Covenants

[hummingbird12]

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 😞

Movinghouseatlast
Its very different to buy into a settled estate when you know that you NDN is unlikey to get planning for a pig farm or a 24/7 parcel delivery hub. And all your giving your money to someone who wont live there anymore. And 100y later there is unlikely to be enforcement.

The OP is paying the NDN £££ directly and they could ring fence the money for litigation against the OP

When the estate agent who is paid by and working for the vendors tells you you are doing the right thing in pulling out, then you know those vendors are being seriously unreasonable!
What a disappointing end for you, but really you have no option. Hopefully you'll find something far better.

Thanks for an opposing view! We really have tried to see where they're coming from. We sent them a very detailed personal email responding to each covenant and what impact it would have on us and how we wished they would amend it.

The house isn't part of some grand estate. It's just a little bungalow the mother was left by someone she cared for with dementia (again that's another story that makes us uneasy. As his daughter tried to contest it because his will was changed while he was ill) then the mother passed away and her children are selling it.
We find this out through word of mouth in the village.

Actually there are still enforcements. We pulled out because the owner of the covenant wouldn't let us use the annexe as a holiday let. He was great great grandson of the person who applied it.

My point was that this type of covenant is not unusual at all.

We can't cause them any disturbance, annoyance, nuisance or inconvenience?

Define what all of those mean. Can DH whistle? Can your dog bark more than twice a day (a single bark each time), can you have a child's birthday party, with or without a bouncy castle, can you have multiple visitors with their own cars at Christmas, can you have scaffolding, can you have landscape gardeners in with all their power tools, can you have a swing and a trampoline? Because ALL of those fall under that particular covenant.

Run.

Have you officially withdrawn now? What was the response?

I would definitely pull out from buying this house. You can’t put a price on the relief of having wonderful neighbours. You can’t imagine the stress of having bad neighbours until you’re enduring it. You cant be sure bad people won’t move in next door in the future, but I certainly wouldn’t start off in a house where they’ve already shown their colours.

Yes we have pulled out. No response from the sellers.
Our solicitor replied saying they totally understand and happy to assist when we find somewhere else. The EA also said he thinks we've made the right choice and he has posted the keys through the letterbox and said he won't be working with them again.

My heart is so sad because we really loved it but my head knows it's the right thing.

Wow! I've never heard ot an estate agent doing that before - those sellers must be terrible people!

I agree. But it sounds as though the EA knows they will just be wasting their time going forward as nobody is going to agree to the vendor’s terms. So what’s the point in trying to sell it again. The same situation will just arise and the EA will have just wasted their time when they can concentrate on other properties.

The EA may feel professionally obliged to mention the covenants now they know in the advertising and they probably agree it fundamentally changes the value. I'd imagine they are agents with a good reputation and they don't want to compromise it for one vendor who is unlikely to sell anyway.

He sounds like a decent guy!

He really has been great. He's an independent EA so I suppose like you say he doesn't want something like this tarnishing his business name. He sells a lot of properties in the area.

He just said they had a great buyer ready to move in with a small chain. Everything was ready to go and they have sabotaged the whole sale. They were adamant the restrictions had to stay so he doesn't believe the property is sellable with those conditions.
Clearly he doesn't want to waste any more of his time! Nor would I