Restrictive covenant

Tulips2lips

My son has recently purchased a plot of land to build a house.  There is a restrictive covenant that the land can only be for one house and garage but as there is a large field to the rear he has been approached by a developer to sell some of his land to provide an access to the landlocked field.  Would an access road be in breach of the covenant only to build one house with garage?  Thank you for any advice you can offer.

EDIT:

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP!  MY SON CHECKED WITH THE OWNER OF THE COVENANT AND IT WOULD BE A BREACH AS THE LAND IS ONLY TO BE USED FOR ONE DWELLING WITH GARAGE.  THEY ARE A VERY LARGE ORGANISATION AND NOT TO BE MESSED WITH!  

user1977

What's the exact wording?

Tulips2lips

user1977 said:

What's the exact wording?

No buildings shall be built on the land except a single dwelling and garage.  

user1977

Well a road isn't a building, so that doesn't seem to be a problem.

david29dpo

user1977 said:

Well a road isn't a building, so that doesn't seem to be a problem.

This..............................

LightFlare

wouldnt the problem (if any) be the developers anyway being the landowner ?

david29dpo

If he needs the money and dont mind the disruption, do it. I would

user1977

But he should get professional advice about the price

david29dpo

user1977 said:

But he should get professional advice about the price

Yes and suck him dry for every penny!

Section62

Tulips2lips said:

My son has recently purchased a plot of land to build a house.  There is a restrictive covenant that the land can only be for one house and garage but as there is a large field to the rear he has been approached by a developer to sell some of his land to provide an access to the landlocked field.  Would an access road be in breach of the covenant only to build one house with garage?  Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Has your son already got planning consent for his house, and would the loss of this land affect his consented plan?  Does he have permission for a vehicular access from the road and has it been constructed yet?

The amount of land needed for an access road to a decent sized development isn't usually a small strip - and the developer would have to provide adequate sightlines where the access road meets the main road.  Unless there is something unusual about the circumstances and layout the developer may need to use a total frontage length of maybe 30m or so.  Also, once the developer's access road is consented, applications for new vehicular accesses close to the access road may be refused on road safety grounds - so your son needs to make sure his access is sorted first, or as part of an agreement with the developer.

If he already has planning consent for the house he needs to check to make sure that the loss of land from his plot wouldn't invalidate his planning consent - for example by falling below the council's minimum requirement for parking space or garden. He'd be wise to get it in writing from the council that the loss of the land wouldn't affect his existing consent.  If he doesn't have consent already then he needs to consider whether having less land, and being adjacent to a larger development, may impact on his ability to develop his own plot.

Depending on his and the developer's timescales, he might be better off negotiating with the developer to swap his plot of land for a plot somewhere within the larger field.  His existing plot and any house built on it will probably be less attractive for having a development built behind it with the main access right next to him.  Depending on the site layout and constraints, a plot elsewhere within the overall development site may be worth more and be a nicer place to live. Although with the downside of him having to wait until the developer has at least built the access road before he could make a start on his own build.

Has he also checked to see if there is anything in the covenants about sub-division of the land or if the land has to remain in a single ownership?

pinkshoes

Tulips2lips said:

My son has recently purchased a plot of land to build a house.  There is a restrictive covenant that the land can only be for one house and garage but as there is a large field to the rear he has been approached by a developer to sell some of his land to provide an access to the landlocked field.  Would an access road be in breach of the covenant only to build one house with garage?  Thank you for any advice you can offer.

How large is this field? Would he be happy with lots of traffic potentially going past his house all day? 

Depending on how many houses could be built then this sounds like a very lucrative project if the builder can get access, so your brother should think about what the strip is worth. Potentially a LOT. But will likely devalue his own plot.

As a road is not a dwelling then this would not breach the covenant.