how to view a neighbours restrcitive covenants?

plexy

As the title says, id like to know how to view restrictive covenants for neighbours property. Ive checked the title register on land registry and there isnt much there. 

The backstory - I live in a coach house so theres garages underneath. One is mine, the others are two neighbours. Never had any issues. New neighbour moves in and the garage is being used at really unsociable hours (5 am, 2 am 1am, midnight) - they open up, drive the car out, make a bunch of noise doing <things> in there for maybe half an hour - then put the car back in and slamming metal shutter.

I get i moved into a property above garages. My choice. No issues there, i have to and do expect people will use them.

But doing so past 11pm thought the night and in the early hours when im sleeping right above all of the noise is driving me nuts. I had hoped it was just them getting settled and moving in but its been months now and its starting to look like whatever they are keeping in there they are treating the garage more as an access all hours storage unit/workshop as well as car storage. 

I asked the other neighbour (who has the other garage) and they said they have a covenant on their property that says they can only use the garage for putting a car in and must not make a noise nuisance. I was hoping to find that on the title register but cant seem to find it on there at all. They literally seem to just have "dont modify the house outside the local plan"

any pointers, advice etc greatly appreciated. 

[Deleted User]

Forget that, start with a noise complaint to the council.

Murphybear

[Deleted User] said:

Forget that, start with a noise complaint to the council.

Start with having a quiet word with the person, over tea and cake.  It’s possible they don’t realise they are being noisy.  If you start out with a complaint to the council you may find you have made an enemy for life.  

bouicca21

Presumably the garage is on a lease?  Can you get a copy of that?

aliby21

You might have to apply to land registry by post using form OC2.  Does the title register you already have refer to "restrictive covenants (original filed)" or something like that?  It is the filed documents you want and you have to ask for them specifically.  

You have my sympathies re noxious new neighbours

RAS

Do you own the coach house? Because you would usually be the freeholder, and I'm surprised you didn't check the leases when you bought it.

Some do seriously limit what the leaseholders are allowed to do in their garages, other than keep cars.

You might want to check whether your lawyer obtained them as part of the purchase? Although it may be cheaper just to write and get them from the Land Registry.

user1977

Causing a legal nuisance via noise is almost certainly going to require more than merely using a garage as a garage, so probably depends what "things" you mean. Using it as a rehearsal space for their death metal band, probably.

ReadingTim

Unless you're a party to the covenant, you're unlikely to be able to enforce it, therefore I'd forget this idea and concentrate on the noise complaint aspect. 

Unfortunately, from what you've described of his behaviour, the new neighbour is guilty of nothing more than being a bit inconsiderate and heavy-footed/handed/clumsy, and realistically, the only way you'll permanently stop this from being a problem is to move to a different property that is not above a garage - these sorts of issues are an inherent risk associated with coach houses.  Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear.  

GixerKate

If all three garages are together then its likely that they all have the same covenants, have you checked yours?

Is it possible they use the car for commuting and get up early and home late?  I get up and get the car out at 6am at the moment so I guess that could annoy my neighbour, where I used to live I used to commute on a motorbike which meant getting my bike out of the garage, starting it up and riding away at around 5.30am, I thought at the time that must be annoying to the neighbours but no one said anything so assume it was ok.

Have you talked to your neighbours and found out what it is they do at that time?  It may be that they haven't a clue that they are making too much noise, a friendly chat could resolve it all.

Titus_Wadd

Years ago I worked shifts and I suppose if I had garaging below someone's house the sound of the door and engine starting would have woken them up.  I'd definitely start up a friendly conversation with them as your new neighbours and see whether they volunteer some snippets that explain the noise.

I'm not saying there's no annoyance caused to you but it's likely unintentional.  My best advice is to get ear plugs from Boots or similar.  I'd do anything to avoid a formal dispute with a neighbour and once you start with even a small grumble folk can get defensive and the situation can escalate. 

I speak from a place where we have a CPN, injunction and a charge of common assault against our neighbours from hell.  Our legal costs are pushing £50k, and only about half paid for by legal cover with our house insurance company.  I think with hindsight it would have been cheaper and less stressful to move before legal action was required.

If the new neighbour is a shift worker bear in mind that they get no concessions from those who work 9 to 5 and probably do as I did and sleep with ear plugs as a matter of course.  It's a cheaper and easier solution if there's no malice behind the noise.  Just playing devil's advocate and I hope you reach a solution.

eddddy

In terms of enforcing covenants, it depends on the "set-up". It's likely to be one of two options:

• 1) Your home is classed as a leasehold "flat". Your neighbour has a leasehold garage. You both have the same freeholder.

• 2) Your home is a freehold house. Your neighbour has a leasehold garage. So you are your neighbour's freeholder.

If it's option1, you could probably tell your freeholder that you want them to enforce a covenant on your neighbour.

If it's option 2, you could enforce a covenant on your neighbour yourself




But...

If you do either of the above, or complain to the council, you'd probably have to declare it when you eventually sell the property. The TA6 form asks:

Have there been any disputes or complaints regarding this property or a property nearby? If Yes, please give details:

If you say that you've made complaints about noise (and that you get woken in the night by it), that's likely to make the property quite a bit harder to sell.

So maybe you should try to get this resolved by a friendly discussion with your neighbour, before doing anything that could be described as a 'complaint'.