Restrictive covenant, advice/experience please??

GingerLs

Hi,

I'm purchasing a property and have just discovered that there is a covenant on the Title Register, which states that we have to have written consent from the vendor first obtained, if we are to erect any building on the land. This covenant is from over 80 years ago, so it's likely that the vendor is deceased. I've read about convenant beneficiaries but how would I have a clue who this is, if anyone?

Has anyone had any similar experience and could advise what the best course of action is?

We are due to exchange this week and we are concerned by this as we had hoped to add an extention to the property in time and it may put people off if we want to sell it.

I have of course asked my conveyancer and I am awaiting his response, but don't see the harm asking on here too

TIA

greatcrested

The covenant will almost certainly lie with the land, so whoever bought or inhetted the land benefitting from it can still enforce it.

But what exactly does it say?

Having said that, many 80 year old covenants are long forgotton and will never be enforced .Indemnity insurance can cover the unlikely eventuallity of enforcement

GingerLs

greatcrested said:

The covenant will almost certainly lie with the land, so whoever bought or inhetted the land benefitting from it can still enforce it.

But what exactly does it say?

Having said that, many 80 year old covenants are long forgotton and will never be enforced .Indemnity insurance can cover the unlikely eventuallity of enforcement

Thanks, on the register it says the below 

"THE Purchaser hereby covenants with the Vendor (1) to erect and for

ever maintain a substantial fence around the land hereby conveyed and

(2) not at any time hereafter to erect any building on the land hereby

conveyed without the written consent of the Vendor first obtained' 

 

badger09

Solicitor of prospective buyers of my late sister's house discovered similar covenant. As she had added a conservatory, I agreed to pay for an indemnity policy, rather than faff about trying to trace covenant beneficiary & jeopardise the sale to nervous buyers. Cost £140. 

sgun

It is possible that it would be enforced, although unlikely. We have one on our land and there is a local property management firm who administrate it. We got an indemnity policy for the conservatory that our vendors had build (£79). We wouldn't do a full extension without getting permission though which we would have to pay a relatively substantial amount for. If it bothers you then your solicitor should be able to find out who the beneficiary is although if you are exchanging next week I doubt they would have time. If you are less risk averse than me then you could always just extend and hope no beneficiary pops up demanding money or telling you to demolish.

GingerLs

sgun said:

It is possible that it would be enforced, although unlikely. We have one on our land and there is a local property management firm who administrate it. We got an indemnity policy for the conservatory that our vendors had build (£79). We wouldn't do a full extension without getting permission though which we would have to pay a relatively substantial amount for. If it bothers you then your solicitor should be able to find out who the beneficiary is although if you are exchanging next week I doubt they would have time. If you are less risk averse than me then you could always just extend and hope no beneficiary pops up demanding money or telling you to demolish.

Thanks for the response. 
Am I correct in thinking you have to wait 12 months after the build, before you can take out indemnity insurance? And how do you go about taking out this type of insurance, does a conveyancer have to do it? 

greatcrested

Take out indemnity insurance.

Worst case,someone comes along and enforces the covenant and makes you knock down your extension.

The insurance pays the cost.

jennyred

we have just had this raised by our solicitor. I was very surprised to receive an email asking me if we got consent for our shed. They sent the appropriate bit in our deeds and I was surprised that we never picked up on it when we bought 4 years ago!

I am surprised that our buyer solicitor found it.

Our land was originally about 60 years ago bought from the council and this is a common covenant apparently.

how ever we have just paid £50 for insurance which seems a relatively small amount to pay for something we didnt read properly in the first place.