New builds and restrictive covenants

[Aprilflangebucket]

Hi, in process of buying a new build house, as expected there are some restrictive covenants in the contract such as not being able to change the exterior of the property without consent and putting up satellite dishes etc. however there is a clause which seems a bit extreme, regarding if you breach any of the covenants you could risk the property being repossessed by the developer, been advised this can be fairly standard clause in a new build? Anyone know

I think most new builds have those sort of restrictive covenants.

Our has things like we can't put a fence up at the front and our bins are to be kept in the back garden, no sky dishes to the front of the property, etc

No one seems to pay any attention to them. I think it's more whilst the development is on going and they are trying to sell, they want everything to look as nice as possible.

Once they have sold all the properties and the developer leaves the site, I don't think they give a crap about what you do.

We reserved a new build in April. Everything fell through in August and honestly was a blessing in disguise! The amount of things your restricted to do is ridiculous, couldn’t have a van on the drive, a skip if you were to have works done, persmisson to have a shed. The list goes on. Don’t mean to put you off but they really are more hassle than they’re worth. We’ve now looked at preowned properties as would never have a worry of someone else controlling what we could/couldn’t do to the house. They’re meant to be freehold but are just cash cows even after the house has sold!

Ours isn’t actually that bad, most of them we would of expected, just seems extreme that they have the right to repossess!

I wouldn't worry, it's fairly standard and I have never heard of it happening.

Like I said, our clauses aren't bad but no one adheres to them anyway (bins out the front, Sky dishes out the front, fenced off front gardens, etc).

No one here has had their house repossessed!! Like I said, the developer wants the estate to look nice whilst they are trying to sell - after that they are hardly going to pop back to check up on you.

What about regards to extensions etc, have people on your estate adhered to that?

My house is about 18 years old and when we bought it a couple of years ago, there were restrictions like this in the paperwork from when it was new. I remember it saying no satellite dishes, no caravans or vans on drives etc.
Absolutely no one else on the street appears to have taken any notice so we didn't worry about it. I think whoever the contract is with would have to go through the court process to uphold it, and really why would they do that.

Lots of people here have had extensions / conservatories - the houses here are about five years old and building stopped three years ago.