Caravan on a driveway

I'm no lawyer but if you were not appraised of the  restrictive covenant, which seems unlikely since you inherited it, you are in a position to plead ignorance in your dealings with the neighbour. Before approaching him, it may be worth ascertaining the current position relating to it. If it is effectively unenforceable( I thought only the person establishing the covenant could enforce it), a conciliatory note can be taken but pointing out that the neighbour cannot do anything and its position does not restrict his right to light and air.

Are you able to install some screening trellis to reduce the visual impact and thus pacify him?

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Much depends on whether the covenant has been challenged in the last twenty years or so and whether your neighbours doing the same asked for permission without objection etc. As said you need to check with your solicitor, also did the solicitor suggest insurance to indemnify you?

Why don't you knock on neighbours who have caravans already on the drive and ask if they have had any problems.

From my experience I can go along with what Jill says. Something almost the same happened to us in 1995.

Our deeds where set by the original builder/landowner and stipulated no Pigeons, Pigs or Poultry could be kept on the land. New neighbour moved in and immediately set about building a pigeon cree where he kept three dozen pigeons. Majority of neighbours where up in arms and took legal advice. The outcome was that the house, built in 1960 would have had the deeds set as stated but they would almost certainly have expired with the death of the builder. To this day most neighbours have nothing to do with this man but being so in love with his pigeons he isn't bothered because he knows he won an unfortunately we just had to accept it.

As others have advised I would suggest you just ignore this man. Perhaps the position of authority he had as a policeman hasn't left him.

The covenant will have been written into the Deeds when the house was built by the developer and is, in reality, to protect the appearance of the development whilst they are selling the new build houses in the latter stages.

We have just moved into a three year old house and the developer will be on site for another 2-3 years yet and we also have the same restrictive covenant which is written so that I may not “park” (whatever that means) a caravan and many other types of vehicles and boats on the property.

I contacted the developer's head office to seek a definition of the word “park” as I need to keep the ‘van overnight for cleaning/packing a few times each summer. The response from a company official was to the effect that they can’t (and can’t be bothered to) enforce the covenant in any case and no-one else can either.

Keep the ‘van where it is and let him waste his time trying to do something about it – he can’t especially if the developer is not there to worry about it.

 As others have already said, the covenant is probably with the builder and doubtful that he cares now, if even around. Is chummy worried that too many caravans on drives might devalue his property, would seem there is nothing else that could bother him from the description.We once had a neighbour who complained like this, we just smiled and said that's where it is staying. Sadly they thought they owned the road and were always complaining about someone but we never heard anymore about it. Fortunately they have now moved, most were glad to see them go.Your parents can refer complainer back to you as your property and caravan, keeping complainer off their back. Personally I would explain that builder probably doesn't care enough to pay out for solicitors and not up to complainer  to enforce. 

You need to be careful about the assumption that the covenant can only be enforced by the builder who may not be around / care about enforcement. If the covenant was made between the builder and only the first purchaser, then that will be the case.  However, in most cases, the covenant is passed on from one purchaser to the next and therefore stays with the property.  It gives the right of enforcement to any owner on that estate to object about any caravan etc on that development, regardless of whether or not he/she can actually see it!

By way of example, here is an extract from the Transfer Document, relating to our property (emphasis mine):

"AND the Transferee (buyer) for himself and his successors so as to bind the property and to benefit the Estate hereby covenants with the Transferor (builder)  and its successors and separately with the Regional Company and its successors and separately with every other person who is now the owner on any part of the Estate

(i) to observe and perform the restrictive stipulations in the first part of the Schedule hereto" (The Restrictive covenants covering such things as no caravans, motorhomes, boats etc)

Whether or not your person knows this / can be bothered / is willing to go to the expense of seeking legal advice is another matter - as is the fact that if it did end up in court, there is no guarantee that the court will impose an enforcement notice -  are risks that the 'complainer' would have to assess..

Although I have a legal (criminal law) background, I don't profess to be a property expert - but I have researched this in detail because I am, potentially, in the same situation as the OP.  In my case, I'm just keeping my head down - as are the seven or eight other caravanners in my immediate vicinity. For the last six years, I have got away with it!

I would check out the deeds to see if I was in the right. If not I would await a solicitor's letter and carry on as normal.

I think complaining is one thing but getting down to actually shelling out money & getting embroiled in a stressful & costly situation just to get your way is something completely different. I’ve had a solicitors letter re parking ‘near someone’s driveway with the potential to obstruct entrance & exit’. The ‘near’ was around 4’ from the 1st gate post. We had words, I pointed out I was not an obstruction. A letter came, I ignored it, a police officer called I showed him where I was parked, he apologised for bothering me. I still park there when I need to. That was 7yrs ago. Others got the same letter too. Some folk are very controlling🤷🏻‍♂️