Tweet
We have recently got permission for 2 houses in our back garden. The area of the land they are to be built on has a restrictive covenant dating back to 1917 in which the original vendor of the land states that
"That he and his heirs and assigns would not erect on the said plot of land any building save a private dwellinghouse or pair of semi-detached dwellinghouses and that such dwellinghouse or dwellinghouses should not be of less clear yearly value to be let to a tenant than £25 each and should be in accordance with plans to be submitted to and approved of by the said XXX (the object of such approval being to preserve the general character of the YYY Estate as a residential building estate)”
There are various other conditions in the covenant but none that relate to the building of houses. We have an indemnity policy in place however we feel it would be best to try and get the covenant removed.
The land registry have said we can apply to have it removed using a CN1 form and demonstrate that the covenant is unenforceable. Given that XXX died in the 1940's and that this covenant was prior to the 1925 land act, our covenant does not state XXX's heirs and assigns specifically, XXX cannot obviously give his permission or approve plans. Further to that, with a little genealogy research it seems that there may only be a couple of descendants of XXX who live 250 miles away and therefore have no benefit of the covenant.
Can we safely apply to have it removed by land registry at the risk of invalidating the indemnity policy?
"That he and his heirs and assigns would not erect on the said plot of land any building save a private dwellinghouse or pair of semi-detached dwellinghouses and that such dwellinghouse or dwellinghouses should not be of less clear yearly value to be let to a tenant than £25 each and should be in accordance with plans to be submitted to and approved of by the said XXX (the object of such approval being to preserve the general character of the YYY Estate as a residential building estate)”
There are various other conditions in the covenant but none that relate to the building of houses. We have an indemnity policy in place however we feel it would be best to try and get the covenant removed.
The land registry have said we can apply to have it removed using a CN1 form and demonstrate that the covenant is unenforceable. Given that XXX died in the 1940's and that this covenant was prior to the 1925 land act, our covenant does not state XXX's heirs and assigns specifically, XXX cannot obviously give his permission or approve plans. Further to that, with a little genealogy research it seems that there may only be a couple of descendants of XXX who live 250 miles away and therefore have no benefit of the covenant.
Can we safely apply to have it removed by land registry at the risk of invalidating the indemnity policy?
Comment