6 replies to this topic

[bluesbrothers]

I won't bore everyone with the story but, suffice to say, as a freeholder you may well be shocked one day to find a property developer has control over the future of your house - without you even been made aware that he has secretly bought up your covenants. And it's legal!

Anyway, what I'm looking for is Anyone who has been affected by property covenants of the George Weller Estate and The Metropolitan Railways Estate Co. Please!

In return, if anyone is interested I have extracts of title etc for my house going back 100 years that include info on the Weller inheritances from 1851. Plans show limits of Tyrrit-Drake and Weller holdings on Station Road etc. Fascinating stuff - just wish I wasn't studying it in such adversity!

[Tallguy]

So how do I find out about the covenants on my house? What are covenants?

[David P]

In return, if anyone is interested I have extracts of title etc for my house going back 100 years that include info on the Weller inheritances from 1851. Plans show limits of Tyrrit-Drake and Weller holdings on Station Road etc. Fascinating stuff - just wish I wasn't studying it in such adversity!

This is very close to home! Do these holdings extend up Beech Grove?

[bluesbrothers]

So how do I find out about the covenants on my house? What are covenants?

All covenants will be noted on your deeds - that's the easy bit. They are restrictive (occasionally beneficial) rules attached to your property to safeguard the overall amenity of the neighbourhood (good) and ways of extracting longer term value from the sale of land (not so good!). Like most things, the original intentions were often altruistic but then greed played her hand...

They are still used in almost all new housebuilding developments today.

This is very close to home! Do these holdings extend up Beech Grove?

Yes, David, Beech grove was part of the same original 5 acre Weller plot that was sold to the Chesham Bois Development Co (inc my plots) in 1910 and subsequently had an interesting history!

[Fran]

I'm no property lawyer (or any other sort of lawyer), but a few points I've learned since buying a house in Amersham last year:

Common clauses in covenants govern things such as restricting the height of hedges and fences; limiting the size and number of properties that can be built on a plot; banning caravans on driveways, and requiring permission for extensions and alterations from the covenant-holders - in addition to the council planning committee etc.

Covenants can only be invoked by those who created them or their heirs (or, judging by Bluesbros' post, those who bought them) - and then only if they know they have been breached and can be bothered to do anything about it.

But covenants are not relevant to the planning committee when considering applications; they are free to approve plans even if they know they breach covenants. Nevertheless, there's no harm mentioning covenants when lodging objections.

Apparently, getting the heirs etc to enforce a covenant can be time-consuming and costly (legal fees etc), often with little chance of success. However, if BluesBros' problem is that it is being enforced and he wishes it wasn't... I don't know. Possibly not much you can do, but perhaps worth a trip to CAB (Citizens' Advice) or a short initial appointment with a solicitor.

Despite the fact that planners can ignore covenants, when we bought our house, it transpired that an extension had planning permission but not covenant-holder permission. Despite a statute of limitation of 20 years that only had another year to run, our solicitor advised that the vendor take out an insurance indemnity just in case it was invoked in those final 12 months. Easy money for someone!

[PaulEden]

Shouldn't this move to the new Planning and Development topic?

Yes, Fran. Good point.
Topic moved.

I won't bore everyone with the story
~
~
Fascinating stuff - just wish I wasn't studying it in such adversity!

Oh you tease! Come on, what do these covenants say?

[Zoom]

Apparently, getting the heirs etc to enforce a covenant can be time-consuming and costly (legal fees etc), often with little chance of success... ...an insurance indemnity

You hit on a good point Fran.

As I understand it, if the heirs and successors of those who made a covenant seek to enforce a restrictive covenant and the property owner fails to comply, then their recourse is to the courts.

At this point it will involve legal costs but it is still by no means certain that a court would enforce a restrictive covenant. A court would consider factors such as the length of time that has past, whether the original covenantor (I think that's right ! or is it covenantee ??) has acted to enforce the covenant continuously since it was made and whether enforcing the covenant would be equitable.

So for example, in your case, if the covenant was made many decades ago, if your extension was also built a long time ago and if the covenantor (??) had failed to pay any attention to the property, and if in addition the extension otherwise complied with relevant planning and building regulation, was in keeping with others in the area (especially if they too were subject to the same covenant) then it is highly likely that a court would throw the case out.

The problem is the legal costs that would be incurred fighting a case and I would assume that's what makes many people cave in.

Just out of interest a quick search led to the following web site, a company which provides the indemnity insurance you referred to, where there is more information about restrictive covenants:
http://www.countrywi...uk/oncover.html


Another useful site is Land Registery Online at http://www.lronline.org/

Many people are aware that you can now look up house prices online ( http://www.nethouseprices.com ) based on land registry data but at Land Registry Online you can (for a fee) access the land registry documents for properties around the country. NB that is any registered property - not just your own. Most land is registered (but not all - there is an explanation of why on the site) and you can look up the deeds and property plans online.

This can be quite useful when looking into planning applications. You can find out who is the registered owner of the land, the boundaries, the latest (and previous) transactions on the land, and by looking at the deeds you can see the restrictive covenants that apply.

So if you want to oppose a planning application it could be worth the fee to find out some information about the site and its ownership.