Storage of our Caravan

It is something that was probably put in by the "builders" but is very rarely enforcable 

It would appear that your deeds prohibit storing your caravan on your garden. However what are the neighbours going to do about it? Who are they going to complain to? Who is going to enforce any action if they do complain?

The ball would appear to be in their court so it might be worth just sitting it out and seeing what happens.

I'm no lawyer, I'm too honest, but it seems to be a clause to stop you actually sleeping in the vehicle alongside your house not to actually own and keep a vehicle and park it there.

Barrackroom Lawyers - your opinion?

A caravan is intended as a sleeping space and therefore contravenes the covenant, even if it's only 'placed' there and you don't actually sleep in it when it's parked in the garden.

We have the same covenant on our house - but we chose to stay friends with our neighbours and store our caravan elsewhere.  At the end of the day we prefer to live happily here with no cause for dispute.

The covenants are usually in favour of the developer to protect them when developing a site. If as is usual the covenant is in favour of the developer legally he is the only party who can enforce it. If he has left the site he is not going to be interested. You do need to check the wording however to see who it is in favour of.

We have the same covenant on our house but before we purchased our first unit we checked with our council who informed us that we could place what we liked in our garden as long as it  was not used as a DWELLING we also spoke to all our neighbours before purchase and none raised any objections.

If you trawl through the discussions Nossys you will see this has been discussed before and might be helpful to you. As others have already said it depends how old the covenant is and if the builder is still around. Otherwise I wouldnt worry about it too much. Our 30 year old covenant says that no one shall leave any vehicle on the drive overnight, that includes a car!! They are all supposed to be put away in the garage. We once had one that said all the front doors had to remain painted blue, that lasted all of twelve months! Our neighbour once said they weren't happy with our caravan on our drive. We suggested they could pursue this further as we weren't about to move it, they chose not to pursue it and we still remain friends. It is your house and your drive and I expect that you pay a lot for it. Unless the van is an eyesore (which I am sure it isn't) or is really a nuisance to your neighbour then I would invite them to take the matter further, I doubt they will get far.

If you trawl through the discussions Nossys you will see this has been discussed before and might be helpful to you. As others have already said it depends how old the covenant is and if the builder is still around. Otherwise I wouldnt worry about it too much. Our 30 year old covenant says that no one shall leave any vehicle on the drive overnight, that includes a car!! They are all supposed to be put away in the garage. We once had one that said all the front doors had to remain painted blue, that lasted all of twelve months! Our neighbour once said they weren't happy with our caravan on our drive. We suggested they could pursue this further as we weren't about to move it, they chose not to pursue it and we still remain friends. It is your house and your drive and I expect that you pay a lot for it. Unless the van is an eyesore (which I am sure it isn't) or is really a nuisance to your neighbour then I would invite them to take the matter further, I doubt they will get far.

It might get them to go to their solicitor who will almost certainly tell them not to waste their time but first I would check the wording for myself.

We have a similar covenant.  Ours has another clause about no hedges. We keep our caravan on storage but are seriously thinking about bringing her home as a lot of houses have hedges and we have been told the covenant is now unenforcable. 

If anyone wants to get the covenant enforced they have to persuade the original builder to enforce it. If it is to be enforced all aspects have to be addressed - so anyone who has a garden shed is also in trouble! Plus the person asking for it to be enforced has to be sure they are whiter than white.

Unenforceable if you own the land....questionable if you are a tenant or pay ground rent for the land on which the Caravan is parked.

Tj