Restrictive covenants

[Shwish]

Anyone else find it insane that a restrictive covenant that was put in place 100 years (or more!) ago could still be legal when it's on a private property? For example the house we're in the process of buying says we're not allowed to erect a tent. I assume this is so that nobody ends up living in the garden but TECHNICALLY I'd be breaking the covenant if I stuck a tent out there over a weekend in the summer to dry it out after camping or let my kids have a sleepover. Because some dude said so 100 years ago. Mental.

Who is the covenant between? Many lapse over time as the other party moves on.

It is mental but I just sign these things knowing no one cares a gnat's fart about them once you move in.

Well it's not going to put me off buying the house but it does annoy me that it's even a thing that has to be included on the deeds. It's an absolute nonsense. Also we're not allowed a fence over 4ft. Even though every single house has a normal height fence or hedge. I don't understand why they can't just be ripped up really. It's so archaic.

Depends who the beneficiary is to me.

Ones held by your ndn for example I would guess are probably far more likely to be enforced than ones held by other parties.

Often developers have them put on new builds, but the purpose is generally to safeguard the appearance of the estate until all the houses are sold, rather than stopping people keeping elephants in their back garden for eternity.

Technically my parents aren't allowed to have any alcohol. But these days, there even sn off license down the street.

Yeah I understand this. But the address for the (long dead!) beneficiary isn't even in the same county.

They won't be giving you any trouble then.

Some covenants are good though. No cockerels or pigs round here. (Back to back tiny 25ft gardens, all semis... can imagine the noise and smell) No caravans to be parked for more than 3 days.

That sort of thing can make a big difference to noise and light levels (of someone parks a caravan next door we need to put our lights on in the daytime!)

I rather like some of them. Mine says I can't keep pigs and based on how close the neighbours are I think this is a kind of blessing 😂

Also can't have a tannery.

We've got one that says we cannot build a shed. It was between the lady who sold the land to the man who built the house. Its on the deeds, all done in curly writing by the solicitor. The lady is long gone, and her house has been demolished and a new build estate is in its place. Also there were 3 sheds when we moved in, so we didn't take much notice.

No tannery? Well that'd be a deal breaker for me. No tannery, no purchase.
Seriously though why on earth would you even need to have that on the deeds? Might as well say no diamond mining or no morris dancing

Probably because the original owner of the land had a tannery and didn't want anyone setting one up as competition.

Either that or they stink to high heaven (they probably do).

We've got one that says no livestock. However, a number of years ago we bought a strip of land that adjoined our garden and incorporated it into our garden. There is no such covenant on that strip of land, so we could keep as many chickens/pigs on that bit as we wanted. That surely renders the covenant on our existing bit of garden totally pointless.

They certainly do.
Once lived in Hull between the tannery and Needlers sweet factory. Depending which way the wind was, you either got the stench of the tannery or the cloying sweet smell of those solid sherbet lollipops.

I once lived in a house where the covenants banned burning lime and operating a fairground. I have no idea what sort of people they had in mind when they drew them up!

We used to live in Bristol and I believe the relatively low number of pubs in Clifton village is down to high levels of Quaker ownership of the land originally and this means that any building that comes up for sale without a covenant banning alcohol consumption is fought over by pub companies.

We’re not allowed to run a cinema from our house.
As you would, it being a 1970s housing estate 😆

In my old house we were not allowed more than one pig. The back garden was tiny, it would have to have been a small one.

I am curious, if a restrictive covenant is put on by the seller (Company) and that Company is dissolved, would the covenant still hold?

We're supposed to have at least one fruit tree and one conifer. We have more than one of each but no one would know if we didn't.

We are not allowed to make lime wash, never really been tempted to.

Our street was first developed in 1920s: No pigs, No selling alcohol. No house on wheels, probably thinking of a Shepherds hut gypsy caravan, like Mr Toad had.
The Americans will join in with no washing lines, no vegetable or flower gardening. They are still enforced. Image a hot day in Texas and drying washing in a machine rather than hang it in the sun for an hour.

Generally you'll find they're still legal but if no one knows about them how can they ever be enforced?

As others have pointed out, if the beneficiary is gone, it is really just an old agreement that has become irrelevant over the passage of time. The covenant can only be enforced by the land owner who imposed it or their successor.

https://www.wbw.co.uk/restrictive-covenants-guide/#:~:text=It%20has%20to%20be%20emphasised,owners%20whether%20people%20or%20companies.

These can be so interesting. My late mum wasn't allowed to brew beer or slaughter animals in her house - not sure where she'd have found the space to do either in a tiny 2 up 2 down - and she had to leave unrestricted access at the back for the "Nightsoil Men" to empty the privy.

I’m not allowed to keep pigs. Seems bizarre it was felt necessary to put such a covenant in place, considering the house is relatively modern - late 70s build.

I’m also not allowed a TV aerial on the exterior of the house. However I do have one, as do all the neighbours, and no one has got in trouble for it yet.

These covenants tend to become irrelevant over time, but yet they stay in place and get scrutinised by conveyancers whenever you sell.

That all depends on how it is written. For example it may be written that any restrictive covenant is for the benefit of any/all neighbouring properties on the housing estate or just particular neighbours.

In that case, as long as there are still neighbouring properties then the owners of those properties can object.