WWYD in our situation?

[SO1]

Could you afford the land without having your friends as paying liveries? If so perhaps you could come to an agreement that the yard will not be used for commercial purposes and only for your own horses. Perhaps say to her that that not having a school or hard standing would not prevent someone else buying it and using a livery yard as not everyone requires an arena.

 

[jrp204]

So, she sold the land and still wants control! Marvellous. She has obviously given permission for the stables, if you wanted to take on liveries you could and they could park on the lane? Not ideal but maybe a bit of a bargaining tool? An arena and hard standing is not developing the site.
It is shocking the solicitors haven't picked up on this, I would get a specialist land agent involved.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I very much doubt that you will have any problems with keeping horses on the land. It's a very horsey area, with loads of small pockets of land BUT you will probably have more trouble with pp for an arena. However, you might need a 'restricted grazing area- for your overweight/laminitic horses, as one of our local councillors does.

I have heard of other locals being given pp for stables etc but only on condition that they do not have liveries and one local livery yard was given permission for an arena, only for the use of the liveries, not for hire to anyone else.

 

[alainax]

Before buying anything I would want it clearly drawn up by a solicitor the exact limitations and time span. None of this asking her and seeing what she says, you need something strong to rely on. Can you get the exact wording from the seller?

 

[NellRosk]

Hi I've come to update!! So a lot happened at the weeked... it transpires that my YO knows the son of the woman who holds the covenant. He was speaking to her (not knowing that she knew us and we were buying the land) and said he sold it for £40k 20 years ago and is planning on buying it back for £80k so will make it extremely difficult for anyone that wants it. (We were buying it for £165k!!!!). We had the meeting, the woman was lovely to be fair and I think we could have worked with her but he was rude and aggressive. We couldn't have worked with him and also the water stopcock and electricity was on his driveway so we didn't want to be in a situation where we got cut off every time we did something that wasn't to his liking. Also the land is massively overpriced now this covenant is apparent so we'd be paying well over the odds for it. We'd have to put in about 15k worth of fencing and 25k worth of arena and if we ever had to sell up there is just no way we'd make it all back. I also think it would be very difficult to sell. So I rang the estate agent and solicitor yesterday and said we'd be backing out. I also informed the solicitor that we wouldn't be paying the fees as they did not make it clear when we put our offer in about this covenant and we wouldn't have proceeded if we'd known. So we'll see what happens with that! Got a viewing booked at 11am on Saturday for another plot so all we can do is start looking again. And thanks for everyone's advice last week, it was much appreciated

 

[Goldenstar]

Best thing to do.
Good luck with the next one .

 

[NellRosk]

Best thing to do.
Good luck with the next one .

Thank you . I was a bit upset over the weekend but now I'm of the mindset that it wasn't meant to be. We'll find something else!

 

[Slightly Foxed]

You've done the right thing with this one, £15k an acre plus paying out for fencing and a school is a helluva lot of money even without the covenant.

Best of luck with your search.

 

[Annagain]

It sounds like you've made the right choice. I hope the son isn't bullying his mother. He sounds horrible.

 

[NellRosk]

You've done the right thing with this one, £15k an acre plus paying out for fencing and a school is a helluva lot of money even without the covenant.

Best of luck with your search.

Exactly, it just wasn't right and the fact that we could only sell it for a fraction of the price we paid is a complete no-go!

It sounds like you've made the right choice. I hope the son isn't bullying his mother. He sounds horrible.

Definitely, I feel happy and at peace with the choice we've made. It sounds like he might be, she was lovely and he was just awful. Could tell straight away with his body language that he wasn't going to be easy... hostile expression, arms folded and legs stood apart!

 

[Asha]

Absolutely the right thing to do. Good luck with your search

 

[cowgirl16]

Sounds like a lucky escape! Pity the poor people that might end up with this land - though by the sounds of it, the son has no intention of allowing anyone else to have it! Wonder what he intends to do with it?!

 

[NellRosk]

Absolutely the right thing to do. Good luck with your search

Thank you very much

Sounds like a lucky escape! Pity the poor people that might end up with this land - though by the sounds of it, the son has no intention of allowing anyone else to have it! Wonder what he intends to do with it?!

I know, it's a small town and if anyone I know is interested in it when they readvertise then I will tell them about the covenant. Our solicitors and EA tried to keep it from us and said it would be 'no issue' when we pressed for details about it. I'd hate to think that someone would sink so much money into it when it's not worth it. His daugher has got into horses so he wants to buy it back so she can keep them there!

 

[FemelleReynard]

Never mind not paying the Solicitors fees, I'd be complaining to the Estate Agent as well about their negligence in not finding out about the covenant before bringing the property to the market. Surely one of the first things they should have done is establish all this and declare it in the particulars.

This is the problem with unregulated, untrained Estate Agents doing a highly qualified Land Agent's job. I am always VERY wary if I see land for sale with an Estate Agent and not a proper Land Agent because they just don't have the skills and training to pick up on little, but fundamental, issues like these.

Well done for walking away, I'm sure it's saved you a lot of time, money and stress!

 

[NellRosk]

Never mind not paying the Solicitors fees, I'd be complaining to the Estate Agent as well about their negligence in not finding out about the covenant before bringing the property to the market. Surely one of the first things they should have done is establish all this and declare it in the particulars.

This is the problem with unregulated, untrained Estate Agents doing a highly qualified Land Agent's job. I am always VERY wary if I see land for sale with an Estate Agent and not a proper Land Agent because they just don't have the skills and training to pick up on little, but fundamental, issues like these.

Well done for walking away, I'm sure it's saved you a lot of time, money and stress!

Yes there is that! I'm worried about falling out with them though in case more land comes up for sale through them and we miss out on it because the EA hates us! I'll also register with local land agents and get my name on the mailing list for more coming up. We're now also thinking about selling our houses and buying a house with land that could be split into two houses or have a granny flat etc. So in the long run it could actually work out better if we end up with them at home which is all I've ever wanted!

 

[Velcrobum]

Be interesting if he bullies his mother into selling at a lower price. A very lucky escape by the OP especially finding out utilities potentially could be cut off by the son.

 

[FemelleReynard]

UK Land and Farms website is a good place to look. Also try looking for RICS regulated firms, as they have more hoops to jump through in terms of due diligence enquiries, ethics, legal checks etc. Good luck.

 

[PorkChop]

Wise move, it wasn't meant to be, hope the next viewing is a bit more like it