New House Covenant - Motorhome

DE_612183

Hi, I'm looking to buy a property on a brand new site - I've seen a number of different sites in our area and they all seem to have the same covenant as below:

Not to park any heavy goods vehicle on any part of the Property or the Development and not topark any light goods vehicle caravan boat trailer or similar type of vehicle on the Development andor the Property except out of sight of the other properties on the Development.

The property I'm looking at has quite a long driveway sandwiched between the house next door and the new house - so if I parked at the end of the driveway, the motorhome would be visable but only if you stood at the end of the driveway and probably, we'd probably have another car parked in front of it anyway. I guess this is to stop people parking vehicles that would obstruct the view / light / privacy of other home owners.

Does anyone think this could / would cause an issue?

Section62

DE_612183 said:

Hi, I'm looking to buy a property on a brand new site - I've seen a number of different sites in our area and they all seem to have the same covenant as below:

Not to park any heavy goods vehicle on any part of the Property or the Development and not topark any light goods vehicle caravan boat trailer or similar type of vehicle on the Development andor the Property except out of sight of the other properties on the Development.

The property I'm looking at has quite a long driveway sandwiched between the house next door and the new house - so if I parked at the end of the driveway, the motorhome would be visable but only if you stood at the end of the driveway and probably, we'd probably have another car parked in front of it anyway. I guess this is to stop people parking vehicles that would obstruct the view / light / privacy of other home owners.

Does anyone think this could / would cause an issue?

Who are the beneficiaries of the covenant?  Do other residents have any right to enforce, or only the developer?

In my experience "out of sight of" is a bit of an unusual formulation, which could lead to issues with interpretation.  You need to get a clearer understanding of the intent of the covenant before you can work out how much of an issue you may have.

user1977

I agree "out of sight" is pretty vague.

I would say it's not really about blocking light but more about things which might "lower the tone". In theory it could be enforced, whether anybody would bother is another matter.

Martin_the_Unjust

If a neighbour complains or a prospective buyer comments on it then the developer will almost certainly try to enforce the covenant.

DE_612183

The covenant is under section 3 - Transferee’s Covenants with the Management Company and the Transferor alone

(Restrictions)

Section62

DE_612183 said:

The covenant is under section 3 - Transferee’s Covenants with the Management Company and the Transferor alone

(Restrictions)

So there will be a management company involved on a long-term basis?

In which case the common assumption the covenants won't be enforced after the developer has packed up and left the site won't necesarily hold true.

Albermarle

user1977 said:

I agree "out of sight" is pretty vague.

I would say it's not really about blocking light but more about things which might "lower the tone". In theory it could be enforced, whether anybody would bother is another matter.

Yes, it will be more that caravans, motorhomes, transit vans  etc parked on a driveway could be seen as an eyesore, by some people anyway. 

eddddy

Even if the covenant isn't enforced / enforceable for some reason - I guess your new neighbours might think it's anti-social of you to buy a house on an estate with a "No motorhomes rule", and then park a motorhome.

It might get things off to a bad start.

Plus disagreements with your neighbours about whether it's "out of sight" or not.

prettyandfluffy

Factor in the cost of secure off-site storage into your monthly outgoings.  If someone complained, could/would you pay this? 

bluelad1927

I was recently looking into a covenant relating to my house and was surprised to see that on  Barratts website they do not police or enforce covenants. I guess with a new build its a bit different while developer is still there

ThisIsWeird

I suspect a different aspect here is the reference to a possibly-ongoing 'management company', as S62 points out.
In practice, very often such restrictive covenants are put there by the developer as a 'keep it tidy' clause, until the development is completed. After this point, it's comes down to how active they wish to remain involved - often not at all.
I have witnessed an actual example of this in a local Persimmons dev where the in-laws bought a bungie some 25 years ago. Their neighb moved, and the new prospective buyers asked - before buying - if a caravan could be stored on their front drive. The deeds said 'no', the sellers said 'no', their potential new neighb's said 'no', but they bought anyway, and parked their mother-of-all-caravans there. Cue annoyed neighb's, including mil (snigger).
The thing is, nothing could be done about it. Persimm not bothered, Legal Protection wouldn't entertain taking such such action, so the restrictive covenant was effectively moot - nothing could be done to stop them.
Except, an owner on the estate - a self-appointed 'manager' - made it clear that they'd be upsetting lots of folks, so really very silly to carry on. That worked - they parked off-site due to peer pressure.
In your case, there are two interesting aspects. One is that there may be a management co. running the joint, and they may be able to enforce the deeds. Wanna risk serious litigation? Stick yer 'home on the drive, and refuse to move it
But the other interesting aspect is the 'visible' part. Blimey. So, if you were to construct a screening panel to be mounted in front of yer 'home, it wouldn't actually be 'visible'?
Another practical example is sil who has a house on a 20-year old estate which does have a management co. They look after communal things such as tending the grassy areas and stuff. 
One day, a recently-moved-in cove working at local window co started to park his company 'van' outside their home. This sizeable vehicle narrowed the entrance to the estate, was an eyesore, and also became the main view for a couple of their neighb's. Oooooh, trouble ensued, but it didn't actually affect sil, tho' she could appreciate how unreasonable his actions were.
It took one hell of a lot of doing before he was obliged to leave his van at work, and use his car to commute. The management company were very slow, and reluctant, to act.