Covenants and building lines.

[wowzy2001]

There are covenants attached to the deeds in place on our estate that say that nobody can store a caravan, boat etc. on their property unless they are behind the building line. Our new neighbours have purchased a caravan and now it has been on their drive for three weeks. i had already said that it was against covenants attached to the deeds and she ensured me it wouldn't stay there and it has. The trouble is she said that the building line is the pin curbs at the end of the drive and I think it is the furthest forward part of a house on the row. who is right? Also who will enforce the removal? The Council? My house is up for sale and this caravan may impeed a sale. Please advise me.

[gardener2]

Can't advise but your question may get a better response if posted in the Law section.

[buildersmate]

The building line is where the houses start, back from the highway. Is it really described this way in the restrictions within the property title?
The convenant can only be enforced by the convenant holder.

[wowzy2001]

Thank you Buildersmate. The problem being that the builder that now holds the covenant is a company after the buyout of the original builders and I guess they won't be interested as they have no interest in land here now.

[ethandron]

i think you'll find these sorts of things are difficult to enforce, as so many people these days have caravans which they keep at home. council's are reluctant to get involved as they would end up having to pursue too many people, costing them a lot of money.
if you have a friendly word with your neighbour and explain about selling your house, etc., and bring up again about them saying it's not staying on the drive(there may be genuine reasons why it's still there) i'm sure you can sort it out. people are usually very reasonable if you keep things friendly and don't start threatening legal action. ask them in for a cuppa and bring it up then.

[wowzy2001]

Thanks ethandron, although I have already tried to be tactful and ask nicely and she assurred me that firstly it wouldn't be staying there for more than a night to load.Then when it reappeared two weeks later I was told it would be there for two weeks for a repair to the pump.This has now been three weeks and she told me it would be several weeks more and her husband isn't working on it at weekend to fix further problems that it is suppose to have.So sorry if I have lost faith but I have.

[domini]

Sorry to hear about your problem. We have same situation here. Unfortunately the caravan in our neighbours car space looks like a wreck and is an eyesore. Nobody is interested in enforcing covenants these days. As quite often the people who originally wrote them don't care about enforcing them.

[wowzy2001]

Thanks Domini, This is just as I thought. It's so sad that most people in this world are totally unaware of the upset they cause through their selfishness. The saddest fact of all is that I have just been through a boundary dispute with my rear boundary which took 3 years and a court case to solve. This caused much distress and cost and now it seems the new neighbours with the van to my side think they can do what they want as then it will look like me that's unreasonable. We helped them and befriended these people when they moved in to have it thrown back in our faces. The sad fact is I will never trust or befriend neighbours again, if I ever sell! Have you tried the council?