Conditions of sale for new home

SunnysideBeach

Hi, I’m in Scotland and considering buying a property from a major builder on a new scheme. I was told by the selling agent that there are certain conditions in the contract of sale / title deeds.  This includes no work vans, no camper vans ( I have a very modest sized camper van) - fiat ducato van size), no re sale of the property until they are finished the whole estate - they will be building for the next five years. 

There are already some vans parked on the main road into the estate (which in all honesty in my view looks pretty untidy compared with vans tucked away on drives). However, I wondered if anyone has purchased new build property and had to agree to these conditions? At my current property I can park on my drive and it means I can charge my van in the winter from the house when it snows,, and it’s safer to be honest and keeps it out of the way of everyone else. And it’s no longer than a Range Rover….
I'm particularly concerned about the no re sale prospect as if something life changing happened and the house had to be sold, I’m perplexed about that.

i just wondered if anyone had come across this before and how they dealt with it thanks. I could nt agree to those terms.

sheramber

What did the agent say about the fact that there were vans parked on the estate?

lisyloo

I've not come across the no re-sale clause but it's very common to have no caravans, satellite dishes etc.

They don't care what people do after the homes are sold and are not going to come round to enforce it after they've moved on, they just want it to look nice whilst they are selling houses there.

As for no re-sale I wouldn't be happy with that. Circumstances change all the time including unexpected death.
I imagine their reasons are the same - they don't want any "undesirables" moving in.

Do you know if you can get a mortgage with this clause in place?

Personally I'd walk away. Does this mean your beneficiaries would have to wait up to 5 years if you die. Not acceptable in my personal view and that may well not be acceptable to a mortgage provider.

DE_612183

we have anew(ish) build - there are a number of restrictive covenants including no vans, motor-home and boats - also no barbecues - most people ignore them.

Never seen a re-sale one - are you sure it's not just not able to put a "for sale" sign up? We have that one as well...

BikingBud

I'm amazed they can get away with all these restrictive clauses.

What kind of business feels it appropriate to restrict the future sale of any asset?

Bizarre!

Albermarle

Plus that 5 years to finish the estate, could easily become longer with delays.

eddddy

SunnysideBeach said:

This includes no work vans, no camper vans ( I have a very modest sized camper van) - fiat ducato van size), 

There's the question of whether the developer will (and/or can) enforce this type of covenant in future years.

But I guess there's also the question of being a good neighbour. Some home owners might be very pleased that the "rules" say no vans, and then be angry  at home owners who break the "rules", and in their opinion, spoil the look of the estate.

The developer puts covenants like this in place, because they believe that's what the majority of home owners want.

Personally, if I wanted to keep a van on my drive, I wouldn't buy a property with a covenant saying "No keeping of vans on the drive".

user1977

As above, you've misunderstood whatever the "no resale" condition is, obviously you're allowed to sell the house.

Don't you have a solicitor (preferably not a "tame" one recommended by the developer)? You wouldn't normally be trying to interpret the Deed of Conditions by yourself.

But in general, this is all standard stuff for anything built in the past 30+ years. Most of it is of dubious enforceability, unless you were causing an objective nuisance. 

sheenas

I have purchased England off plan and the T&C were very similar. The builder did enforce the rules when selling houses, but not once gone. The only issues was when the council came to adopt the roads, some people had changed their drive ways due to then being total impractical, they were forced to revert them back as per the plans.

SunnysideBeach

Thanks for all your comments - I don’t think I misunderstood at all the thing about not reselling until they had finished the estate - it bothers me for all the reasons you’ve said. I’m assuming it’s because if you get ‘incentives’ you could effectively sell for less than the builder. Interesting point about the mortgage company. 

And I agree - I don’t want neighbours to get upset if I put a van on the drive even although it’s not big. It’s got the making of a lot of unecessary conflict. I know family members where that’s what is in their deeds ie no work vans and everyone ignores it. 

Thanks

user1977

SunnysideBeach said:
I don’t think I misunderstood at all the thing about not reselling until they had finished the estate

what exactly does it say?