would you buy a house with covenants

[clover1784]

Hi all, just near the end of buying a house but the searches have revealed there are covenants on the property. A builder bought the land in the 50s and built 2 houses. One house he lived in and the other one he sold with covenants. He put the covenants in his address (the house next door) and not the building company. Now he has since passed away the new owners of his property have control over this covenant and if they sell in the future the new owners will have control and so on. The covenants consists of no extensions, no alteration to the external plan or elevation, no business or trade, and nothing that would cause annoyance or a nuisance to the vendor or adjacent properties. My question is would you buy this property with these covenants on?

No I wouldn’t

No.

Not turning your home into a business premises is fairly standard and we have on saying you can't keep a caravan on the driveway but that's a different beast to being told you cannot extend or do anything to upset the neighbours.

Thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. We are going to lose money because we have no other option now but to pull out of sell and purchase. I would feel so uncomfortable with these covenants over my head and know next door could enforce them but my husband says I worry to much. I’m so emotional drained.

No I wouldn’t.

It reduces the value of the property.

If you are happy with the house and would never want to do those alterations, then it's probably fine. When you come to sell, your buyers would need to make the same decision.

I wouldn't buy it.

The only covenant that really bugs me and is stopping me from buying is the one that says “not to do anything that would cause a nuisance or annoyance to the vendor and adjacent properties”

What does your solicitor advise?

We have just been through something slightly similar when we remortgaged a 2nd home and found it had a covernant we werent even aware of! Our solicitor advised paying for a small insurance policy (about £100-£200) to cover any issues down the line. I cant recall all the details, but I'd take advice from your solicitor/broker.

I have extensive covenants on both my houses and they have never caused any problems, nor would i envisage them doing do. It depends on a lot of issues, whether it is a property that really needs extending etc is the main one. Its fairly normal not to be able to turn your property into a business premises so i wouldn't take too much notice if that one.
If its a house that you saw yourself living in happily without issue a covenant wouldnt be a problem for me. (Its also worth noting that covenants might not always be stringently enforced but there is of course no guarantee of this.)

Yes he did mention that to us. But how would it cover nuisance and annoyance. What if I have a bbq and they moan or my husband is banging around in the shed (hobbie is wood work). They might be people who moan about everything.

Is it possible to remove covenants?

Against the grain yes I would, bought and sold a few houses now and none of these look massively unusual. As long as you don't want to extend then I would proceed.

No, you'd be mad.

Yes. The covenants would only apply if they wish to enforce them, so if you wish to build an extension, ask the neighbour if they would object. They would also have to be motivated enough to pursue it through the courts to enforce it too.

No Business and trade would really bother me.
People are working from home more and more.
So if anyone wanted to run their own company, even if clients didn't call to the property this could be a concern.
And while any of these covenants may not bother you, they could put off people when you come to sell

What if I have a bbq and they moan or my husband is banging around in the shed (hobbie is wood work). They might be people who moan about everything.

I can't see how it would be that enforceable without an expensive court case, it's not like they can ask for you to be arrested when you annoy them. If they're going to moan about you, they will with a covenant or not.

We bought one with covenants. Solicitor asked us if we were happy with them and we went ahead. We have some really stupid ones to like not selling any of the garden off to the neighbour for 21 years and having to clear it with them when we buy a new fence. Also something about paying them a percentage if we ever sell any of the garden off for building on. The daughter next door is a lawyer.

“Nuisance or annoyance” is a common phrase in property law, and there’s been huge amounts of case law about exactly what it covers. It’s very unlikely that having a bbq or a bit of normal domestic work would count as a “nuisance or annoyance” for legal purposes. If they did want to complain that you were breaching the covenant then they’d have to go to court which would cost them loads.

Sorry forgot to say they sold the land off for building on to the people who built our house

I wouldn’t and If I lived somewhere where the houses all had the same covenants and neighbours decided to ignore them or have them removed I would be really hacked off.

I did ... although all but one of the covenants weren’t things I had any intention of doing anyway (Eg not to use the house for immoral or lewd purposes - my life is not that exciting!!! No clear glass on the bathroom window ) and the one was the business one which I was able to change to say that I couldn’t have a business that caused a disturbance- which works for my business anyway.

Hopefully it’s not a terrible decision! But I guess it would depend your lifestyle and intentions for the property.

Speak to your solicitor. I can't recall the case law on nuisance /annoyance but it is likely they can shed a bit of clarity on what this really means

Thank you everyone for all your help. Very much appreciated.