Covenant in house deeds breached, advice please.

[ArmelleSq]

From the house deeds the following covenants are breached

• parking rights including number of car parking spaces attached to each house
• 'not to use ....for any other purpose than as a private residence for the use of one and not more than one family'.

The house has five cars parked ( deeds say one space). Obstructions are to other houses and emergency service access.
House is let as a staff house to a local hotel.

Local council say that no LPA has been breached and that I need to contact a solicitor as a civil matter.

This is contrary to the initial advice from a different council employee who said that the initial planning would never have been approved without these clauses and that these must be maintained.

Your views much appreciated as to council responsibility or civil matter. ( before I pay for a solicitor)

@Brahumbug

I sympathise with your position. The covenants are in position but the question is who has the right to enforce them? It is almost certainly not you and a solicitor will probably be a waste of money.

So worthless then....😵‍💫

Again people posting in legal who don't understand the legal position at all!

OP - the the person who has the rights to enforce the covenants most likely will be you. Without going into detail of land law covenants are not personal but benefit a piece of land. They can be drafted to be personal but this is unusual and wouldn't happen for a property development. There is a piece of land benefiting and a piece of land subject to them (dominant and servient tenements). It isn't the original developer that benefits from these rights, but the land that you own. The reason you need a lawyer to look at this is a question of interpretation. You've suggested that rather than it being a restrictive covenant ie people must not park in the turning circle, it's expressed as a condition to the enjoyment of the right of way. That could cause difficulties in enforcing it. The council don't have any rights at all in this situation and really is nothing they can do.

Unfortunately this is a common problem on many new developments and if I had a choice I would never buy a property that had any sorts of shared parking because of this.

If you don't want to go down the route of legal action I would suggest you write formally to the lettings agency and refer to the relevant condition to the right of way which means they cannot park where they are parking. Don't phone them, don't email them, put something in a letter and send it by recorded delivery and keep a copy.

If it’s private land can all the other residents not retain the service of a clamping company, put up signs any cars parked blocking the marked road/turning circle will be clamped and towed.

You’ll have to pay for it, but it sounds like something that might be worth it.

Never mind, I just read that’s not legal anymore.

Thank you @Leftbutcameback for some professional advice.

I will try the letting agent again.
We also wondered about the hotel too as they have invested in furniture for this house. It is likely they won't want to lose this house as a solution to their staff accommodation. They may also be (hopefully) conscious of not wanting to upset locally.

I am waiting for the council to advise on the 'one family' stipulation and local HMO rules too.

I've lived here for 25 years with few issues. I stopped my DC's buying a car each, because we didn't have space for them to park and now have 3 and sometimes 5 additional cars parked.
Not a great situation to be in just now though.

The issue is that whatever is in the deeds is only enforceable to the owner who in turn passes it to the tenant. There should be something written onto the lease regarding parking, not causing nuisance to neighbours etc

I fully understand the legal position regarding covenants, there is nothing in the OPs post to suggest that her property is the dominant tenant and therefore in a position to enforce the covenant. Can i suggest you have a look at the website Gardenlaw. There are some very knowledgeable experts on there.

OP Can you post the exact wording from the deeds? Preferably from your deeds and that of the offending neighbour.

Are your other neighbours as vexed as you are? If so, I’d be suggesting you all write individual letters and get them delivered on the same day. Tell them they are being bad neighbours and that it’s not a good look for their business. Give them a timeframe to sort it and start on their social media if they don’t - use the safety/access angle.

Write to the hotel owner I mean

OP has now clarified that the language is not drafted as a restrictive covenant but instead as a condition to an exercise of a right. In this case probably something like the right to pass and repass over the road subject to not parking in or blocking the turning circle. That makes it a harder issue to enforce. OP - could you confirm that this is correct? I know that this isn’t what the title of the thread says but I think this is what you’ve explained.

If that is the case OP, the next question is one about who owns the land over which the right is exercised, so the road in this case. You’ve said you own it together / jointly. So do you each own a small piece (outlined in red on your title plan), or is the whole road owned by a company which you all have shares in, or is there some other structure?

A broadly similar situation, where houses were stated to be single occupancy and owner wanted HMO.

It’s in Scotland, but the findings may be of interest

www.lands-tribunal-scotland.org.uk/decisions/LTS.TC.2008.18.html