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What is the meaning of this restrictive covenant? (Leasehold, England)
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It appears that the covenant (a) listed in the OP in this thread was created when a large amount of land was transferred from church authorities to Leicester Council in 1857. It seems that this land includes the nearby law courts (still run that way.) The freehold for the land and church building in which the flat is in was then sold to a management company in 1989, and then the leaseholds were created for the 39 flats in the building, over five floors. The documnents from 1989 until very early 1990 are clear that the old church is being used for residential purposes. But, there is not a deed of variation for that specific change. However, the use for residential purposes is clear in documents, as mentioned earlier in this thread. I mean, there is a deed of transfer that specifically lists all the flats for which leaseholds are created. Returning to my first post, I find it strange that the 1857 covenant not to use the property for residential purposes has made its way to the leasehold title plan for the flat for sale, and most likely other flats as well. It's clear that the actual documents are for use of the property for residential purposes, but the covenant is still there. It seems inconsistent to me, but I found nothing that actually specifically varied/removed that covenant. And, it's still there in even the most recent documents.
The documents refer to areas tinted different colours on title plans. But, it appears that these colours are invisible in the copies provided - except for a small region of the grounds hatched in red, which doesn't seem to have much talking about it. It may be the case that the colours have faded, or that the digital copies are bad. References to coloured regions came up in my recent purchase as well. I believe that these colours referred to both the church in question, and other areas than the current old church flats and their grounds.
The building is listed. (I would have been surprised if it wasn't). There is likely to be an upcoming S20 for a new roof, for which the estimated cost is £350,000 to £500,000. While this is a lot of money, it is to be divided between 39 flats, which would make it between (approximately) £9k to £13k (rounded) per flat. The freehold is owned by a company controlled by the tenants. There are over 100 pages of information from the management company (seemingly run by a reputable - as far as I know - local law firm) not all of which I have read. The service charge is about £800 per year, paid biannually. As I think anyone who actually is still reading this will guess, there is no gym, no pool, no concierge. The sink fund is a healthy £71k, but the new roof will wipe that out completely and then a lot more. The flat for sale is currently £48 behind in payments to the management company, which seems an odd thing.
There is no gas in the building at all, and all cooking, heating, and hot water is electrical. The EPC is a C, and there appears to be limited scope to improve that. Though, there are some interesting suggestions which would save a few tens of quid per year - such as a heat recovery system for the mixer shower. I'd not heard of that.
I'm by some considerable margin not an expert and can only read the documents in front of me, but it appears that the company managing the building is well set up, and the service charge is reasonable. There are quite a few restrictions in the lease - mostly normal about redecoration etc. There are restrictions about maintaining monuments etc. There is to be no keeping of pets that would cause a disturbance to neighbours, and others of that level. But, nothing truly strange. I'm guessing, wildly again, that the stone angels present in several rooms of the flat are part of the internal features that the leasehold specifies must be retained and not modified.0
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