Would we be made to buy a house with restrictive covenant attached?

[Luckystar82]

I'm buying a house and my solicitor has flagged it has a restrictive covenant! The sellers will know about it but failed to tell the EA. We faced stiff competition as it's a high value, fast moving market and secured a good price (due to our position).

Should we run a mile??!!

We're buying the original house = "land A". Garden is tiny and house has no real scope to extend (except possibly roof extension but there's no precedent on the street). There is no need to change the house externally. It is in keeping with all other properties and is lovely.

A few years ago a developer built another house in its garden = "land B" (which the developer rents out). There's a parcel of "retained land" = "land C" owned by said developer, at the back of the garden (beyond a path which A & B use for garden access).

Land C could be developed into studio flats or 1/2 small houses. It's tiny but given high value of land and pro-development council they will squeeze maximum properties on it!

The Covenant specifies.....

• We cannot carry out external alterations to the house without consent from developer who owns land B & C (other than construction of a conservatory).
• We cannot keep caravans, commercial vehicles, boats at property (don't know how they would fit in small drive!)
• We cannot object to any proposed development on land C to the council

Does anyone know if this is common? Should we worry about it? Will we find it difficult to sell? Should we run a mile?!

Mine has loads, I can't keep chickens or pigs and it specifically stipulates that my garden cannot be anything but grass and a certain width of flower bed.

We had to get insurance when we bought the property against covenants being enforced such as no additions are to be made to the property without consent. At the time it had a conservatory and I've since added a garage without worrying. I'll get a policy for our buyers when we eventually move. It also says you cannot run a business from the property but I'd say half our neighbours do - things like beauticians etc. it's never been an issue.

We have a couple, best one is we can't use the land we own to mine any natural resources or fuel (big coal mining area). Which is a real shame as I there could be gold in them hills

We are not supposed to run a business from any of the houses in our small estate and definitely cannot operate as a cinema! This in a very suburban close. (Plenty of businesses run from along our road!)

Someone in the 70s must've had a bit of a downer on the flicks!

We are not allowed helter skelters or fairground booths - unlikely on a suburban housing estate.

I'm only allowed 12 sheep or 3 goats.

We're not allowed to sell fried fish from the premises.

We're not allowed to object to agricultural practices

We aren't allowed to sell any of our garden to the neighbours on the right for 21 years. The land was bought from the neighbours on the left and they had had a feud.

Oh and we aren't allowed to plant any plants harmful to horses

I suspect that because from what you say the covenant is relatively new, it would be enforceable, and you might not be able to arrange indemnity insurance to cover any breach.
So you will want to consider whether you are prepared to live with the restrictions, or whether the developer will consent to any alterations you might want to make ( usually agreement is forthcoming, for a fee.)
You seem to be saying that the restrictions would not actually be a problem as you dont want to extend anyway.
The only real issue is the ability to object to development on the adjoining land, and you know that it is likely to be new housing. Is there likely to be an issue about the design, or how much you are likely to be overlooked? Have any plans been submitted for approval yet?
The other potential issue is that the covenant will have to be disclosed to your lenders, who may then require indemnity insurance - if this is not forthcoming then there could be a delay whilst this is resolved.
Speak to your solicitor.

Meanwhile, the covenant on our house ( approx 100 years old) specifically prohibits gatherings of boys! I have 3 of them.

We cannot have more than two cats, one dog and may not keep chickens.

We also cannot hang a banner or sell liquor. Spoilsports!!

Good idea to get legal advice on definition of external alterations. Our solicitor said it will be an extension made of brick, roof extension, or adding a porch to the property. it wouldn't include new windows, doors etc. So that is reassuring.

Given that two planning apps for Land C were refused (even after appeal) - one for a 2 storey dwelling and another for single storey dwelling (which had been designed to minimise impact on surroundings) I feel more confident that the land will not be built on in the near future. However, the planning regime could change and the future likelihood of an unsuitable building appearing is unknown. Even though the reasons for council objecting the planning apps are solid (parking, too cramped a site, poor service access, ruining look of local architecture, impeding on neighbour's plots.

I think the only way I can remove the uncertainty is to buy Land C from the developer. If it is not developable the only people interested in buying it would be our house. However, he may want to sit on it for a number of years unless we offer an obscene amount of money, which we cannot do. If we can buy the land we can remove the covenants and my husband can have access to a much wanted garage. Our solicitor has said she will approach the developer to gage interest in selling the land.

Yes as PP said, getting indemnity insurance to cover any breach of the covenants is unlikely because they are so new and the developer has an active interest in the adjacent land.

Given that the developer has an interest in developing the land (even though he has tried and failed twice) he may not be willing to accept a fee for changes to our house. Not that we would be looking to make changes, but the next person we sell to (hopefully way in the future) may be interested.

I think the best thing we can do is convince the developer to sell us the land. We would triple the size of the garden have two driveways and a garage! Can we afford it though?!

Yes, the restrictions would not actually be a problem for us as we don't want to extend anyway. This is because the garden is tiny. I mean so small that any extension would take about half of it away and the garden would look ridiculous compared to the size of the house.

However, if we were to purchase the extra land we would triple the size of our garden and would be more interested in extending, rather than having to move again when our family grows.

I've done some reading and it seems that so many new properties have covenants attached. It is not unusual for new builds to have covenants preventing external alterations to preserve the look of the development. I guess this makes sense when you think about it.