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Topic: Covenants - That Old Fave

Leevis

11/9/2013 at 4:13pm
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Hi All
Almost bought a caravan the other day after much tooing and froing but had to pull out at the last minute due to some cost issues but we were almost there.

Anyway, my house has a convenant on it saying that we cannot park caravans on the front.

The house is a 1920/1930 semi and I thought that covenants were all put in place by the original builder and to cancel it or query it i would have to contact them. The question is, how would i find out who these are?

I dont want to cause aggro as i have a neighbour who is a right old pain in the neck and is sure to complain so i would like to do all the groundwork before i embark on this purchase again.

Anyone else have similar? I read about 1980s homes but mine seems to be espcially old. Also i live on a very long main(ish) road and there is another caravan about 40 houses up and on the other side of the round about 20 up there is a motorhome and a speedboat.

Any suggestions?

Frannyvan

11/9/2013 at 4:23pm
Location: Dorset
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Read you deed and send a letter to the last know address of the covenant owner stating what you intend to do and if you don't hear back from them within a certain period, you are assuming consent.
My house has a similar covenant from the late 60's and the company went bust, so no one to enforce the covenant and both neighbours didn't mind.

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iscacamper

11/9/2013 at 4:24pm
Location: Devon
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Can you find a storage facility near where you live? Apart from avoiding the issue of restrictive covenants, the added security of a storage compound is good from an insurance/peace of mind perspective. Of course it's not as convenient as having the van outside your house, but it does have some advantages (e.g. not upsetting awkward neighbours!).

janus

11/9/2013 at 4:28pm
Location: Rochdale
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Alternatively do nothing, park your caravan there and await resolution. Your neighbour may ask you to move and may remind you of the covenant, but until you get a letter from a solicitor or the covenant holders representative giving you notice to move it and saying failure to do so will result in court action you need do nothing. At that point move it into storage as contesting it gets very expensive and you will lose.

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Bill

For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013

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Leevis

11/9/2013 at 4:42pm
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I'll have another look at the deeds and see if i can find out who put the covenant on it.

Dont really want the cost of storage to be honest.

If i find out the builders are long gone (i guess this is likely given the age of the house) do i have to worry about neighbours?

As i said one is reasonably OK but one certainly isnt.

clever

11/9/2013 at 5:16pm
Location: Derbyshire
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I thought these things were just put in place by the builders to make sure they could sell all the houses. I really can't see the builder (if they still exist) really being bothered by your caravan !

It's not against the law to park your van on your drive, so I don't think the neighbour could do anything.

Leevis

11/9/2013 at 5:18pm
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From what i read its a bit conflicting, some say its ok, others says its not

Fat Bum

11/9/2013 at 5:28pm
Location: West Berkshire
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Some covenants have a time scale on them so yours may well have expired by now. Also some are only enforceable by the builder who probably also doesn't exist after all this time. Others are not actually valid anyway and were only put on to try to stop people putting caravans in their drives while the houses were originally being sold in order not to put people off buying and were not legally binding anyway.

My advice would be put it there and see what happens. Anyone complaining would have to take you to court and as other people along the road have set a precedent they would be very unlikely to win. If it got to that stage then would be the time to find a storage site if necessary.

millermicm

11/9/2013 at 6:00pm
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Anyone who has sold your house over the last 80 odd years could have put the covenant on it although it is likely to have been the builder. It depends on the wording of the covenant as to enforcement. May be the builder may not.

If no one cares if the caravan is on your drive then no one is going to enforce it. The best course of action is to ask your neighbours if they mind. If they don't object then do it. No one else is going to enforce it and in the event that they do just say sorry and put it in storage.

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Steve

jasie

11/9/2013 at 6:34pm
Location: Bath
Outfit: Bailey Palermo & Kampa Brean

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its probably not much help, but we moved from a 1930 property last year that had such a covenant.

basically no caravans allowed...but there were at least 5 on our street.

it also stated you cannot run a business (neighbour ran car repairs from gaage), install any tv reception equipemtn other than a std arial...i.e. Sat dishes not permitted. (We all had these!)
you also werent allowed to hang your washing above 6ft!

when we sold the place, i explained to my solicitor that i had breached the caravan and sat dish (tounge in cheek( !...and i was informed that as long as they werent there when i left the place then thats fine!

no one ever complained about the caravan, and i never asked permission to park it there.

we are in a new-build now, so difficult to get around these of course especially as i speak to head office regularly on sorting out the snags!

and1145

11/9/2013 at 6:54pm
Location: Retford
Outfit: Vango Icarus Airbeam 600

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I think and I maybe wrong and I'm sure I will be corrected but I was under the impression that covenants expire after 75 years. I would ask your solicitor.

Francophile1947

11/9/2013 at 8:53pm
Location: Norwich
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Seems a funny covenant for a builder to stipulate, as there would hardly have been any caravans around 80-90 years ago

Are you sure it's a covenant and not a local authority condition?

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John

Babyfish

11/9/2013 at 9:18pm
Location: Northants
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We're not allowed to have them and it's a local authority thing. Mine was on the drive three days waiting to go into storage and someone complained. Lucky for me I had asked permission but I could not believe someone made a fuss that quickly!

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