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Disappearing Covenant

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WGG1848
WGG1848 Posts: 53 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
We purchased our property over 35 years ago. It was a former farm which was split into six lots.
A farm lane leads to all the lots.
All the deeds of the original individual lots contained a covenant which basically stated that we shared a one sixth share in the future maintenance of the lane.
Over the years various numbers of the lots have changed hands.
One of the new owners, when approached regarding the upkeep and maintenance of the lane stated that no such covenant appears in his deeds.
My question(s) are, can a covenant disappear between one sale and the next? Can it be the case that this covenant has been removed legally?
All the present owners use the lane to access their properties.
The lane in question is now in dire need of attention.

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  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    WGG1848 wrote: »
    One of the new owners, when approached regarding the upkeep and maintenance of the lane stated that no such covenant appears in his deeds.
    Have you checked whether that's the case? They could just be "mistaken" about what their deeds say.
  • Socajam
    Socajam Posts: 1,238 Forumite
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    WGG1848 wrote: »
    We purchased our property over 35 years ago. It was a former farm which was split into six lots.
    A farm lane leads to all the lots.
    All the deeds of the original individual lots contained a covenant which basically stated that we shared a one sixth share in the future maintenance of the lane.
    Over the years various numbers of the lots have changed hands.
    One of the new owners, when approached regarding the upkeep and maintenance of the lane stated that no such covenant appears in his deeds.
    My question(s) are, can a covenant disappear between one sale and the next? Can it be the case that this covenant has been removed legally?
    All the present owners use the lane to access their properties.
    The lane in question is now in dire need of attention.

    Who does the new owner think will maintain access to his property - the other 5 owners?
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
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    Download the Titles of each of the 6 properties including your own.


    https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/QuickEnquiryInit.do


    My guess is that they will refer to a Conveyance or Deed dated 1994 (ish) which will specify the obligations and rights in detail, so you'll ned that too.


    https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds


    Are you sure the property in question originally had the same obligation as your own property? Perhaps it never did?
  • pulliptears
    pulliptears Posts: 14,575 Forumite
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    A covenant disappeared from our property thats 20 years old. I only knew it existed when I found the initial plans for the house. Oddly, we were unknowingly following the covenant anyway which was basically protecting a part of the garden that has a newt population by not cutting the grass there between May and September.

    Our house was bought and sold a lot and used as a short term rental so between one of these many sales it just vanished.
  • WGG1848
    WGG1848 Posts: 53 Forumite
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    Thank you for your interest.
    I fortunately had copies made of all the deeds of the six lots in question.
    One of the paragraphs state:
    The purchasers hereby jointly and severally covenant with the Vendors as follows: (with intent to bind all future owners of the property hereby conveyed)
    To pay one sixth of the total cost of maintaining an d keeping in good repair the whole of the said roadway shown coloured yellow on the said plan annexed hereto.
    Whilst I accept the present owner is maybe just misinformed, a recent search on land registry states
    The land has the benefit of the rights granted by but is subject to the rights reserved by a conveyance of the land in this title and other land dated...
    I also appreciate that enforcing these covenants are extremely difficult, the fact remains he uses the lane on a daily basis and is basically putting two fingers up to the other owners.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,426 Forumite
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    is basically putting two fingers up to the other owners.

    The five of you take legal advice?
  • Drawingaline
    Drawingaline Posts: 2,942 Forumite
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    The other five pay to do the bits outside there own properties and skip the bit outside his?

    Although I suppose it depends where along his house falls.....
    Debt free Feb 2021 🎉
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
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    seems pretty clear.


    I'd expect each new owner would have to sign a declaration that they would be bound by the covenant, and would bind anyone they sold on to.


    If the previous owners did not bind the current owners they may not be bound - but you need legal advice.



    Have you as advised downloaded the current title for his property from the Land Registry? You say you "had copies made of all the deeds of the six lots in question." but that was presumably 35 years ago? So you need to check whether the current owner is indeed bound by the covenant today.
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