Property covenant extension

alstorey

Hi,
I am in the middle of buying a house. The deeds have a covenant on the land saying it cannot be altered without local planning permission.

the house has a conservatory 3m x 3m and the front of the living room has been extended approx 1m to be in line with the garage front. As these extensions are not large enough to require planning permission, they don’t have any.. but technically they are still in breach of the covenant. The extensions were done over 20 years ago and not by the current owner. I can get an indemnity policy for £300 but is it worth it?
also, if I was to want to do a larger extension in the future, how do I find out who had power of the convenient. The house was built in 1969 so the original developer or land owner is likely long gone.

thanks

Titus_Wadd

Planning department won't be able to enforce after 20 years.  Does the covenant say that permitted development rights are removed?  This would mean that you should apply for PP for every extension etc. you might want to make in future.  This didn't put me off buying my house with the PD rights similarly removed.  A indemnity policy is a waste of money in this situation because so much time has elapsed.  But ask your solicitor about the exact wording of the covenant.

Section62

alstorey said:

I am in the middle of buying a house. The deeds have a covenant on the land saying it cannot be altered without local planning permission.

the house has a conservatory 3m x 3m and the front of the living room has been extended approx 1m to be in line with the garage front. As these extensions are not large enough to require planning permission, they don’t have any.. but technically they are still in breach of the covenant.

The permitted development rules don't allow extensions on the front of a dwelling, no matter how small they are.  In this case the 'front' would be defined as the 'principal elevation' of the dwelling, not the wall closest to the road.  Therefore if the garage sticks out a bit from the rest of the house (common in this era) then normally planning consent would be needed to extend the ground floor out to the same line as the front of the garage.  The exception to that is where the development is a "porch", not an 'extension' - but then the rules for porches have to be complied with.

Technically, all extensions and porches do need planning consent, even if they are tiny.  But if they comply with the permitted development rules then they are deemed to have consent from the Secretary of State and don't need 'local' planning consent.

That may be significant in cases where a covenant refers to "local planning permission" - because permitted development is granted by the SoS, and isn't "local planning permission".

Some people may advise you that as this work was done some time ago there is nothing anyone can do about it.  Bear in mind though that if the local planning authority started enforcement action for a planning breach then the 4-year limit no longer applies - an enforcement notice lasts until the LPA withdraws it.  So be sure to check there is no open planning enforcement case (or notice) on the property.

Various developers who were building in 1969 (and much earlier) are still around - sometimes trading under a different name, or acquired by another company.  So don't assume the rights of the original developer have ceased to apply.  Also bear in mind that the beneficiaries of covenants can sometimes be other organisations and people, not just the developer.

alstorey

Section62 said:

alstorey said:

I am in the middle of buying a house. The deeds have a covenant on the land saying it cannot be altered without local planning permission.

the house has a conservatory 3m x 3m and the front of the living room has been extended approx 1m to be in line with the garage front. As these extensions are not large enough to require planning permission, they don’t have any.. but technically they are still in breach of the covenant.

The permitted development rules don't allow extensions on the front of a dwelling, no matter how small they are.  In this case the 'front' would be defined as the 'principal elevation' of the dwelling, not the wall closest to the road.  Therefore if the garage sticks out a bit from the rest of the house (common in this era) then normally planning consent would be needed to extend the ground floor out to the same line as the front of the garage.  The exception to that is where the development is a "porch", not an 'extension' - but then the rules for porches have to be complied with.

Technically, all extensions and porches do need planning consent, even if they are tiny.  But if they comply with the permitted development rules then they are deemed to have consent from the Secretary of State and don't need 'local' planning consent.

That may be significant in cases where a covenant refers to "local planning permission" - because permitted development is granted by the SoS, and isn't "local planning permission".

Some people may advise you that as this work was done some time ago there is nothing anyone can do about it.  Bear in mind though that if the local planning authority started enforcement action for a planning breach then the 4-year limit no longer applies - an enforcement notice lasts until the LPA withdraws it.  So be sure to check there is no open planning enforcement case (or notice) on the property.

Various developers who were building in 1969 (and much earlier) are still around - sometimes trading under a different name, or acquired by another company.  So don't assume the rights of the original developer have ceased to apply.  Also bear in mind that the beneficiaries of covenants can sometimes be other organisations and people, not just the developer.

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

So regarding the principle elevation.. Does this mean the original living room window line and garage line form the principle elevation and not just the garage line.

I have attached a picture of the house front and drew a square round the extended living room that was brought in line with the garage front. Originally this area would have been inline with the upper floor of the house. So should this definitely have planning permission? I believe the extension could be 30 years old, is it possible the rules were different back then? 90% of the houses on the street have the same extension.. as you can see the house on the right also has it.

Thanks

Alan