Anonymous letter re restrictive covenant on property

[Shad2021]

Sorry in advance for the lengthy post, but I'm hoping to get some advice.
My husband and I have lived in our house for 8 years and during that time, he has always owned a van for work (he's a courier) and we have always kept it on the drive at our property.
Today, we have received an anonymous letter that has been posted to us with a copy of the restrictive covenants for our property and one is highlighted saying that no vans are allowed to be kept on the property, unless they are in the garage. We can't fit the van in the garage as it is too tall (it's a transit size van). There was nothing else in the envelope and the letter was addressed to the owner/occupier so we have no idea who sent it.
I'm so upset that someone has sent this to us anonymously as I thought we had a really good relationship with our neighbours , I have actually been round to all of our immediate neighbours this evening to see if anyone had any concerns about the van and what we could do about it, but no one has any concerns.
I really don't know what to do, we live in a cul de sac of about 45 houses and having had a quick look today, at least 5 have vans on their drive. I know a couple of these so have been round to see them to see if they also received a letter and they didn't so it is clearly just us that they whoever has sent the letter has a problem with.
I'm not naive - I know a van being parked on our drive could be seen as unsightly by some but my husband needs the van and doesn't have any business premises so we literally have no option but to keep it on our drive.
I was wondering whether anyone had experienced anything similar, and what they did about it.
Should we just ignore it, or go down the route of applying for the covenant to be removed which may not be granted, which would then mean we would have to move house.
Out of interest too, our estate road has been adopted by the local authority and I can't see anything anywhere that would prevent us parking the van on the road outside our property - does anyone know any reason why this wouldn't be legal? We don't have double yellows and are at the end of a cul de sac.

To be honest, the way I'm feeling now, I'd be happy to move as receiving this anonymously has really upset me, I'd rather someone had come and spoken to us but obviously that's not an immediate solution.
Any advice greatly received.

I know nothing about property covenants but wanted to bump and say whoever posted that letter to you needs to get a hobby. I cannot imagine getting riled up about my neighbour having a van. How incredibly petty.

I think I would ignore it at the stage and try not to think about it.

It is possible for neighbouring landowners to enforce estate restrictive covenants but estates have changed so much over the years that such covenants become unenforceable. Here, if there are now many vans, the character of the estate may have sufficiently that the covenant is unenforceable.

If you get a formal letter before action you should check your home insurance for legal cover (worth paying for it on renewal) or see a property solicitor.

It sounds like the neighbour who had done this is a busy body and is very shortsighted. I expect if you now decide to park your van on the road each night then they will start spitting feathers.

Do you have a legal advice line as part of your home insurance. It may be worth giving them a call regarding this.

That should say may have changed sufficiently that the covenants becomes unenforceable (you can even apply to remove restrictive covenants but i wouldn't bother except as a cross application if they issue legal proceedings which us HIGHLY unlikely

Ignore it. Whoever has sent it would probably have to take you to court to enforce it and that will cost them. Its very unlikely to happen.

Its horrible but try and ignore it.

We have the same restrictive covenant for our house and the properties on our estate. We bought our house as a new build 30 years ago. Back then only one person had a van and he parked on the road. Now there are vans everywhere - on the road, on driveways, on paved over front gardens and one who even parks on the lawn. It just isn't practical to 'ban' vans. I'm not sure who would even do anything about it. AFAIK the covenant rights belong to whoever put them in - usually the previous landowner or the builder. In our case the previous landowner is deceased and the builders went bust a few years after they built the houses. Can't imagine the council would be interested.
In your case, I'd say you have a neighbour problem - someone is lying to you. They hid behind an anonymous letter and won't own up to being the culprit when you confronted them. Just ignore it unless you get anything that looks official.

How old is the house? It may not be enforceable

And unless there are yellow lines or other visible parking restrictions then yes you can park the van on the road

Judging from some correspondence here about the LA adopting the roads once they’re public anyone can park in then with any taxed and insured vehicle so I can’t see how this covenant could be enforced and if it could be on your drive it couldn’t be on the road.
I can understand how you would now feel about the anonymous neighbour, but they’re the problem not you.

@TitoMojito

I know nothing about property covenants but wanted to bump and say whoever posted that letter to you needs to get a hobby. I cannot imagine getting riled up about my neighbour having a van. How incredibly petty.

Thank you.. couldn't agree more. My husband works hard and whilst I understand that it's not ideal to have a van parked, we don't really have a choice (other than to park on the road which looks to be the solution, although his that is preferable to it being on our drive, I don't know!!)

@Boomboomboomboom

I think I would ignore it at the stage and try not to think about it.

It is possible for neighbouring landowners to enforce estate restrictive covenants but estates have changed so much over the years that such covenants become unenforceable. Here, if there are now many vans, the character of the estate may have sufficiently that the covenant is unenforceable.

If you get a formal letter before action you should check your home insurance for legal cover (worth paying for it on renewal) or see a property solicitor.

Thank you - contacting my home insurance company is a great idea as I have legal cover so I think that will definitely be my next step if I receive anything more formal.

Keep the letter.

December send every single neighbour a Christmas card. Await the return cards and compare the handwriting.
Then you will know who is probably envious of you..
And feel smug!!

@Slayduggee

It sounds like the neighbour who had done this is a busy body and is very shortsighted. I expect if you now decide to park your van on the road each night then they will start spitting feathers.

Do you have a legal advice line as part of your home insurance. It may be worth giving them a call regarding this.

I can't understand what they hope to achieve as the more I think about this, the more I think the answer is parking on the road outside our house which surely is worse than being on our drive. Thanks for the suggestion of contacting home insurance too.

I wouldn't worry about the legal side - these restrictive covenants are a civil matter so somebody would have to pay to try to enforce it. My understanding is that builders use them to try to keep the houses looking nice until the last house or flat in the development is sold, then it's a free for all. Once the builder has moved on it's unlikely they'd want to pay for solicitors and courts etc to enforce rules that no longer have any benefit for the builder. Sometimes building companies only exist for the duration of one development project too, so it's common for there to be no clear organisation to apply to have the covenant changed.

I think you've handled it well by taking to your neighbours and the other van owners. Try to put it out of your mind. If nobody is willing to own up to the letter then they're unlikely to do anything else.

@Pumpkinsonparade

Keep the letter.

December send every single neighbour a Christmas card. Await the return cards and compare the handwriting.
Then you will know who is probably envious of you..
And feel smug!!

Such a great idea, but the address on the envelope was typed and addressed to the home owner, which makes it even more ridiculous as everyone in our street knows each other. I just want to know who sent it, but even the postmark is from a town 60 miles away too. I'll be sending my child out to play this weekend and ask everyone where they've been this week :)

I assume you own the property? Was the covenant pointed out to you when you bought it? Not that I think you need to worry about it, just interested.

@Pumpkinsonparade

Keep the letter.

December send every single neighbour a Christmas card. Await the return cards and compare the handwriting.
Then you will know who is probably envious of you..
And feel smug!!

This.

Well, providing the letter is handwritten of course.

That said, I bet it's grumpy old Mr Smith who's frothing at the mouth, scouring the rule books so he can write his pathetic anonymous letter, and Christmas card writing will be left, as all wifework should be, to poor old Mrs Smith, who doesn't have an issue with you, vans or anything of the sort but merely provides her husband with a "yes dear" and a "calm yourself down dear" every now and again.

The mystery will, sadly, remain unsolved.

Once you figure out who it is? Park the van on the road in front of their house...

@MajorCarolDanvers

Ignore it. Whoever has sent it would probably have to take you to court to enforce it and that will cost them. Its very unlikely to happen.

Its horrible but try and ignore it.

Thank you - I'm not a sensitive soul normally but just feel a bit unsettled by this

Just ignore it. It’s petty and rude, the only way to respond is to carry on living your life as you were

I really hate this kind of pettiness. Try to ignore it. I could understand it if the van was causing access issues to another property.

@bigbluebus

We have the same restrictive covenant for our house and the properties on our estate. We bought our house as a new build 30 years ago. Back then only one person had a van and he parked on the road. Now there are vans everywhere - on the road, on driveways, on paved over front gardens and one who even parks on the lawn. It just isn't practical to 'ban' vans. I'm not sure who would even do anything about it. AFAIK the covenant rights belong to whoever put them in - usually the previous landowner or the builder. In our case the previous landowner is deceased and the builders went bust a few years after they built the houses. Can't imagine the council would be interested. In your case, I'd say you have a neighbour problem - someone is lying to you. They hid behind an anonymous letter and won't own up to being the culprit when you confronted them. Just ignore it unless you get anything that looks official.

Thank you - agree it's probably a close neighbour but No one owned up when I went round with the letter to ask if they were okay with the van. If we knew who was concerned, we could try and come up with a way to make if less visible but short of building a wall round our boundary which is also not allowed according to the covenant, I'm not sure what we can do!

Ignore it op xx

@Chloemol

How old is the house? It may not be enforceable

And unless there are yellow lines or other visible parking restrictions then yes you can park the van on the road

Thanks for your reply, our House is about 35 years old but it does seem to indicate on the letter they sent us that this covenants would remain in place. Other covenants on the letter mention not doing things within the first five years, but it doesn't say that on This one.

I must admit i find this particular covenant so petty, I cannot understand why anyone would care whether it’s a car or a van parked on someone’s drive. I honestly don’t think it affects the character of the area or anything snobbish like that - it’s a van which probably cost more than most peoples cars!

Just ignore and if (I really doubt it) something more formal comes I’d get your DH to park his van on the road (and invite loads of his van owing mates to do the same).

@aoeu

Once you figure out who it is? Park the van on the road in front of their house...

Ha ha!! Love this - can you imagine the upset that would cause!'