covenant and commercial van

peppapig14

our title deeds have deeds stating " to park 1 private car in parking spaces"
We have now received letters from the management company stating any commercial vans on the estate ate breaking the covenant and need to be removed within 10 days - can they do this as technically the covenant doesn't say commercial vans cannot be parked there?

Browntoa

Yes , it's quite clear as "1 private car" not "commercial vehicles" 

The issue is normally do the developer want to enforce, which in this case they do 

AdrianC

Is your "commercial van" a "private car"? No?
Then it can't be parked there under the clause that allows you to park a private car there.

peppapig14

I understand what you are saying but it is our private car in the sense we only have that for both work and personal use

frogglet

Our covenent listed what couldn't be parked on driveways. It also said no satellite dishes amongst other things. People do what they want.  No one says anything. 
Are your builders still on site?

AdrianC

peppapig14 said:

I understand what you are saying but it is our private car in the sense we only have that for both work and personal use

The fact you use a van for domestic use doesn't make it a private car.

davidmcn

peppapig14 said:

I understand what you are saying but it is our private car in the sense we only have that for both work and personal use

It's not a private car though. It's a commercial van. The whole point of the title condition is that they don't want commercial vans parking in the spaces.

princeofpounds

General question here - is such a covenant really that enforceable?

The management company would have to go to court to actually do anything. There is no financial loss so monetary compensation seems unlikely. They could apply for injunctive relief but would it be proportionate and just for a court to award that? 

On the other hand I know that courts do not like wilful breaches of covenants (seeing it as a violation of property law). Would the real penalty be a potential costs award in favour of the management company?

Just wondering if anyone knows of any case law or similar examples here.

Certainly one approach available to the OP is to do nothing until the court summons arrives. Not saying that's a good approach - personally if I committed to not park commercial vehicles, I wouldn't park commercial vehicles out of respect to my neighbours. But I'm curious on this issue of enforceability given it comes up from time to time on the board.

davidmcn

princeofpounds said:

General question here - is such a covenant really that enforceable?

I'm assuming the OP doesn't own the parking space - if so, that may make a difference to enforceability. If the space is owned by another party (e.g. a management company) then literally all the OP is allowed to do is what is stated there i.e. to park a private car.

Though whether the managing agents are likely to be bothered enough to do anything more than send threatening letters is always another question.

frogglet

Is your van large enough to impinge on other parking spaces, making it difficult for people to get in and out their cars. It could be other parking users have complained.

princeofpounds

davidmcn said:

I'm assuming the OP doesn't own the parking space - if so, that may make a difference to enforceability

That's a very good point. In my mind I was thinking more about parking on a part of your own property. I agree that if it is an allocated space it would be seen as even less defensible.