Freehold covenants

[TreesToday]

So the house we’re buying has a restrictive covenant that we can’t extend it. It’s a 60s property that’s been extended twice already. It seems like previous owners have been relaxed about breaking the covenants then managing this with indemnity insurance when they came to sell.

I’ve just sold a leasehold property that was the bane of my life so the this has all really put me off. I’m tempted to throw this one back despite it being a lovely property and is being desperate to move. But I don’t know if these past experiences are making me too risk averse. Anybody got any advice?!

Our (60s) house has all sorts of silly restrictive covenants like not hanging washing out at certain times, plus I think also a similar one to yours about not extending or outbuildings.

It's in a small cul de sac of 9 similar houses, all of whom have extended and/or built sheds. Ours had had a dormer extension and conservatory/porch when we bought (18 years ago) and our solicitor did a search on the company that built the house and would therefore be responsible for enforcing any breach in the covenants. It went out of business years ago. He concluded that there was nothing to worry about and that was that. And he was right.

Ancient restrictive freehold covenants are absolute nothing like as bad as the massive PITA that is Leasehold (yes, been there, done that 😬)

Unless the person who wrote the covenant is going to legally enforce it then you can just ignore it.

Speak to your solicitor.

If you want to sell it, it will put a lot off people off.

My Dad's house from 1970s has a no hedge on front garden rule. They put one in about 1990. And a rule about not parking vans! My parents never had a van but they think it was originally designed to keep the estate "looking tidy" as when they moved in there was still building going on and half the estate was for sale by the builders.

And they can't keep chickens etc and that makes more sense.

Who has the benefit of the covenant? Are they still around and likely to be bothered?

We live in a complicated property that is four titles stitched together. There are pages of covenants. It is a mess. I’ve never seen a title document like it. But we bought it as anything we might want to break is unlikely to be enforced. We are a two lawyer couple - we assessed the risk and decided we were comfortable with it.

@eurochick the benefit appears to be a company that no longer exists (though I haven’t done a really good search). It’s handy to be a two-lawyer couple! ☺️

If it’s an old developer then you can normally just rely on indemnity insurance as long as no one has notified them. I looked at buying a house which had a covenant in favour of the next door neighbour - that would have been more tricky as we would have needed their consent to extend as they lived next door so could see the work going on!

i think the biggest question is who has the benefit of the covenant and do they enforce? round where i live there are a couple of well known old estate owners who do enforce. but generally they dont, if they can even be identified! if the extensions have been around a long time and neighbours have done similar, I'd be happy to reply on insurance. i have the same situation with my own house and am happy with it.

Who enacted the covenant? If it was the original developer, they generally don't care about these things once all the houses on the development have been sold. If it dates from when the house was built in the 1960's then I wouldn't worry about it.

This is all really helpful @Aaron95, @StrawberryThief1930 and @Mumlaplomb. It seems like it’s the original developer from the 1960s, no trace of the company or people online.

Omg a covenant to a neighbour! That’s a bit much!

We’re just waiting to hear from our solicitor still. He made a list of our ‘proposed breaches’ 🫣(we want to extend and remove a hedge) to take away and do more research.

The only time these restrictive covenants come up is when you sell the house. I am in the process of selling my 1970s build house. I have been asked whether I knowingly breached the covenants as part of the conveyancing process. Well there is nobody around to actually enforce them and they are ignored anyway. The main one is not to put up fences on the front. Walk around the estate and these have been breached. You basically sign these over to the next buyer - 100 years time they will still be dredging up these covenants!

Covenant to a neighbour is common when they build a house (or granny annexe) on their land. They can keep a bit of control once the property is sold... no extensions, etc, or if they don't want to see your washing, or have an imposing leylandii on the boundary etc