Upper Tribunal Decision on Modifying a Use Restriction in a Commercial Lease

Almost all commercial leases are subject to covenants restricting the use to which the premises can be put. However, as an Upper Tribunal (UT) ruling made plain, tenants who are prejudiced by such restrictions can take effective steps to have them modified.

Restrictive Covenant Upheld to Prevent Neighbour’s Development

The case concerned a residential close, built in the 1980s, consisting of four homes. They were positioned closely together with a green space between them and an access road. A couple who owned one of the homes obtained planning permission to reposition their driveway and attach a new double garage to their property, which would encroach into the green space.

Property Owners – Watch Out for Restrictive Covenants!

Restrictive covenants that can place serious constraints on property owners' use of their land lurk in many old title deeds and it often needs a professional eye to detect them. In one case, however, a woman succeeded in modifying one such covenant which stood in the way of her residential development plans.

The woman, who lived on a housing estate, had obtained planning consent to build two new homes on a plot of vacant land that adjoined the garden of her home.

Couple’s Wall-Building Plans Scotched by Restrictive Covenant

The idea that an Englishman’s home is his castle implies almost limitless freedom to do with your property as you wish. However, the reality is that restrictions often lurk in title deeds and, without legal advice, there is a real risk that you may not realise that they are there.

One case that illustrated the point concerned a private housing estate which was subject to a restrictive covenant, dating back to 1967, which forbade residents from erecting walls or fences, except as replacements for pre-existing structures.

University Boathouse Plans Stymied by Victorian Restrictive Covenant

Many cherished patches of green in urban areas are protected from development by restrictive covenants that date back many years. Their antiquity, however, does not make them any less enforceable, as a university discovered when its plans to develop a state-of-the-art new boathouse were stymied.

The case concerned a plot of riverside land on which the university had planning consent to build the two-storey boathouse.

Restrictive Covenant Prevents Housing Development

Many housing estates are subject to restrictive covenants for the benefit of present and future residents and they can act as a control mechanism on development that is just as effective as the planning system. In one case that illustrated the point, a planning consent granted for the demolition of a house and its replacement by four new dwellings was deeply undermined.

The case concerned an estate of 36 housing plots that had been developed en bloc in the 1970s.

Restrictive Covenant Modification Enables Home Development

Restrictive covenants often date back many years and a delicate balance sometimes has to be struck between their enforcement and the public interest in efficient use of the increasingly scarce supply of suitable land.

In a recent case, the Upper Tribunal (UT) had to balance the public interest against the rights of the beneficiaries of a covenant when considering whether the covenant should be modified to enable the development of a new home.

Restrictive covenant prevents development of bungalow

Planning permission is usually all that you need to turn your development plans into reality – but not always. In one case, a restrictive covenant enshrined in title deeds before the Second World War was enough to defeat proposals for a new bungalow.

Superyacht Builders Successfully Challenge Dockyard Restrictive Covenant

Covenants that restrict the use of land are commonly encountered in a domestic context – to maintain scenic views, rights of way and the like – but can also be used to protect business interests. In one case, a tribunal analysed a covenant that banned boat building in part of a dockyard.

The dockyard was subject to an array of leasehold and freehold interests and was shared by a company that specialised in building and repairing superyachts and other pleasure craft, and various shipbuilders whose stock-in-trade was the construction of commercial and military vessels.

Restrictive Covenant Modified to Allow Luxury Flat Development

Restrictions on the use of land often lurk in dusty old title deeds but, with the right legal advice, they can be modified to enable developments more in keeping with the modern world. Exactly that happened in one case in which the Upper Tribunal (UT) opened the way for a mansion to be demolished and replaced by a block of six luxury flats.