How are covenants enforced in reality?

GixerKate

I'm reviewing the draft paperwork for a new build and I've got a couple of restrictive covenants such as 'no commercial vehicle (having an unladen weight in excess of 1.75 tonnes) parked on the property' and 'no plant shrub or tree over 500 mm in height be permitted to grow on any visibility splay area' which seem pretty tight.  How, in reality, would these be enforced?  I mean, a complaint could be put into the management company but what exactly can they do apart from have a stern word?  So if I plant a rose bush and it grows how it should, a neighbour can complain but then what?

Slithery

You could be compelled by the courts to cut it down if the beneficiaries decide to take it that far.

davidmcn

Obviously you need to consider whether anybody is going to be so irked by your 501mm shrubbery that they'll spend time and money on legal action. And if a resident was doing something objectively antisocial, there'd probably be other remedies anyway.

In practice, much of it is to keep the development looking nice and consistent while the developer is still trying to flog houses, and of less importance afterwards.

Slithery

GixerKate said:

'no plant shrub or tree over 500 mm in height be permitted to grow on any visibility splay area' which seem pretty tight.

I'm not surprised at all about having to keep the visibility splay clear, it will have been something that the highways department insisted on in order to get planning permission. From a safety reason why wouldn't you want to keep it clear? They're there for a good reason.

eddddy

As davidmcm says, the "no lorries" covenant is probably to keep the development looking nice for prospective buyers - so the developer might take legal action, if they think your lorry is hindering the sale of a million pounds worth or houses.

The phrase "visibility splay area" sounds a bit like it's related to planning consent. So the covenant may be reflecting a planning condition. If that's the case, the planning department could enforce the planning condition.

Browntoa

10 year old development near me still enforce covenant restrictions . No extensions , no sky dishes , no commercial vehicles etc. 

They have been known to take legal action.

But hit and miss as to which developments do actually enforce