land covenants

[piggy]

anybody know anything about land covenants? how enforcable are they? are they any use at all?
the reason i ask is that a developer has bought the pub and land excactly in front of my house and there are covenants on it.

Schedule of restrictive covenants


1
The following are details of the covenants contained in the Conveyance
dated 25 February 1982 referred to in the Charges Register:


"THE Purchaser hereby covenants with the Vendor for the benefit and
protection of the Vendor's adjoining or neighbouring land and every part
thereof other than the property hereby conveyed so as to bind the said
property unto whosesoever hands it may come that the Purchaser and its
successors in title will at all times after the date hereof observe the
restrictions and stipulations set out in the Second Schedule hereto


THE SECOND SCHEDULE before referred to


1. That no additional building or erection shall at any time be erected
upon the said property without first submitting to the Vendor the plans
and elevations for such building or erection and obtaining the written
approval of the Vendor to such plans and elevations
2. That no building or erection shall at any time be built or erected on
such part of the property as is edged blue on the said plan except
entrance gates ornamental boundary walls and division fences not exceeding
four feet six inches in height from the level of the soil the design of
which shall be first submitted to and approved by the Vendor in writing
and except bay or bow windows and porches or porticoes or porticoes which
shall not project more than four feet six inches from the front wall of
any building to which they respectively belong
3. Not at any time to alter the elevation of any building for the time
being situate on the property or any part thereof without the previous
written consent of the Vendor
4. That no clothes apparel linen or drapery of any description shall be
hung out placed or permitted for the purpose of drying or any other
purpose over or upon any part of the property except such part as is edged
red on the said plan and as may be enclosed and used as a yard
5. That (except with the written consent of the Vendor) no art trade
business calling or employment except that of a hotel or public house
proprietor shall be carried on upon the property or any part thereof but
such consent shall not be unreasonable withheld in the case of a learned
or artistic profession such as a Medical Practitioner Surgeon Dentist or
Solicitor or the business of a Boarding House Keeper or other like
occupation of an inoffensive and unobjectionable character provided that
in any of such cases there be no other outward indication of such user
than a brass or other plate or inscription covering the space of not more
than two feet by one foot affixed to the property


6. That no pig or noisy or offensive animal shall be kept or allowed on
any part of the property
7. That no hoarding notice board sign or advertisement of any description
except usual hotel signs and ordinary notices to sell or let the property
and then only of such design and nature as shall be approved in writing by
the Vendor (such approval not to be unreasonably withheld) shall be
exhibited displayed or shown in any way on or from the property without
the previous consent in writing of the Vendor."
NOTE: The area edged red referred to falls wholly within the land in this
title.


End of register

can i as an individual use these or does it have to be whoever put the covenants on in the first place?

[TheOldhamWhisper]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenan..._with_the_land

might help.

[vegyjones]

6. That no pig or noisy or offensive animal shall be kept or allowed on any part of the property

I can see why you're alarmed Piggy

[susanwells]

Covenants are usually very hard to break/disregard unless so ancient that a court would rule them entirely irrelevant - as if you were prohibited from jousting or ducking a witch on the land. Otherwise courts usually uphold them - if it gets that far. But developers will try ANYTHING....they have to be watched and if necessary have the book chucked at them. We went through about 2 years of it when the developer of the land adjacent to the cricket club I am Chair of tried to take over a piece also which had a covenant on it against any form of building. In the end he was obliged to demolish four garages he had built there, restore the land and compensate us. We had an ace Barrister who gave us advice for nothing as he was a cricket fan ! The developer settled as he knew what he was up against..also in those days I was writing a monthly column in Country Life and did a running account. They hate bad publicity.

[piggy]

thanks for the replies, my problem is that the original vendor is scarborough borough council and it looks like they won't be trying to get the covenants upheld but i'm trying to claim through title progresion that as i own my house that was at the time of the covenants part of the councils adjoining property i am now as entitled as the vendor to try and get the covenants upheld . susan did you take out a civil action to stop development and how hard/easy was it?