Breached covenant re commercial vehicle

[Lelliebellieboo]

Hi

I’m selling my house. It was built in 1996.

I’ve been sent details from my solicitor and I’ve just discovered that we accidentally breached a restrictive covenant in that my husband has a trade van. What do I do?

Unfortunately I accidentally told my solicitor all was good as I only saw where it said about boat/caravan - something was niggling me all weekend so I re-read it again and that’s where I saw the mention of the van. I could kick myself for being such a twit.

We’ve had the van for 5 years (so the house was built about 15+ years before we got it) and never had a complaint - does this mean we would be ok for indemnity insurance? If so, how much will it likely cost?

The van is normally parked on our driveway or next door to the house on allocated off-road parking. We don’t have anyone next to us and we don’t have anyone facing us either so it’s not a nuisance to anyone and there are three other vans on the road at the moment, so it’s a common thing.

I want to phone the solicitor this morning but my husband is questioning the point.

What do I do?

I'm Not sure why you are worried unless the house you are buying also has a covenant about work vans and won't be able to guarantee that your new neighbours won't object?

It's up to your new buyers to do their own due diligence if they also have a commercial vehicle?

I think I’m just worried in case our new house has a similar covenant (I haven’t heard anything).

But is it now a huge problem that I’ve accidently told the solicitor we hadn’t breached a covenant when we have?

Not a lawyer but I don’t see the concern. Indemnity insurance is not necessary surely? You’ve breached the covenant but nobody has noticed, you are selling. The breach ends with you. The buyers will have to make their own decisions about vans!

The estate where we live has a restrictive covenant regarding not parking camper vans. From my bedroom window I can see two. No one minds. If no one has ever complained about the van I really wouldn’t worry.

@nickyheath I think that’s my husbands argument, that the breach ends with us. I’m just scared in case it gets discovered at a later date and something prevents the move from happening. I’m a bit of a worrier

Wouldn't worry about it. The estate we live on has some restrictions on caravans and there are several, nobody cares.

It's not a criminal offence.

The solicitor is not the police.

And the police wouldn't G.A.S.

And noone has said anything to you in 5 years.

And you're moving.

Chill out

@Lelliebellieboo

I think I’m just worried in case our new house has a similar covenant (I haven’t heard anything).

But is it now a huge problem that I’ve accidently told the solicitor we hadn’t breached a covenant when we have?

I would ask your solicitor To check any covenants on the new house but they should notify you anyway if they are doing their job properly

You won't be able to guarantee however that no one objects at your new house about your van - especially if it is a new build estate - they are much more rigidly enforced these days as lots of people take the piss with giant works vehicles parked everywhere

It's up to your buyers to do their own checks

Our street has a similar covenant. Quite a few people have work vans etc and no-one cares. Unless there are objection from neighbours, it is not an issue.
I think these covenants were put in by the developers when they were new builds, to ensure that the first few houses sold dont "lower the tone" of the show homes and unsold houses. Snobbishness , really!

I am not sure what you are worried about now?

The house we are moving into was built in 1965 so should be ok I hope.

Thanks for calming me down guys: it’s really been stressing me out

The Bit about covenants I thought was stuff that would be permanent. I.e fence height or satillite dishes that would need to be removed after you have moved out. The breach here seems to end with you. Buying your new home you may want to consider these covenants though.

@SquishySquirmy

Our street has a similar covenant. Quite a few people have work vans etc and no-one cares. Unless there are objection from neighbours, it is not an issue. I think these covenants were put in by the developers when they were new builds, to ensure that the first few houses sold dont "lower the tone" of the show homes and unsold houses. Snobbishness , really!

I am not sure what you are worried about now?

It’s absolute snobbish-ness, I agree!

I think it’s because I’m just such a worrier and I was scared of the fact that I’ve inadvertently passed on false information to the solicitor.

I’ve never sold a house before (my parents still live in my childhood home, and we bought this as FTB 15 years ago) so I’ve never been through any of this

As others have already said, you don't need to worry about this.

Your deeds will say who will be able to enforce the restrictive covenant. If this person or company was bothered then the first thing they would do is to write you a letter saying "Please stop keeping a van on your property".

The fact that you have been doing this for the last five years and nobody has bothered to complain to you about it clearly shows that nobody is bothered.

Again, to repeat others, when you move out of the house and stop keeping a van there then you are no longer in breach of the covenant.

I think I’m just worried in case our new house has a similar covenant (I haven’t heard anything)

To set your mind at rest just specifically ask this particular question.

@Lelliebellieboo

The house we are moving into was built in 1965 so should be ok I hope.

Thanks for calming me down guys: it’s really been stressing me out

You definitely need to check - my 1940's house has a covenant on keeping chickens and caravans.

@nickymanchester

As others have already said, you don't need to worry about this.

Your deeds will say who will be able to enforce the restrictive covenant. If this person or company was bothered then the first thing they would do is to write you a letter saying "Please stop keeping a van on your property".

The fact that you have been doing this for the last five years and nobody has bothered to complain to you about it clearly shows that nobody is bothered.

Again, to repeat others, when you move out of the house and stop keeping a van there then you are no longer in breach of the covenant.

I think I’m just worried in case our new house has a similar covenant (I haven’t heard anything)

To set your mind at rest just specifically ask this particular question.

I will do, thanks

As others have said it is about permanent changes that are against the covenant that they are asking about, such as have you put a metal fence round your front garden when the covenant specifies it has to be a natural boundary.

Do you have an external tv aerial or satalite dish? All new build estates and most built back to the 90s have the same covenant, no commercial vehicles no caravans, no external aerials, no livestock, take a look around you won’t see many pigs but you’ll definitely see aerials and commercial vehicles, it’s a non-issue, and totally unenforceable

Our covenant (enforceable by the C of E I guess?) is that we won’t imply the vicar lives here (it’s an old vicarage). Also looked at an older house which had a covenant about not running a laundry on site!

The covenant is only between you and the developers. They would only know if a neighbour complained to them and they would only enforce it if it benefited them. It wouldn’t benefit them to pay for court costs against you so it’s left. Mainly to keep the development looking tidy until all units sold

It's not about snobbishness at all.

It's because most properties only have parking for 1-2 private vehicles and it gets ridiculous with large commercial vehicles littering streets and drives as invariably personal cars then get parked elsewhere and (unless you are self employed) effectively providing your employer free parking

Same for caravans etc - drives weren't built to accommodate such size vehicles and then means the owner parks their car elsewhere

People complain about lack of car parking on new build estates all the time and commercial vehicles and motor homes/caravans taking up sizes exacerbate the problem

Developers put these types of covenants in so that when they are selling their houses the estate doesn't look 'messy. They literally do not care once the houses have all been sold. You have nothing to worry about
Get your conveyancer to tell you about any restrictive covenants in the place you are buying.

Out house is over 100 years old and we're not allowed to mine

Thank you everyone. You’ve reassured me!

I've never heard of a ban on vans. Caravans, yes but not vans people need to use for work I'd ignore the letter and wait for someone to try enforce it.

When I worked in litigation years ago I remember joining my boss for an initial meeting with three neighbours who wanted to take action against another who had a caravan. A day later, having thought about the fee estimate of thousands of pounds, two of the couples dropped out. The final couple asked us to send a letter to the caravan owners warning they were in breach of a covenant and that we'd take further action if they didn't move the caravan. No idea what happened after that because they didn't want us to actually do anything as it was too expensive.

I wouldn't stir it up. Keep quiet.