Restrictive covenant re parking

[HandyBendySandy]

I've just received the draft papers and legal pack from my solicitor re our property purchase, and he has flagged up some restrictive covenants that were imposed by the developer when the properties were built in 1991.

There are several, including not hanging washing in the front garden, not erecting fencing, not erecting any other outbuildings or conservatories other than a small shed or greenhouse, and not parking a caravan, commercial vehicle or anything similar beyond the front line of the house up to the front boundary.

The only two that could affect us are possibly the fencing - we need to put some along one of the hedges in the back garden to stop our small dog sneaking through to next door, hardly 6 foot panel fencing just a bit of neat mesh about 3 feet high - but more significantly, the parking.

We offered on a house with a long drive precisely because we have a 6m campervan. I even asked the agent about covenants and she just said she doubted it.

There is a good chance we can squeeze the camper in the space in front of the garage, which is set further back than the house so it might only "breach" the limit by a metre or so, maybe less. There is then about 2-3 more car lengths to the end of the drive. It will be screened both sides by mature conifers, so it won't be ruining anybody's view, and it's a smart, modern camper, not an ugly eyesore or anything.

Interestingly, the housing developer benefitting from the restrictions has gone bust and was dissolved only last September. My solicitor has pointed out that there isn't anyone who could take court action over them (I thought they might be sold on?), and looking on Google satellite view, every other house on the 21-property development has got a conservatory!

DH isn't concerned at all, I'm very faintly worried that a neighbour will get snooty about the van or maybe our discreet dog proofing and start quoting the old covenants.

Am I fretting unnecessarily?

Yes I honestly wouldn't worry, it's really standard and standard to ignore them, we weren't supposed to put satellite dish up but every house here has of course and the developer is still on site building. Our last house had similar. I believe you can have them removed but I wouldn't bother tbh as you say they're not going to be challenged.

Oh, well that's good to know! We have no plans to build or extend, don't need a conservatory, we're putting my office in half of the garage so don't need a garden office, and have no desire to put panel fencing around the entire perimeter and wreck the outlook for everybody else.

We do need to dog proof the garden with some low, virtually invisible mesh, and we do want to have our (nice, not hideous) camper on the drive. That can't upset anyone surely?

Worth adding that this is a teeny tiny village of 900 people and we are from waaaay out of the area...

We have some strange restrictive covenants on our new house from the original builders (who have also dissolved). However, every single house on the road has broken the covenants so we're not worried about it. As your solicitor says, who would even enforce it?

We had almost identical covenants on a previous house we had, it was about 12 years old when we bought it. The solicitor said the developers wouldn't care once the whole site was sold, it would only have been an issue whilst people were living there and they were still trying to sell the rest of the street.

That's reassuring, thanks! I'm not especially concerned about legal action for having the wrong vehicle, but I have visions of the small neighbourhood gathering and knocking on our door to complain that we are ruining their unspoilt street. I'm pretty sure there are some commercial vehicles around, amongst the many rule-breaking conservatories.

But I like a quiet, friendly existence with no conflict - DH is more likely to tell people to jog on, he gives no fucks! We love our neighbours down here, 250 miles away - we've made great friends and we'll miss them. I don't want the new neighbours to hate us.

We had the same on our 1997 built house. Our neighbours across the road had a huge, ugly blue campervan parked on their very open driveway. Nobody ever complained about it. The developers certainly won't give a damn if they've finished the site and moved on.

I'm sure your neighbours would prefer the dog to be safely in the garden.

Your issue would be if neighbours had a problem with it, potentially they could flag it up with the management company. But if they've broken covenants too, this is unlikely!

Personally I backed out of a property because it had similar restrictive covenants (other reasons too) I hated the idea someone could potentially have authority/power over the property, it wouldn't feel like 'mine'.

Is there a management company?

The management company no longer exists, it was dissolved last year. The development was built in 1991 I think, completed in 1996.

I wonder if the management company sold the rights on when it went into administration?

I'm hopeful that the neighbours won't be too concerned about a modest, neat and tidy, 2 year old camper Hallyup! ! It's the size of a small transit, in silver/charcoal grey. It will be up beside the house and a good 10-12 metres back from end of the drive and the road.

I dreamt last night that I called the estate agent and said we might have to pull out - she said, cant you keep the van at a friends? I pointed out that we were moving 250 miles away from friends...

I genuinely wouldnt worry about it, if it's something that concerns you ask the solicitor about getting them removed as you can. Hundreds of thousands of houses in the UK have them, if not millions, I couldn't have bought any of my houses if I avoided them! As I say they're ignored even on my current estate which is still being built, no one would have a leg to stand on in a 30+ year estate with no developer demanding they get upheld, they're just there to keep the integrity of the estate whilst developers are still selling (in a lot of cases).

Well exactly - we're hardly planning to keep a fleet of motorhomes and a couple of skips in the front garden, or to enclose the house with 8 foot corrugated iron panels. We don't even want a conservatory!

We are taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room to open that out; we might put a tiny en suite in the bedroom; and maybe we'll put a room in half of the loft eventually; but that's it and anyway, there are no limitations of that type...