Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Covenants

112 replies

hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 19:45

We are 6 months in to purchasing our next home. Our buyers are ready to proceed to completion but we have received the contract today for our onward purchase with some, what we think, ridiculous covenants.

The house is part of a larger piece of land so we are just buying the house and the garden and they're keeping the rest. We only found out last week the vendors won't pay the fee to split the title deed so we have to fork out an extra £1200 in solicitor fees for our solicitor to do it. We didn't know they owned the land next door until the searches came back.

They built another house on the other side 20 years ago or so and we are buying the bungalow their late mother lived in so the vendors will be our only neighbours. They have put in place some covenants and would like other thoughts...

  • no business's (I used to have a photography business and recently have thought about setting it up again) & no air bnb's etc
  • no alterations such as extensions whether permanent or temporary or Not allowed to change the fence without asking their permission. Unless they decide to build on the retained land on which case they wouldn't withhold permission for the fence.
  • no chickens. The house behind owns chickens and it's semi rural so not unusual. Not something we want right away but have talked about it.
  • no pets other than one dog or cat (our solicitor has already crossed this out before sending to us but thought it was extremely cheeky they even put it in there.) we own a spaniel and are considering another dog for security due to location.

Am I unreasonable to think they are being CF's? The house is detached. We are respectful people and wouldn't do anything inconsiderate. We were planning on extending. Only a 3x6m single storey. Why on earth should we have to ask their permission for any of these things? Has anyone got any advice or been in this situation? We've already responded to the solicitor and said we reject these but we loved the house and now potentially have to start from scratch after 6 months 😞

OP posts:
Ilikewinter · 03/02/2025 19:53

Oh wow, well for me the 1 would be a deal breaker! And I'm not fond of not being able to change the fence either - I just imagine them curtain twitching everytime you have visitors!

AnSolas · 03/02/2025 19:59

Run

They are tight
fee to split the title deed

Unless they remove "no alterations such as extensions whether permanent or temporary"

They want to retain control on too wide a scope.
Forget about extending in theory they can stop you changing the door style or even its colour.

Meanwhile they can build a 24/7 Tesco distribution center with HGVs routed along your fence.

Fouradayistoomuch · 03/02/2025 20:04

They are just trying it on. Go back to them stating which of the restrictions you are comfortable with and say that the others are not acceptable to you. We had similar when buying some land off our neighbour - we walked away and he came crawling back agreeing to all our changes.

CoastalCalm · 03/02/2025 20:07

I’d tell them to shove it up their arse

HellsBalls · 03/02/2025 20:12

As per @CoastalCalm that’s a no from me. No covenants or no sale.

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 20:31

Thanks everyone.
We have gone back to our solicitor saying we reject these covenants and please let us know how we wish to proceed.

I love the house however I won't be going to knock on their door anytime we want to do anything to the house. It's none of their business.

OP posts:
eurochick · 03/02/2025 20:32

Run. They are setting this up to be a nightmare for whoever buys it. As you know you want to extend this won't work for you in any event. They are currently not in a position to sell anyway as the house doesn't have its own title.

BotterMon · 03/02/2025 20:46

OMG definitely CFs. Will be interesting to know their response to your solicitor's request. If not walk (run!).

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 20:49

It's so frustrating as all this information should have been brought to light when we viewed or made our offer last year.

The house really needs modernising and full renovation so anyone that would be a potential buyer would want to make changes and most likely extend due to the layout.

Even if they come back saying they'll remove the covenants I'm a bit hesitant as to what they will be like as neighbours.

I just find the whole thing so cheeky.

OP posts:
Crouton19 · 03/02/2025 20:55

What is the fee to split the title deed they are talking about? If it is a transfer of part (of their title) the land registry will deal with all that when registering your purchase. It doesn't need to be pre-split.

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 20:59

Crouton19 · 03/02/2025 20:55

What is the fee to split the title deed they are talking about? If it is a transfer of part (of their title) the land registry will deal with all that when registering your purchase. It doesn't need to be pre-split.

'To confirm the additional fees are that our legal fee increases by £995 plus VAT due to the additional work involved in checking the title when you are only buying part of a title. The land registry fee increases from £150 to £330. These are the total additional fees associated with this being a transfer of part.'

Exact quote from our solicitor is when I queried the additional fee

OP posts:
friendlycat · 03/02/2025 21:35

I would have expected to have seen sight of all of this months ago, not at this stage. I would reject them all. I’m not at all sure I would want to proceed even if they agreed to backtrack.

Crouton19 · 03/02/2025 21:37

Hmm, have they sent you the official copy title register and plan? How many pages is it? Does the plan have more shading/colours than just the red line? Land registry fees are outside their control, and a transfer of part is more complicated to draft, but the title review part depends on the size and complexity of the title, not whether or not it is of part.

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 21:51

friendlycat · 03/02/2025 21:35

I would have expected to have seen sight of all of this months ago, not at this stage. I would reject them all. I’m not at all sure I would want to proceed even if they agreed to backtrack.

We are really frustrated that this is the first we have heard of this.
They've also put in the contract that they want right of way over our land for service connections should they build on the neighbouring land 😂

OP posts:
Blankscreen · 03/02/2025 21:54

It is fair enough for your lawyer to charge more for drafting/ reviewing a transfer of part. You can't pre split a title.

The LR fee is what it is. In the scheme of things its not a big deal.

With regards to the covenants a possible compromise could be that you won't keep chickens/extend within x metres of the boundary fence between the property you are purchasing and their retained land and shown the exclusion area on the transfer plan.

No business is pretty standard but you can just say you're not happy to proceed on that basis. Again a possible compromise is that you won't park commercial vehicles.

The fence just put your own fence up indie the boundary?

Check that they haven't included a non nuisance/annoyance covenant as that can be problematic.

You also need to check if there are any rights being granted that they allow for any future development of your property.

Blankscreen · 03/02/2025 21:57

Just seen your latest post. It's pretty standard drafting points.

Do they want to connect into your shared services or lay new services?

Is it a predefined area?

Make sure you have the right to relocate any of their pre existing service media as that could interfere with your extension plans.

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 21:57

Crouton19 · 03/02/2025 21:37

Hmm, have they sent you the official copy title register and plan? How many pages is it? Does the plan have more shading/colours than just the red line? Land registry fees are outside their control, and a transfer of part is more complicated to draft, but the title review part depends on the size and complexity of the title, not whether or not it is of part.

We have signed a title plan which shows the original land outlined red and the area we are purchasing hatched in blue?
It's about 3 pages so we haven't had a lengthy document on this

OP posts:
Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 22:00

Blankscreen · 03/02/2025 21:54

It is fair enough for your lawyer to charge more for drafting/ reviewing a transfer of part. You can't pre split a title.

The LR fee is what it is. In the scheme of things its not a big deal.

With regards to the covenants a possible compromise could be that you won't keep chickens/extend within x metres of the boundary fence between the property you are purchasing and their retained land and shown the exclusion area on the transfer plan.

No business is pretty standard but you can just say you're not happy to proceed on that basis. Again a possible compromise is that you won't park commercial vehicles.

The fence just put your own fence up indie the boundary?

Check that they haven't included a non nuisance/annoyance covenant as that can be problematic.

You also need to check if there are any rights being granted that they allow for any future development of your property.

They have a nuisance covenant, should we be concerned about this?

They've also put had also included no advertising signage etc besides a for sale or to let sign

OP posts:
Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 22:01

We have accepted paying the fee for the title split. It was just another thing we were annoyed they weren't upfront about. We had no idea they owned the neighbouring land.

OP posts:
Blankscreen · 03/02/2025 22:03

A no nuisance covenant can arguably be used to stop you doing anything that they find a nuisance.

I draft transfers of part day in day out for developers and won't accept them as they too vague.

Original poster
hummingbird12 · 03/02/2025 22:09

Blankscreen · 03/02/2025 22:03

A no nuisance covenant can arguably be used to stop you doing anything that they find a nuisance.

I draft transfers of part day in day out for developers and won't accept them as they too vague.

Thanks so much. That's really helpful.
We had already rejected that also as it seemed too vague.
We will see how they respond. We are happy to be reasonable and considerate but not to the extent that they have final say on how we choose to live in our home

OP posts:
AnSolas · 03/02/2025 22:33

If you are allowing any covenants to remain in the contract you need to get your solicitor to explain in writing what is the worst outcome if you were in breach and lost the court case
Is the best outcome of them sticking letter before action notices in your letter box every week?
If you are extending and need planning how much road frontage has your plot and what are the sight lines like.

As pointed out above you need to map the existing services for both houses.
Waste management system how old is yours and where is the drainage field
Is the other homes' system 20 years old too?
Where are the water connections
Where are the powerlines
And as its a country location if the fence is not enclosing the total plot exactly where will your plot start and end

TheSandgroper · 04/02/2025 03:37

Would you have shared access, who owns it and who has the benefit?

After this draft contract, I would be interested in specifying and retaining any and all benefits to you very strongly, should you decide to continue with it.

Blankscreen · 04/02/2025 09:29

Worst outcome for breach of covenants is an injunction and costs that go with it.

If you accept the covenants in the documents you must accept that you need to abide by them. The benefitting land is right next door so chances are you'll never be able to get indemnity insurance either for breach of covenant.

You need to be really clear with your instructions for your intended future use of the property so the transfer can be drafted correctly.

HellsBalls · 04/02/2025 09:51

The vendors sound like they want the money for the run down bungalow, and complete control on the environment.
You can see even from this distance there will be issues in the future. I would not be dropping hundreds of thousands to walk into that situation.