibited ?

AdrianC

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

There is a covenant about commercial vehicles here and I can tell you that it's a  live  issue for quite a few of the current owners. We recently had a problem with a very large electricity company van - fortunately, the guy found a convenient parking spot just off the estate so it got resolved. 

Do the current owners have the right to enforce the covenant?

Objecting to tradespeople's van seems very snobbish to me.  

Yes. We do

If it was parked right outside your window you might take a different view.

We try to be relaxed about covenants. However, the other side of the coin is that people are (should be anyway) well aware of any covenants when they buy their property so why do they think it's okay to immediately break them? 

Lol, shall I take a picture out of my front window for you so you can see my opposite neighbours work van parked on the street?  

We all want tradespeople to have vans so they can come to our homes and do work for us, so maybe we should be a bit more understanding about the fact that they have to park them somewhere?  

Seriously 

When I say right outside I mean right outside

We have a communal car park with spaces next to people's windows. This van was literally blocking someone's light. 

Would it have been preferable if it'd been a non-signwritten commercial van?
Or a non-commercial van?
Maybe somebody's camper?

<looks out window at bright turquoise 2.7m tall x 5.5m long camper converted from MWB hightop van>

NeilCr

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

Densol said:

OldMusicGuy said:

Before you get too carried away, just read this thread about how an issue over covenants got unpleasant: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6163497/neighbour-has-threatened-a-solicitor-over-restricted-conevant/p1

You should make sure you check all the covenants before you exchange. Although they are hard to enforce once the developers are gone, they can lead to problems between neighbours.

Yeah I remember that thread ! I could imagine a transit van with signs being an eyesore. I personally wouldn't like it next to me if I lived in a two bed end terrace   

Our builder is long gone and we are a Residents Management Company.

There is a covenant about commercial vehicles here and I can tell you that it's a  live  issue for quite a few of the current owners. We recently had a problem with a very large electricity company van - fortunately, the guy found a convenient parking spot just off the estate so it got resolved. 

Do the current owners have the right to enforce the covenant?

Objecting to tradespeople's van seems very snobbish to me.  

Yes. We do

If it was parked right outside your window you might take a different view.

We try to be relaxed about covenants. However, the other side of the coin is that people are (should be anyway) well aware of any covenants when they buy their property so why do they think it's okay to immediately break them? 

Lol, shall I take a picture out of my front window for you so you can see my opposite neighbours work van parked on the street?  

We all want tradespeople to have vans so they can come to our homes and do work for us, so maybe we should be a bit more understanding about the fact that they have to park them somewhere?  

Seriously 

When I say right outside I mean right outside

We have a communal car park with spaces next to people's windows. This van was literally blocking someone's light. And no - the spaces don't align to the houses. 

Wasn't a lot of Loling from them

That's life, you buy a house with a window straight onto a car park then it might get blocked by a van, or a people carrier, or a 4x4.  Hardly one of life's great tragedies.  

Maybe not

But when you buy a house on an estate with a covenant that says no commercial vehicles perhaps you might expect people to abide by that. 

This one was quite a bit taller than a people carrier or 4x4

NeilCr

AdrianC said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

There is a covenant about commercial vehicles here and I can tell you that it's a  live  issue for quite a few of the current owners. We recently had a problem with a very large electricity company van - fortunately, the guy found a convenient parking spot just off the estate so it got resolved. 

Do the current owners have the right to enforce the covenant?

Objecting to tradespeople's van seems very snobbish to me.  

Yes. We do

If it was parked right outside your window you might take a different view.

We try to be relaxed about covenants. However, the other side of the coin is that people are (should be anyway) well aware of any covenants when they buy their property so why do they think it's okay to immediately break them? 

Lol, shall I take a picture out of my front window for you so you can see my opposite neighbours work van parked on the street?  

We all want tradespeople to have vans so they can come to our homes and do work for us, so maybe we should be a bit more understanding about the fact that they have to park them somewhere?  

Seriously 

When I say right outside I mean right outside

We have a communal car park with spaces next to people's windows. This van was literally blocking someone's light. 

Would it have been preferable if it'd been a non-signwritten commercial van?
Or a non-commercial van?
Maybe somebody's camper?

<looks out window at bright turquoise 2.7m tall x 5.5m long camper converted from MWB hightop van>

No campers or caravans here either. I take it you have no covenants where you live?

To be honest, it was the size of the damn thing. 

Not that it affected me but I know the people who live there. As a director I am a live and let live person and we do try to take a pragmatic view about covenants etc. But when people formally complain about others breaking covenants you do have to get engaged in sorting things out.

I get onwards and upwards point about tradesmen having to have someone to park and I have sympathy with that. The counter argument ((which you get) is that some folks buy on estates with covenants because they, actually, want to live somewhere where there are no trades vehicles, Sky dishes etc etc etc. And, as I said before, the covenants are made plain to purchasers before they complete so they are fully aware of the limitations. 

diego_94

I agree commercial vehicles should not be parked out front of peoples houses, they not only take up extra space, they are an eyesore. This includes caravans etc as well.

noitsnotme

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

onwards&upwards said:

NeilCr said:

Densol said:

OldMusicGuy said:

Before you get too carried away, just read this thread about how an issue over covenants got unpleasant: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6163497/neighbour-has-threatened-a-solicitor-over-restricted-conevant/p1

You should make sure you check all the covenants before you exchange. Although they are hard to enforce once the developers are gone, they can lead to problems between neighbours.

Yeah I remember that thread ! I could imagine a transit van with signs being an eyesore. I personally wouldn't like it next to me if I lived in a two bed end terrace   

Our builder is long gone and we are a Residents Management Company.

There is a covenant about commercial vehicles here and I can tell you that it's a  live  issue for quite a few of the current owners. We recently had a problem with a very large electricity company van - fortunately, the guy found a convenient parking spot just off the estate so it got resolved. 

Do the current owners have the right to enforce the covenant?

Objecting to tradespeople's van seems very snobbish to me.  

Yes. We do

If it was parked right outside your window you might take a different view.

We try to be relaxed about covenants. However, the other side of the coin is that people are (should be anyway) well aware of any covenants when they buy their property so why do they think it's okay to immediately break them? 

Lol, shall I take a picture out of my front window for you so you can see my opposite neighbours work van parked on the street?  

We all want tradespeople to have vans so they can come to our homes and do work for us, so maybe we should be a bit more understanding about the fact that they have to park them somewhere?  

Seriously 

When I say right outside I mean right outside

We have a communal car park with spaces next to people's windows. This van was literally blocking someone's light. And no - the spaces don't align to the houses. 

Wasn't a lot of Loling from them

That's life, you buy a house with a window straight onto a car park then it might get blocked by a van, or a people carrier, or a 4x4.  Hardly one of life's great tragedies.  

Buy a house on an estate with a covenant that says no commercial vehicles then you might be forced to not park your commercial vehicle there.  Hardly one of life’s great tragedies. 👍

AdrianC

NeilCr said:

AdrianC said:

Would it have been preferable if it'd been a non-signwritten commercial van?
Or a non-commercial van?
Maybe somebody's camper?

<looks out window at bright turquoise 2.7m tall x 5.5m long camper converted from MWB hightop van>

No campers or caravans here either

To be honest, it was the size of the damn thing. 

Not that it affected me but I know the people who live there. 

What is the actual wording of the covenant?
Does it explicitly bar vehicles by dimension, regardless of type or purpose?

Does it make a difference if the vehicle is registered with DVLA as a "motor caravan", "van with windows", "panel van", or...?

What about where you have something like an M1-type-approved VW Caravelle vs an N1-type-approved Transporter or a "motor caravan" registered California? All the exact same basic vehicle, of course.

How about a "Historic Vehicle"-registered ex-military Land Rover 101GS owned by somebody who merely loves it dearly as a fun weekend vehicle?

bob_the_dinosaur

NeilCr said:

No campers or caravans here either. I take it you have no covenants where you live?

To be honest, it was the size of the damn thing. 

Not that it affected me but I know the people who live there. As a director I am a live and let live person and we do try to take a pragmatic view about covenants etc. But when people formally complain about others breaking covenants you do have to get engaged in sorting things out.

I get onwards and upwards point about tradesmen having to have someone to park and I have sympathy with that. The counter argument ((which you get) is that some folks buy on estates with covenants because they, actually, want to live somewhere where there are no trades vehicles, Sky dishes etc etc etc. And, as I said before, the covenants are made plain to purchasers before they complete so they are fully aware of the limitations. 

Where do you draw the line?  Are tradespeople working on houses OK?  I am guessing a builder requiring a skip is out of the question too?
It all seems a very slippery slope.
I take an interest in these covenants as the logic fascinates me.  I can see why one of the original sky dishes (massive things from the late 80s) would have been a problem, but the newer ones are tiny in comparison.  All it takes is someone with a propensity to complain and the whole estate are on edge

NeilCr

bob_the_dinosaur said:

NeilCr said:

No campers or caravans here either. I take it you have no covenants where you live?

To be honest, it was the size of the damn thing. 

Not that it affected me but I know the people who live there. As a director I am a live and let live person and we do try to take a pragmatic view about covenants etc. But when people formally complain about others breaking covenants you do have to get engaged in sorting things out.

I get onwards and upwards point about tradesmen having to have someone to park and I have sympathy with that. The counter argument ((which you get) is that some folks buy on estates with covenants because they, actually, want to live somewhere where there are no trades vehicles, Sky dishes etc etc etc. And, as I said before, the covenants are made plain to purchasers before they complete so they are fully aware of the limitations. 

Where do you draw the line?  Are tradespeople working on houses OK?  I am guessing a builder requiring a skip is out of the question too?
It all seems a very slippery slope.
I take an interest in these covenants as the logic fascinates me.  I can see why one of the original sky dishes (massive things from the late 80s) would have been a problem, but the newer ones are tiny in comparison.  All it takes is someone with a propensity to complain and the whole estate are on edge

Tradespeople are fine. I am not going to dig my paperwork out now (have a birthday lunch to attend) 
but the wording is around keeping a vehicle  on the estate. And, you have to be sensible, anyway. 

Skip is okay.  What tends to happen is that if someone is having work done they have it in their parking place

They fascinate me, too. I've had to deal with them for pretty much the last seventeen years as a director and they cause endless issues. As I said we try to be practical. I would say though, that, here, anyway, the commercial vehicles one is the one that continues to rear it's ugly head. The Sky dish one fell away years ago!

HanPop

Interesting that this thread has come up for me to be honest. We have been living on our Bellway estate for about 6 months and think there is a covenant on commercial vehicles (I know it’s bad we don’t know for sure but our solicitor was incompetent and it wasn’t about to stop us moving in, I will be getting a copy of the deeds etc) and my husband has a council vehicle (car sized) on our drive. It is never anywhere but in our drive as we can fit 3 cars on it and only have that and my car. Anyway, I overheard a neighbour opposite on the phone talking about my husbands vehicle and where it was parked etc whilst staring over to our drive and I can only assume they are complaining about this? I would understand maybe if it was parked on the road, blocking light etc but actually it is no bigger than a car, always on our drive and we are in a detached house with the drive set back from the houses so it affects nobody. In fact the chap across the road isn’t actually connected to our road he just overlooks it (we have a walkway in between as well as grass trees etc. Just wondering if this would actually be enforced if it was the case that he was complaining? All of the houses have been built on our estate and they only have 1 left to sell which is no where near us as we are tucked in a corner. Estate hasn’t been taken over by the management company yet. 

NeilCr

AdrianC said:

NeilCr said:

AdrianC said:

Would it have been preferable if it'd been a non-signwritten commercial van?
Or a non-commercial van?
Maybe somebody's camper?

<looks out window at bright turquoise 2.7m tall x 5.5m long camper converted from MWB hightop van>

No campers or caravans here either

To be honest, it was the size of the damn thing. 

Not that it affected me but I know the people who live there. 

What is the actual wording of the covenant?
Does it explicitly bar vehicles by dimension, regardless of type or purpose?

Does it make a difference if the vehicle is registered with DVLA as a "motor caravan", "van with windows", "panel van", or...?

What about where you have something like an M1-type-approved VW Caravelle vs an N1-type-approved Transporter or a "motor caravan" registered California? All the exact same basic vehicle, of course.

How about a "Historic Vehicle"-registered ex-military Land Rover 101GS owned by somebody who merely loves it dearly as a fun weekend vehicle?

As I said above I am out for lunch so am not going to find the actual wording for you. But I know that it's commercial vehicles, caravans, campers and, I think, maybe trailers. Nope - no actual dimensions so, yes, I am sure you could find a way of parking something else there

But, in the real world, it's usually commercial  vans that cause the issues. Again, these are specifically mentioned in the transfer documents and yet people think it's okay to park them here when they've signed up to the covenants.