covenants

[Guest graham]

Does anyone have first hand experience of covenants in relation to parking motorhomes at home. I know their was some correspondence about this in MMM a while ago but we were not thinking of moving then and I didn't keep it. We have seen a place that we like but the builder did put on a covenant stopping keeping of caravans, boats and commercial vehicles on the property. Initial enquiries indicate that the builder (who left the site 4 years ago) is not interested in enforcement but not interested in lifting it either. Without getting involved in the semantics of whether a motorhome is a caravan (and the taxation class for our Nuevo is private light goods so it might fall foul of the commercial restriction)does anyone know if the neighbours (now or in the future) could make the builder enforce the covenant or if they could enforce it themselves through the civil courts or local council.

[Guest Brian Ramsden]

The wording of the covenant is crucial, but generally speaking, it would only be the buider/property developer (i.e, the person/company with whom you have the contract to buy the house) who can enforce the covenant. If this "entity" nolonger exists, then the covenant is unenforcable. Check, however, that the covenant was not laid down by the planning authority when the development received planning permission.

[Guest Mike C]

Brian and Graham, I am making the assumption that the Covenant you refer to relates to a property not in Scotland. Not sure whether the covenant system operates anywhere in Scotland but the Feudal Feu does and to the best of my knowledge has no expiry date. The Feudal law recently changed and the Feu holders are now the house owners not, as stated previously, the builder. The Feu document for my property is 12 pages long and has all sorts of conditions specified including the number of vehicles that can be parked, pets, fences, noise, hedges etc. etc. The section related to vehicles specifies "No van, trailer or commercial vehicle shall be parked within any plot; a caravan shall be permitted to be parked within any plot only with OUR prior written consent and that only if it is to be suitably sited to our entire satisfaction,...." Effectively OUR now means the neighbours not the builders. Most motor caravans not used for commercial purposes (eg. Mobile Sales offices, Hire etc.) are rated as cars and therefore are not included in the Feu description of Van, Commercial Vehicle or Caravan and may be parked. This has been confirmed legally. There is the legal aspect but also, of course, the attitude and sensibilities of ones neighbours needs to be taken into account. Regards, Mike C.

[Guest graham]

Thanks for that. It is actually in Devon. The covenant says 'not to keep or place any caravan, boat, trailer, goods or commercial vehicles on any part of the property'. I checked the log book and the vehicle taxation class is given as PLG. No one roundabout the property has any of these otherwise I probably wouldn't bother and though I would speak to the neighbours first they change of course. The developer is long gone but the covenants are transferred on at sale.

[Guest Bill]

You say you don’t want to get “involved in the semantics of whether a motorhome is a caravan”, but surely that is crucial to your question? In law there is no such thing as a motorhome, they are motor-caravans. Does it make any difference whether the thing is self-propelled or not? I suggest you need to ask a solicitor – if you are a member of the Caravan Club they might advise you for free. I should be very interested to hear any legal opinions you get – and I am sure many others would be too.

[Guest Mike Culver]

Evening Graham, We live in a two year old house with a coventant stating that we are not able to park Caravans etc outside the property, i.e. at the front so we park our Motor van at the side, no big deal but we did take the precaution of telling the neighbours first, but mentioning that we were not contravening the lease, so no problem. In our last house we did have a problem with our caravan parked on our drive, the Developer was still very much in business, he was contacted and was not really interested so we contacted the objector, came to an agreement and I kept the van on the drive, end of story, so realy if the neighbours do not object who is going to? we wish you well in what can be very stressful situation.

[Guest Philippa]

We bought our house new 3 years ago and it has this covenant. Our solicitor was adamant that it referred to caravans and not motorhomes and that we would have no problems. We haven't (yet).

[Guest graham]

Thanks for all your helpful comments. The bungalow we live in now actually had similar covenants but it was built in the 60's and we were assured by our solicitor that that company had ceased and they could not identify any successor. Additionally it seemed as if every 3rd property had a caravan, boat or horse box trailer parked in front so we were just kind of 'blending in'. In this case it is a close of 3 bungalows (within a larger estate)and the other 2 have nothing. Ironically there is space down the side but it would mean encroaching on next doors front garden to get in. We are reliably informed that a purchaser in an adjoining road tasked his solicitor with lifting the covenant so he could hard stand part of his front garden for extra parking (also not allowed) but the developer refused although he stated (verbally) that he wouldn't enforce it. We are going to think more about this before going any further. I am confident no problems would arise but this is to be our last move and I am not sure I want the prospect of aggravation/litigation always hovering in the background. Thanks again for your help and I will advise if we take this any further.

[Guest malc]

I don't know the legal view on this subject but I would suggest that in the current climate of congestion on the roads and the difficulties of finding parking spaces wherever you go, the 'powers that be' should be only too pleased to see our motohomes on the drive and off the road.