Household Covenants - New Build < 2 years

Sharp1986

Postik said:

Option D.  If this is all you have to worry about with a new build then you got off lightly.

They put cream gravel down and it looks naff - but it's their house and their choice.  The only person that can stop them is the developer and I doubt they care now they've sold the last house.  With that in mind, the covenant is as good as being non-existant, and if it was non-existant you wouldn't even be questioning it.

If my neighbours decide to have naff garden gnomes in their front garden or park an old banger on the driveway with no wheels, whilst I wouldn't be happy, it's their property and none of my business really.  Some of the houses on my estate have dug up the grass and planted flowers or put down fake grass.  Whilst it's not to my taste, it's not my house.

Same goes for the tree really.  They can plant what they like where they like in their garden, there's not much you can do about it.  My old neighbour planted big trees in his front garden which blocked the view of my driveway and car, whilst still allowing him to see his own driveway and car.  This really irritated me, but I just had to learn to live with it.  Aside from that they were great neighbours and I really appreciated that.  If your neighbours were having drug fuelled parties every night, leaving trash littered all over the street or banging random females night and day (I've known someone on a new estate that did all 3 of those things) the cream gravel and tree would be the least of your worries.

Regarding the land grab, if the land wasn't yours in the first place then it doesn't really affect you.  It sounds like the management company are aware of it, so it's up to them whether they take action or not.

Finally, regarding views, I know it can probably be disappointed to have a great view and then have someone plonk something in the way of it.  But to put it into prespective, there was a road where the houses overlooked fields and farmland.  Then the estate where I live got plonked right in front of it.  Imagine living there for 20 years with that view, only for a new build estate to suddenly appear from nowhere and now you are overlooking someone's new house.  Ironically, some of the new houses are now overlooking fields and farmland, so they have effectively stolen the view.

Yes, I think you are being incredibly precious :-)

Just on your last point, that point did make me question myself when I read it last night. I respect that, I think it's because it's so early on into the estate that is disappointing. When you pay a huge amount of money for certain features only for them to be gone within a year is not a nice feeling. I do however feel ridiculously sorry for the poor people that lived on the end of the street where this new build estate has been plonked. 

Postik

Section62 said:

Postik said:

....The only person that can stop them is the developer and I doubt they care now they've sold the last house.  With that in mind, the covenant is as good as being non-existant, and if it was non-existant you wouldn't even be questioning it.

The highways and the planning departments of the local council could also have a say in what people do with their front gardens, and it is possible one of the covenants has been imposed by the developer because the council wanted them to.

It is also a bit of a myth that developers don't care about covenants once they have sold the last house.  Some don't care, some do. There is no certainty, at least not enough to take the view that the covenant "is as good as being non-existant" - especially as these are recently built properties.  In 20 years time the position may be different.  Also, the covenants imposed on new build properties aren't always for the benefit of the developer (alone), other parties can be beneficiaries too.

You could be right in the OP's case, but it is important people don't go away from this thread thinking new build covenants don't matter and can be ignored.

Yes you are right.  I was being a bit flippant.  My house has a covenant that says you can't build over the driveway.  I suspect this has been imposed at the request of the council so people don't build a spare bedroom on their driveway and then the parking situation becomes bad.  Equally though, I have to keep the exact same shrubs in the front garden for the rest of eternity, so I am not sure who decided on that!  As it happens, I quite like the shrubs, but it appears some of the residents don't.

comeandgo

Do you have a management company?  I live in a what was once a new development .  Our deeds transferred the covenant rights from developer to the resident association.  I don’t know how this would work in any court but a letter from chairman of our resident association to house owner usually is enough to stop any discrepancies though there are many we all ignore.

TELLIT01

Unless the tree is in a location which is likely to cause damage to you house, there is nothing you can do about it.  You have no right to a view.

Sharp1986

comeandgo said:

Do you have a management company?  I live in a what was once a new development .  Our deeds transferred the covenant rights from developer to the resident association.  I don’t know how this would work in any court but a letter from chairman of our resident association to house owner usually is enough to stop any discrepancies though there are many we all ignore.

The developers/management company said the covenants are to be dealt with by the transferee, so basically it's down to me. It's highly unlikely I'm going to go down that route  as I should have stamped it out before they finished the work. I know at the time the developers were not happy but I don't think they could be bothered with it since they were moving on. 

It's one of them, what's done is done. I'm disappointed and I am going to have the frank conversation with the neighbour and request politely they move the tree where it won't block my view (where the original plans placed it), I can but try.

I've got a feeling they'll sell in the next two years as they can't do with the neighbourhood kids and this summer will be the big test. 

Sharp1986

Oh and I didn't add this but when we first moved in, to the front of our houses separating another street there was supposed to be a small wall and some nice flower beds, at the request of the top house on the next street they requested a fence to stop people from cutting through, this slightly ruined our views from the front... the neighbour did her best to kick off with the builders over it for the very reason of the view being ruined. Irony at it's finest. 

Sharp1986

Anyways, I've taken on board all comments and appreciate the perspective. 

Thanks.

diystarter7

Sharp1986 said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I will be more polite than some of the others but I do agree with their point of view

It's their garden and falling out with next door, even if its not handbags at dawn every day, life can become misrable.

Live and let live, IMHO

Thnaks

I understand this, I do think we're already in for a tough time with this neighbour. They've already fallen out with the people on the other side of me and made a few remarks to me to try and get me on side but I've been passive and tried to stay out of it. 

Hi
Thnaks

I've seen people/next door or opposite road or a few doors away fall out. It gets nasty and even those that think they can handle it get stressed etc as does their family.

People can fall out over almost nothing at times and I dread getting neigoburs that do not get o with us - ie mind your own business and just a polite hi and bye and not messing with our fence, business, encroaching drive etc.


Good luck

Doozergirl

Sharp1986 said:

Doozergirl said:

Next door doesn't belong to you.  As the saying goes, if you want to keep the view you have to buy it.  

People buy new builds for as many reasons as there are people and one of those reasons is to put their own stamp on it.   It might be the opposite of your reason, but it's perfectly normal behaviour. It's just a fact that cannot control people - everything others do is out of your control and it's a waste of good energy to attempt otherwise.  

You need to find something to occupy yourself with that is your own focus and your own business.  

Since when do people buy houses on new build estates that are all carbon copies of each in order to put their stamp on it. Most people know that there is little you can do on the outside of a new build in the first several years of ownership. 

Also, whilst stating that I can't control my neighbour you are 100% correct but that's why law and covenants exist surely, so I don't have to? 

How my private road looks is my business is it not? Am I not merely talking about exercising my rights? 

Since before your neighbours did it!  I follow lots of new build accounts on Instagram too that work hard not to live in magnolia boxes.  So do I.  

I live in a new house.  The people on the other side of me, 2 metres away, live in an even more brand new house, as do the six people to the side of them; on a private road.    Some of them have started their own landscaping, as have we.   Some have what I consider to be rubbish taste, some of them might consider me to have rubbish taste.  Neither of those things are my business but the way my house looks (pretty strong with black aluminium windows) didn't stop any of them from buying theirs as soon as they hit the market.  

I'll look after my house and let them do the same.  Live and let live.  My personal opinion on gravel, ponds, wonky bird feeders or too-small patios is far less important than to me than living quietly alongside my neighbours.  

My opinion on those houses being crammed onto next door's former garden in the first place has been put aside.  It was not taken out on the developer - we were the only
kind ones and he was kind and respectful to us in turn.  

You're referring to shop fronts etc but those are conservation areas, specifically to preserve and maintain the period character of an area.  

I'm not sure quite how terribly antisocial gravel can be that you need to 'exercise your rights' to make them undo the lot just for it to be fine, in your opinion, in five years time.  The street will change in time, whether it's the initial planting that inevitably grows,  landscaping, painting the doors, building garden rooms,  extensions, porches or changing driveways and, in time, the windows etc.   People always want to change their properties and there isn't an estate in my town built in the last 20 years that hasn't changed a lot.

The legal costs of trying to enforce a covenant will not be insignificant, before even considering the personal, emotional
costs of a what is essentially a pointless war on taste in the neighbourhood.

If these people are older, they probably just want less maintenance and not to have to mow a lawn at the front. 

It's a private road, presumably because it was too small for the council to adopt, not because the developer wanted to encourage you lot to pick holes in each others choices and fight over who pays to resurface it when the time comes.