Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2008 | Page 27

PROPERTY Is your property affected by restrictive covenants? Contact: Mark or Terence Willey Tel: (01983) 611888 or 875859 Terence Willey Website: www.terencewilley.co.uk Whilst you may be aware that your property is affected by covenants, the vast majority of people would not be able to easily recall them, or would fail to address them when altering or extending their property. It is therefore imperative if you are contemplating any change of usage, alteration or addition to your property whatsoever you should first check your Title Deeds to see if there are any covenants which would first require consent prior to undertaking any work. Restrictive Covenants are often imposed on Titles by the original Developer of your property as an extension of conditions imposed on Planning Permissions. For example, in preserving an open space policy to the front of your property, a condition would be imposed to prohibit any building, structure, or fences or the growing of trees, shrubs and plants above a certain height. These restrictions are often carried forward in the original Transfer from the Developer and therefore appear on your Title. Furthermore restrictions www.wightfrog.com/islandlife are often imposed prohibiting the erection of any further buildings on the land and requiring specific consents for the erections of sheds, summer houses and conservatories all intended to preserve the overall residential usage of the land and property in your area and not to create over development. It is therefore wise to spend time in examining your Title Deeds to check that there are no such Restrictive Covenants specifically imposed before contemplating any works to your property or land. If however, you choose to ignore or overlook them it can prove costly in seeking retrospective consent and approval. Almost certainly upon contemplating a sale a buyer in discovering that your property is so affected life by restrictive covenants, would raise specific enquiries as to whether the appropriate written consents had been obtained. If such evidence is not available then you could well be drawn into the expense of having to trace the person or persons who hold the benefit of the imposed covenants to seek retrospective approval, or where such person cannot be traced, a restrictive covenant insurance indemnity policy would have to be taken out. In both circumstances this almost certainly would prove costly to you and would have to be resolved before the sale of your property could be completed. If you have any concerns as to your property and restrictive covenants, so affecting it, then we would be pleased to offer you an initial appointment without obligation. 27