Who keeps their MH on their drive? (1 Viewer)

[Jabberwocky]

simple question, do you keep your MH on your drive?

Currently we don't as their isn't room but we are house hunting and have found a place we like but there's a covenant on it saying you can't park caravans, boats and MH on your drive, which is a bit East Germany but it is a very nice house.

Just wondered who out there has similar restrictions but ignores them? We plan to park it anyway and see if anyone complains.

There is another one that says you have to keep your front lawn to max of 1 inch in length which is hilarious, and specifys rotary washing lines only which is just daft.

Interestingly there is one that says your front lawn must stay as lawn, but the house opposite has completely paved their front garden for parking, wonder if they got consent or just did it?

 

[gus-lopez]

Consent from who ? I asked this question years ago & was told the developers put them in to protect themselves against you having the washing on the front lawn & chickens walking about but once they are done it would be down to other owners to put in the complaint. On the other hand in places like Milton Keynes they are by-laws preventing it.

 

[DanielFord]

We keep ours on my mothers drive!

The deed of covenant thing has been discussed many times. I believe they are largely introduced when the house was built, to make an estate look good to sell all of the homes. I very much doubt that a covenant restricting grass growth would be enforced!

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[sdc77]

We keep our on the drive. It's always plugged in, secure and handy as an extended bedroom when we have visitors. No covenants but if I park it face out I get a parking ticket. ...

 

[ronidog1]

mine is on the drive that I had made for it. I view the same as the neighbours 2 cars being parked on the drive. Covenants are only followed at the time of sales by solicitors to make money

 

[Enword]

On the drive

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[treetops1]

I suppose it depends how much grief the neighbors are prepared to give you lol

 

[scotjimland]

on drive..

 

[Jabberwocky]

Covenants can be enforced by anyone who has the benefit of it, the developers pass this benefit on to the residents after a period of time

Consent from who ? I asked this question years ago & was told the developers put them in to protect themselves against you having the washing on the front lawn & chickens walking about but once they are done it would be down to other owners to put in the complaint. On the other hand in places like Milton Keynes they are by-laws preventing it.

Consent from the other residents who now have the benefit from the covenant and could enforce it.

we plan to park it on the drive an see if anyone nibbles, there's bound to be 1 busy body who has a moan, whether they are prepared to go to court of it is another matter

mine is on the drive that I had made for it. I view the same as the neighbours 2 cars being parked on the drive. Covenants are only followed at the time of sales by solicitors to make money

Not entirely sure where solicitors come into things, it's the developers who put them on houses.

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[DBK]

You can probably ignore the covenant as it it was probably set by the builders, assuming this is on some sort of estate. It would have been written to keep the place tidy while they were still selling the new houses. They won't be interested in pursuing it now.

However, it isn't a good idea to fall out with your neighbours so you need to either ask them or put yourself in their position, is your MH going to block anyone's view or dominate the street?

 

[ronidog1]

mind you mine complained when I parked in the road. So now they dare not say anything..

 

[ronidog1]

Covenants can be enforced by anyone who has the benefit of it, the developers pass this benefit on to the residents after a period of time



Consent from the other residents who now have the benefit from the covenant and could enforce it.

we plan to park it on the drive an see if anyone nibbles, there's bound to be 1 busy body who has a moan, whether they are prepared to go to court of it is another matter



Not entirely sure where solicitors come into things, it's the developers who put them on houses.

Covenants should always be notified to the purchaser by those doing the conveyancing for them just in case it is an issue for them

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[Larrynwin]

Yes , ours is on our drive with dedicated hook up, sewage dump and water.

 

[f6c]

No Drive Park 9 miles away

 

[lorger]

we had them at one of our old houses and also had no vans with signs on eg work vans, so when some one who worked for the local wood yard made a sarcastic comment i just reminded him about his van. You would be surprised what they put in these things.

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[Rob and Val]

We keep our on the drive. It's always plugged in, secure and handy as an extended bedroom when we have visitors. No covenants but if I park it face out I get a parking ticket. ...

Surely it's more dangerous to back out of a driveway with a motorhome than it is to drive out?

 

[angusboy]

Dont park on drive aint got one

 

[Badknee]

Hmmmmm, well, when I bought this house forty odd years ago it had a two foot high single board 'fence' round it. It was said you were allowed to put a six foot fence round the back but not the front/side in my case.
Not a problem, I planted a Hawthorne and Laurel hedge with a touch of Pyracantha thrown in for good measure, not a fence you see. So we now have an eight foot perimeter hedge round the side and a three foot one out front.
We doubled the width of the drive to put a caravan there but it wasn't long enough for the MoHo so in 2014 we chopped a hole into the hedge and put double gates in. Job done, it's out of sight and behind double locked six foot gates.

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[Minxy]

At home on our drive.

When we bought our 'rental' bungalow in Scunthorpe we found there was a covenant restricting the siting of caravans, vans, MHs etc to "behind the property line" ... fine for those with a side drives but our bungalow's drive is at the front of the property as it's in the corner of a cul-de-sac! We originally bought it with a view to letting it out short term as we intended to live there in the not too distant future so we paid for the builder to put up a 6ft high fence along the front edge of the garden which legally 'moved' the "property line" out from the physical front wall of the bungalow itself to the front edge of the garden and therefore we would be permitted to park our MH on it - this had to be done before completion and via the builder as doing it ourselves/later wouldn't 'move' the property line!

As things changes we didn't 'need' to move there (and are unlikely to do so now) so continue to rent it out but it does give some privacy to our bungalow and the property opposite, and means that in the future when we sell it there'll be no problem if someone wants to keep a motorhome/caravan on it.

This is the rental bungalow on the left with the fence opposite:

 

[The Cruisers]

On the drive.

 

[parknride]

Ours has a covenant had it from new. The van fits snug up side of garage inch to spare. We thought we would try see if anyone complained, they didn't so it stays. It's not blocking anyone's view right between two houses on a useless patch of garden anyway. I did it because the covenant also disallows work vehicles to be parked and there are 2 who were already doing it. Live and let live.

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[CWH]

we paid for the builder to put up a 6ft high fence along the front edge of the garden which legally 'moved' the "property line" out from the physical front wall of the bungalow itself to the front edge of the garden and therefore we would be permitted to park our MH on it - this had to be done before completion and via the builder as doing it ourselves/later wouldn't 'move' the property line!

How does this work then @MinxyGirl ? Is it universal or just a local planning thing?

 

[Beacons]

We live on a farm .so its parked on the
yard by house.
With eu and water handy.

 

[Spud]

Been here 25 years + (freehold). Parked various vans, trailers, Sons caravans and even artic tractor units on my drive. On at least nodding terms with all the others living in the close, never had a problem.
Then a couple of years ago new neighbour moves in and letter arrives from management co. soon after pointing out the covenant restrictions on the parking of caravans. Bit peeved that no informal contact had been made, but as it had been sold to the sister-in-law we weren't overly bothered. By the time the second letter arrived it had gone.
July this year took delivery of our MH, parked on drive and gave majority of admiring neighbours guided tours. Early December letter from management co. stating it had been brought to their attention that a caravan was on my drive and that parking of caravans is not allowed.
Once again not overly bothered as it has always been planed to move it after Christmas to my business premises under cover for the winter.
Not entirely sure what prompts people to take such actions but whatever floats your boat I suppose!
May well offer to dry store my mates 35 foot motor yacht (on stilts) until he completes his overseas contract, I don't think that's a covenant restriction.
NB.
Legal definition of MH is same as a caravan at present I believe (or at least until someone tests it in court)!?

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[APACHE 1988]

on the "front"

just!!

 

[Minxy]

How does this work then @MinxyGirl ? Is it universal or just a local planning thing?

Don't know ... just that when we were told about the covenant we said if we couldn't park a MH/caravan there we'd have to look to buy a different property - this was what they and their solicitor came up with and our solicitor also agreed it should be sufficient!

 

[Kool Kroozer]

We keep ours on the drive, dont know if there is any rules about an dont really care, people in our streethave caravans on their drives so its not something i would be worried about even if there was rules against it, i know there is a rule that all the houses in our street must not erect fenceing or hedges between nieghbouring properties or to the fron of the property - we have both and people often comment how nice the railings look.. stupid bloody rules.

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[sedge]

Well some people who 'own' the covenant (the benefit thereof) do aggressively follow up any breaches of it.

Eg the Bournville Estate - huge estate, built by Cadbury's to house their staff. Obviously over the years anyone and everyone has bought and sold the houses so the community is very assorted now - but it is still a lovely area, nice wide roads, trees along the edges of pavements etc. Although there are a couple of 'corner shops' - no sale of alcohol is allowed anywhere - so no pubs or off sales either. The Cadbury's were Quakers, they did not condone ANY drinking of alcohol and that was that. The estate office ensured that was upheld rigorously.

I have no idea whether the covenant is enforced, did the Trust also sell out to Kraft? Maybe not!

 

[sedge]

Oh - and don't breach any covenants owned by the C of E. You haven't seen 'aggressive' if you haven't seen the lengths they go to, to uphold them! An uninsurable risk that one!

 

[Neckender]

I keep mine on the drive.
Our son has just bought an 18 year old detached property in the Staffordshire moorlands which as covenants no caravans etc. He has moved there with his 2003 motorhome and parked it at the side of his property on the grass. He as put in for planning permission for the pavement be lowered at the side of his property, to move his boundary wall and to put up double gates. Opposite a policeman lives and he has put in a complaint against the proposed planning but it has been rejected and our son has had the permission to go ahead.

John.

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