Restrictive Covenants - Keep Grassed area grassed and maintain and boundary structures and hedges

MrBounce

Hi i am in the process of buying a property and was just sent this from my solicitor... I have queried this with them but they are slow at responding...

As you can see from the photo there is a grassed area in front and to the side of the property... My future plan was to make the drive bigger and possibly taking part of the grassed area to extend the garden..

Based on the text i have uploaded, it mentions to keep grassed any unenclosed part... Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

canaldumidi

MrBounce said:

........ Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

Yes.

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

It says:

"..any consent that may be required above must include....."

The 'grassed area' appears be referenced below, so what does it say 'above'?

Section62

MrBounce said:

Hi i am in the process of buying a property and was just sent this from my solicitor... I have queried this with them but they are slow at responding...

As you can see from the photo there is a grassed area in front and to the side of the property... My future plan was to make the drive bigger and possibly taking part of the grassed area to extend the garden..

Based on the text i have uploaded, it mentions to keep grassed any unenclosed part... Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

What kind of property is it?  E.g. Flats, maisonette, house, etc

Where exactly would you be parking - would you need to increase the width of dropped kerb to be able to park there?

What does the planning consent for the development say about conditions relating to parking and landscaping?

MrBounce

canaldumidi said:

MrBounce said:

........ Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

Yes.

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

It says:

"..any consent that may be required above must include....."

The 'grassed area' appears be referenced below, so what does it say 'above'?

The text relating to paying £40 for consent was at the bottom of the document.. The details for the grassed area was in the list of restrictions above that.. It's just the way i uploaded the screenshot.. 

MrBounce

Section62 said:

MrBounce said:

Hi i am in the process of buying a property and was just sent this from my solicitor... I have queried this with them but they are slow at responding...

As you can see from the photo there is a grassed area in front and to the side of the property... My future plan was to make the drive bigger and possibly taking part of the grassed area to extend the garden..

Based on the text i have uploaded, it mentions to keep grassed any unenclosed part... Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

What kind of property is it?  E.g. Flats, maisonette, house, etc

Where exactly would you be parking - would you need to increase the width of dropped kerb to be able to park there?

What does the planning consent for the development say about conditions relating to parking and landscaping?

Its a house, currently has space for 2 cars only... The kerb around the property is already dropped so no need... Would ideally remove the railings to improve/increase access as the current access is through a shared access... 

Not looked at planning for the development... Will try find on planning portal... The property was built approx 2005.

Section62

MrBounce said:

Section62 said:

MrBounce said:

Hi i am in the process of buying a property and was just sent this from my solicitor... I have queried this with them but they are slow at responding...

As you can see from the photo there is a grassed area in front and to the side of the property... My future plan was to make the drive bigger and possibly taking part of the grassed area to extend the garden..

Based on the text i have uploaded, it mentions to keep grassed any unenclosed part... Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

What kind of property is it?  E.g. Flats, maisonette, house, etc

Where exactly would you be parking - would you need to increase the width of dropped kerb to be able to park there?

What does the planning consent for the development say about conditions relating to parking and landscaping?

Its a house, currently has space for 2 cars only... The kerb around the property is already dropped so no need... Would ideally remove the railings to improve/increase access as the current access is through a shared access... 

Not looked at planning for the development... Will try find on planning portal... The property was built approx 2005.

In a case like this it isn't so much the physical height of the kerb, rather having the permission to cross it at the point where you want to cross it.

Do you know the position of the highway boundary, assuming the road is adopted?

MrBounce

Aahhh i see, the road is council maintained i believe until the shared access bit (near the hedge) 

robatwork

Seems unlikely you are "allowed" to alter the grass area at all. However as you look round the estate, how rigorously is number 6 being adhered to?  Let's assume that anyone with a dish on the front/side doesn't have written permission.

MrBounce

robatwork said:

Seems unlikely you are "allowed" to alter the grass area at all. However as you look round the estate, how rigorously is number 6 being adhered to?  Let's assume that anyone with a dish on the front/side doesn't have written permission.

There is a house with it on the side i can see from Google... Will have a physical look too... 

doodling

Hi

Are these traditional covenants?  I.e. is the house freehold with no form of management or estate charge?  If there is some form of leasehold or ongoing charge then what I have written below will be wrong.

If these are traditional covenants then in general positive covenants (i.e. covenants that actually require you to do something rather than ones that ban you from doing something) are not binding so there is nothing to stop you allowing the fence to fall down and the grass to die or grow to ridiculous height (but you can't do anything to encourage that process).  I suspect that the covenant could also be read as forbidding the replacement of grass with anything else so you'd be stuck with bare soil if you let the grass die.

A more pragmatic approach might be to understand what the likely response from those benefitting from the covenants would be.  Do the documents explicitly state who benefits from the covenants - it will usually be the original builder but they may explicitly give neighbours rights to enforce as well?  Ultimately if no-one is going to complain or notice then you can do what you want - are you aware of anyone else on the estate who has been contacted by the builder when they did something forbidden?

canaldumidi

MrBounce said:

canaldumidi said:

MrBounce said:

........ Does that mean we can't remove the railing at the front of the property to increase the drive size?

Yes.

There is also a bit of text where it says about applications to the transferor for consent, could that apply to the grassed area? Where we could request consent?

It says:

"..any consent that may be required above must include....."

The 'grassed area' appears be referenced below, so what does it say 'above'?

The text relating to paying £40 for consent was at the bottom of the document.. The details for the grassed area was in the list of restrictions above that.. It's just the way i uploaded the screenshot.. 

Ah! OK

The trouble with trying to give advice in cases like this is that one needs to read the document in full and in context.

Brief extracts out of context can lead to poor advice.

And even worse is vague explanations of what a document says rather than precise quotes.

So in answer to your question about 'consent', and whether it could be granted for the grassed area, one would need to see exactly what the reference to'consent' related to ie look at the whole document.

But just by looking at the extracts you've provided, alongside the photos of the developmet, my instinct is that the intention here is to protect the look and feel of the area which has ladscaped grass areas enclosed by railings.

Whether the precise wording meets that intention would require a close examination of the document.......