• Buying A 999 Lease

    By Guest on 28th Oct 2019

    We are trying to buy the freehold of a property that has an ancillary garage not attached to the property or within the land owned by the property (its about 50-meters along the road). It was a 999 year lease. There is a covenant on the garage saying that it can’t be knocked down and must be maintained. We understood that the offer included removing the covenant. But we are not too sure now. This was the offer ''Please note that, where available, a copy of the existing lease will be appended to the freehold transfer document and for clarity the Landlord will not seek compensation in respect of any of the said covenants. Only reasonable legal fees in respect of requests from the homeowner would be incurred. Imposing these covenants on the disposal of the freehold to each property on the estate will help to preserve the value of each of the properties on the estate''.
    Please can you advise us what the position would be regarding the covenant?

  • 2 Answers

    By Guest on 29/10/2019

    A covenant is still binding regardless of age. You may wish to ask the landlord for a Deed Of Variation to the lease to remove the covenant (or ask the beneficiary for a Deed Of Release if trying to remove a covenant from the freehold title - I am not clear from what you set out above which you wish to do). Alternatively you could just breach the covenant if you think it will not be discovered and take out indemnity insurance (at your risk of having to put it right if discovered). If you cannot locate the beneficiary of the covenant an application to the Lands Tribunal is a possibility.

    www.notaryexpress.co.uk

  • By Guest on 29/10/2019

    Thanks for your answer.
    We may want to knock down the garage as the land leads to a a plot of land that we own and may want to build a house on in the future. My question is does the offer remove the covenant which says we cannot demolish the garage. This is the relevant clause in the offer:
    ''Please note that, where available, a copy of the existing lease will be appended to the freehold transfer document and for clarity the Landlord will not seek compensation in respect of any of the said covenants. Only reasonable legal fees in respect of requests from the homeowner would be incurred. Imposing these covenants on the disposal of the freehold to each property on the estate will help to preserve the value of each of the properties on the estate''
    Thanks for your help.

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