Unusual conditions in deeds and covenenants

Latest Articles

Unusual conditions in deeds and covenenants

Downsizer Forum Index -> Finance and Property

Author

Message

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 9:57 am Post subject: Unusual conditions in deeds and covenenants

I'm sorting out all sorts of family bureacracy which includes property ownership etc and have got my hands on the original deeds and covenants for mine and my parents property.

I knew that I couldn't tan hides or make bricks at my house but at my parents the owner is also prevented from erecting or operating a steam engine; opening a beer house; opening a shop or any other business; developing the land in any other manner than ornamental shrubbery and flower borders.

This got me thinking, does the prohibition of business stop self employment or internet related trade? Would I be in contravention if I moved in (a possibility) and grew veg instead of flowers. I can live without the steam engine.

Also having looked at the property plans and history is seems that two large Edwardian semis were built in what was the garden, about 25 years later. These have since been knocked through and operate as a hotel. I can't find any record of the land sale that allowed this development or cancellation of the covenant on the land. Could I play silly b*gg*rs and invoke the covenenant about no development, reclaim the land and knock them down?

I guess the answer is no and there's a bit of paper somewhere that I haven't found that legitimises the development but it does get you thinking what problems may lurk in an older property's past.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:03 am Post subject:
Our last home was a former Baptist sunday school building. I always wondered if there were any prohibitions relating to alcohol that we could have fallen foul of.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:15 am Post subject:

When we moved into our current property we specifically asked them to check if there was any covenants about keeping Chickens as we wanted to know where we stood should I ever manage to persuade the OH that its really a good idea - Thankfully there is nothing there to restrict us from having livestock - I think we could even have pigs if we so desired - not that I've contemplated that idea at all

Our house in Farnborough had loads of covenants on it as it was originally a police house - so we weren't able to run a business or keep livestock etc

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:17 am Post subject:
Who actually enforces a covenant? I can't imagine that anyone, in general, would know what covenants exist, Peter.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:19 am Post subject:
I previously owned a small upstairs maisonette and wasn't allowed to turn it in to a pub and I was only allowed one outbuilding or shed in the garden. They are such funny things aren't they?

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:22 am Post subject:

They should be associated with the title deeds and any search should pick them up. From my reading the covenant is policed by the people or their descendants that put them in place, in my case this turns out to be a large law firm in Leeds who bought and sold the land for development. Many I think fade away into obscurity however I think some could be invoked when planning decisions are being made and then you have to prove that they have been lifted, such as being allowed to build a hotel in your garden. I have a feeling that the owner at that time may have got away with it as it were.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 10:25 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

It all seems quite bizarre. One wonders why whatever someone thought, say 100 years ago, should have any relevance or force today,

Peter.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46362
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 11:21 am Post subject:
covenants can be date sensitive but most are open ended and still apply . get good advice from a specialist

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 1:54 pm Post subject:
I was allowed to fence in a maisonette I once rented

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 2:12 pm Post subject:
I was not allowed to keep pigs or make soap or candles for some reason. I think the soap bit came from the fact Loerd Leverhume owned 99% of the land on the Wirral and makins soap would have detracted from his pocket. Why no pigs is beyond me though.

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 2:12 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

covenants can be date sensitive but most are open ended and still apply .
get good advice from a specialist

Very true. We're not allowed to interfere with the building site traffic, but ti left 20 years ago. They open end them incase of a delay of any kind. The solicitor just laughed at our.

As for Internet businesses, remember that most homes are aimed at setting up a physical shop, etc. The Internet and working from home is very new. I checked mine as we can't run a business from the address and our advise was that as long as we didn't have clients coming to the house then that was fine. But as dpack says check (also get and keep a reciept and get it in writing then you can prove you took reasonable care).

Leonie

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 731
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 3:42 pm Post subject:

our covenants say no business can trade from the property. we work from home and that is okay, it would be different if we had a shop and customers were frequently coming through the door. we also have a covenant that says no commercial or sign written vehicle can be parked in any parking bays or on the public estate roads. we got around that one because our van is not sign written (we don't need it) and the van we use is a van derived from a car. it's a citroen dispatch (medium sized van) and these are also made as cars. we had an argument with a fussy neighbour about this and had the lawyers check it out, we won the argument.

shopgirlsue

Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 197
Location: Nr Shaftesbury

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 06 7:25 am Post subject:
Apparently when my previous house was built (in 1930s) it was next to a Sutton seed nursery and we had a covenant that said that if we grew vegetables in the garden we mustn't let them go to seed

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Finance and Property	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

View Latest Posts