Should we worry about Covenants on the property title.

[BroglieBoy]

We are buying a freehold property in England and the Title search came up with the following:

"The Transfer to the proprietor contains a covenant to
observe and perform the covenants referred to in the Charges Register
and of indemnity in respect thereof."

A Transfer of the land in this title dated 17 June 1977 made between
(1) ABC Limited and (2) XYZ contains restrictive covenants.

We checked with the conveyancing solicitor but we are not clear what this means.
Is this very common? Should we be worried due to this? Should we avoid such properties? We plan to extend the property and the conveyancing solicitor mentioned to us that we need to take permission from 2 parties.
one from the Planning permission and second form this covenants.

Anyone had any experience with such restrictions? Any advise?

Quite common, ime; don't keep livestock, run a pub etc, we've had them removed before to build on land.

Depends what the covenant is. If you think you might want to break it, the seller has to be the one to take out indemnity insurance which the buyer can pay for. Or the other way round. I can’t remember.

@redastherose - out of interest, re.the Victorian covenants on old houses; say if I had one and broke it by keeping chickens or whatever... even if a neighbour complained how would it be enforced / who would enforce it when the original developer of the terrace is long since defunct?

There are some on our estate - no sky dish on the front of property, no caravans in driveways etc... all daft and not enforced as they'd have to take action against pretty much every house here.

Find out what they are and go from there but definitely not likely to be anything major or something that an indemnity policy won't solve

Many Thanks everyone. I will connect with the Solicitor tomorrow to ask for more details and update back on this thread. I am little relieved to know it is very common.
I am hoping it is something silly otherwise we will need to pull out from this property or re-negotiate a much lower price. I am hoping we don't end up in this situation.

Often they are unenforceable , if the builder goes bust or the properties are sold on and they lapse, but it may be among several neighbours. You need to establish who the covenant is held between and what it covers. It might be no commercial vans or caravans to be parked in front, for example, which is quite common and may or may not affect you but it might restrict development to keep the uniformity of the development.

I'm not allowed to change my front wall, sell cider or run a bawdy house according to the covenants...

There is a restrictive covenant on my house.

I am not allowed to render carcasses for tallow.

This was no impediment to my going ahead with the purchase and I am not expecting it to be a problem when I sell.

But your newer house might have a covenant against running a business, parking a caravan on the drive, running it as an HMO, anything.

You need to know what the restrictions are.

Mine had one to not keep livestock - they’re pretty common and usually antiquated

I feel very 😱 Either my 1950s house didn't have any covenants or my solicitor failed to inform me of them.

@redastherose - All modern estate houses have covenants which are things such as not to alter the property without the consent of the developer,
What??

@BroglieBoy - you need to find out what it explicitly says. You cannot agree to something you don't know about especially since this is a legal document and possibly enforceable in court. Some estates forbid work vans so if you are a plumber or florist etc then you wouldn't be able to park your van on your own drive.

Definitely common. I’m in a newish estate and have those @redastherose mentioned. In practice all it means is we have to get planning permission for all extensions. There are others like don’t keep caravan on drive, front garden must be clean and tidy. The solicitors explained it was only enforced when the developers were selling houses in the estate.

We weren't allowed to keep a traction engine.

Houses in my estate have restrictive covenants about not keeping poultry and not fencing gardens. The developers went bust just after they houses were finished in the 1970’s, so there is no one to enforce them and most people now have fences.

I would be more concerned about one which potentially affected my ability to extend the property though. Also, although it’s unlikely there could be an overage charge, so definitely needs your solicitor to check it properly.

Such a blanket view is a bit daft as it depends entirely what the covenants are. Some are to not put a fence around a front garden, or park a works van on your drive. We have one not to block a shared access route. Not a big deal.

I can't keep pigs, or shoot woodcock.

You can download a copy of the title register from land registry yourself for £3, which will usually tell you what covenants are (otherwise it will tell you where to find them). But your solicitor should have and be able to explain these.

V interesting! Are covenants really easy to deal with?

I've been lusting after a house on right move that I'd love as a holiday let. After seeing this covenant in the Rightmove details I dismissed the property ☹️

"2. The Purchaser will covenant in the conveyance/transfer not to use or permit to be used the land and any buildings from time to time erected thereon:-

a. For the purpose of a business, save that the land may be used for the business only of agriculture or horticulture or for the keeping or grazing of horses or ponies or for the purpose of a livery business."

There can be issues where there are areas of land on estates which are classed as assets of the building company or original landowner and these get sold on. You need to know what the covenants are.

Current property we've been in for 9 years has covenants. I regret not clarifying what they were at point of purchase. Solicitor skimmed over it and said the sellers would pay for insurance in case a claim was made after we bought it, which we assumed was good. However this only covers historical breaches of it.

6 years down the line it turns out we can't put an outbuilding in our (sizeable) garden because the neighbours we have a reciprocal covenant with "don't really want us to". Even though they can't see it. And it's very far away from their border. It's weird really because now we can refuse them anything they want to do, (within reason) but it smacks of pettiness and has obviously soured our relationship.

You can mutually agree to waive the covenant, sometimes for a fee, but only if your neighbours are agreeable.

I strongly suggest you clarify what it is and how it can be enforced.

We had a covenant linked to the chief rent we had to pay. We bought out the chief rent and the covenant was removed.

I can’t run any tea gardens from my property. I googled ‘1920s tea gardens’ and was quite disappointed, they do look pretty awesome

You need to find out what it is before you panic as it could be something trivial - we had one once about not storing a boat.

I believe a lot of estates also state no fences in front gardens but these are often ignored and go unchallenged if they're kept low.

This!!!

There is a covenent on my house, but I knew what it was, it was quite specific in the deeds. If your solicitor can't/won't tell you, change your solicitor.

for interest, the covenant on my house said I couldn't brew beer for public consumption of make bricks. Neither of which I ever intended to do.

This. Also only the beneficiary of the covenant can enforce it. Given it's from the 70s the companies may not even exist anymore. I think it's a very low risk.

The other poster saying it stops you selling is misleading - that particular property covenant has probably been breached and the beneficiary is aware or active.

I have one saying I can’t operate public swings roundabouts or other fairground machinery in my garden.

My friend has one not to build anything on her land higher than 1 ft, which is more annoying: no shed for her!

A covenant is just a promise. What matters is what has the landowner promised. There will be a document somewhere that says this.