contest house deeds?

[fencecat]

Hello, just wondering if it's possible to contest house deeds written in 1876?

[buildersmate]

Yes it probably is, but you are going to have to tell us more about the context.
Is it related to your desire to put a gate in the back of your garden, leading into the lane at the back?
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Civil/Quest ion788833.html

[fencecat]

Hi builder mate, yes i found a paragraph in the deeds dated 1867, that the wall must never have a hole put in it!- i would like to be able to get out of the back garden in case of fire for one thing and as i mentioned before bring bicycles in through a gate. just wondered what you reckon?!
cheers

[buildersmate]

I see. Not easy.
What you have there is a restrictive convenant - a private agreement between landowners - in your case, almostly certainly between the person who owned all the land in 1876 and the person who bought your plot in 1876. In many cases, such restrictive convenants are obsolete or unenforceable but one always runs the risk that the current landowner turns up and objects if you just ignore it.
The proper way to deal with it is by making an application to the Lands Tribunal to have the convenant removed. This costs money for the LT hearing and (in most layman cases - because they can't DIY), the cost of a solicitor to do it.
I think you are stuck with it, for the efforst involved merely to gain access at the back.
This convenant probably gives a clue asto who owns (or owned the land at the back).

[Buenchico]

Some covenants are widely ignored. For example, I live on a 1970s housing estate where every house has a covenant prohibiting the erection of external TV aerials. But we live in a very poor TV reception area, without any cable services, so every single house a large TV aerial on it!

So you might simply be able to ignore the covenant but, as Buildersmate points out, there's always the risk of later problems if you do so.

A convenant always has to be to someone. It's a legal promise to abide by certain restrictions, which is binding upon successive owners of the property. The person to whom that promise is made (or his heirs and successors) can lift that obligation at any time. It might be worth a bit of research, at your local Record Office, to try to find out who is now entitled to lift your obligation to abide by the covenant.

Chris