Restrictive covenant - help!

bekil91

Hi!

we’re in the process of purchasing a new house and have had our solicitor point out to us that there’s a restrictive covenant in place which states;

The owner must obtain written consent before carrying out any building work or altering any existing buildings. 

Our solicitor has said that for older buildings this may be hard to trace and for previous work we may need an indemnity insurance to cover this.

We were buying the property in the hope that we can extend and convert the garage but as the property is between 50-60 years old I don’t know where we’d start to get permission?

what’s the general consensus here, do people make their alterations and then request indemnity insurance after?

Thanks!

PurpleZoombini

I'm just buying a property now and might want to extend at some point, there hasn't been any alteration made so far since it was built.

Quote from my recent searches:
"There is a restrictive covenant requiring you to obtain the consent of The Northumberland and Durham Real Estate Trust Company Limited to any alteration or extension. Failure to obtain the required consent will mean the work is in breach of covenant and could involve you in additional expense and delay should you wish to sell the property in the future. Please note however that we have checked Companies House and there is no record of this company still being in existence which is not surprising given that the land was purchased by them in 1936."

I assume that this means that I can do the extension since the company to ask no longer exists. I might have to get an indemnity insurance for a future sale but possibly not. Did your solicitor actually look up the company, does it still exist?  

bekil91

PurpleZoombini said:

I'm just buying a property now and might want to extend at some point, there hasn't been any alteration made so far since it was built.

Quote from my recent searches:
"There is a restrictive covenant requiring you to obtain the consent of The Northumberland and Durham Real Estate Trust Company Limited to any alteration or extension. Failure to obtain the required consent will mean the work is in breach of covenant and could involve you in additional expense and delay should you wish to sell the property in the future. Please note however that we have checked Companies House and there is no record of this company still being in existence which is not surprising given that the land was purchased by them in 1936."

I assume that this means that I can do the extension since the company to ask no longer exists. I might have to get an indemnity insurance for a future sale but possibly not. Did your solicitor actually look up the company, does it still exist?  

Ahh we’re just waiting on the searches to come back at the moment so hopefully that comes back with something to point us in the right direction in that case! Thanks!

Bendy_House

Bekil, ask your conveyancer if the only person/group who can enforce that covenant is the builder - the person who had the deeds written up. If so, see if the builder is still alive...

Slithery

Who's the benificiary of the covenant?