weight restriction covenent

ferritt · 29th July 2007, 21:34

Hi hope somebody could advise me on this problem. I'm currently in the process of buying a david wilson house. I've received the contracts but have yet to sign them. The problem i have is with the 1000kg weight restriction covenent in tghe contract. I'm a carpetfitter and own a van weighing 2000kg. I've worked on many newbuild sites over the years and I've always been awhere of these restrictions. From the very first day my wife and me went into the sales office I told all the staff about my van and the size weight etc... We always got the answer of It will be ok they will not be any problem at all. Once I found out about the actual weight 1000kg I queried my van again and was told that the restriction goes on the weight not the actual size of the vehicle, so i pointed out that most cars now are over this weight. My car weighs nearly 1700kg. Again i was assured that i would be ok. I was told this by 3 seperate sales staff. So the contracts arrive and one of the covenents says that no commercial vehicle weighing more thatn 100kg is allowed so I ring again and I'm told sorry you cant park you van now and thats it! So after a call again to the sales office and speaking to the actual member of staff that said I would be allowed pointing out that If this doesnt get changed I will not be buying the house and that is that I get a call 30 mmins later saying David Wilson have now chose not to enforce this covenent. A result I thought until i ask but what about any neighbours can they still do it. My solicitor rings and confirms that they still can enforce it which in the worst case will mean we will have to move! Obviously David wilson are'nt bothered what I park on my drive once they've got they money so by david wilson not enforcing this doesnt help. So as things stand I have a unsigned contract but I'm not sure if I wont to risk it as I dont want to have to move as my wife is already stressed out by all this and more to do with the house. The van will always be parked on our drive. I work long hours so the van will only be there at night. I cant in=magine anybody complaing as it will be on my property which is droped back from the road. I spoke to DW today and told them that if the covenent wasnt removed I would not buy the house so I'll see what happens when I get a call tomorrow. My solicitor already told me that he ask DW's solicitor to remove it but they refused so I'm not sure whats going to happen. If I pull out now I'll loose around £1000 but that to me is a small price to loose compared to bying ask to move. Could we be really forced to sell up and move out? If I still go ahead with this covenent still in the contract where do i stand legally if somebody complains. Has anybody come across this before either complaining or maybe even if you own a van. Surely this descriminates against van owners from owning newbuilds as without my van I cant earn the money to pay for the house.

Any advice anybody

cheers

Mush · 30th July 2007, 05:59

We live in a david Wilson Homes with all the same convenants - including not erecting a satalite dish outside the front of the house , having TV aerials outside, the front door needs to remain the same colour. Any garden sheds etc need permission to be erected in the garden and no commercial vehicles , vans or caravans etc. We have lived on our estate for 4 years. Most houses have outdoor TV aerials, many have the satalite dishes on the front of the house, a few have repainted the doors to their choice. I have a playhouse in my garden and so do my neighbours. We have several business and self employed Large vans that park on driveways every night. DWH do not care what you do but if your neighbour does you can be taken to court or asked to move it eleswhere. We had one neighbour who did this and the van driver has to leave his van at work and he bought a small car to deive home in. Most people are considerate and so few have problems. But that is the risk you take - What you do in the long run is up to you as you will not be covered if you are taken to court and the covenents are binding!!
If you do decide to move with DWH a word of caution make sure you get a survey on your property something we didn't do and some of our neighbours didn't do. We ended up with along with some of our neighbours battling DWH to get our properties rectified and brought up to the standard they should have been built to. My advice is beware and make sure you know exactly what you are buying before you sign on the dotted line. Once they have your money forget any customer service - as there isn't any. They work on the basis that if they ignore you long enough hopefully you will go away. My advice buy another house!!!

ferritt · 30th July 2007, 22:06

Spoke to DW legal depertment today nd was told that the covenent can be removed but that decision is down to the sales team and DW solicitors. So rang the sales office again and explained that unless the covenent is removed completlty from the contract I will not buy the house. so i will now see what happens tomorrow when hopefully I'll get a call back.

willyj · 31st July 2007, 07:42

Have a look at this website
http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/kerbweights.htm
I just looked at the first car listed which is the Alfa Romeo 147. This is what I would call a medium sized hatchback. Kerbweight 1020KG.
How many Volkswagen Golf's are there on that estate? All of them break the covenent.
I don't pretend to know were that would take you but I thought it was worth a mention.:S

ferritt · 31st July 2007, 10:11

already mentioned this mate. When I was first told about the actual 1000kg limit I was on holiday so I search for a internet cafe and did some searching. Once i informed the sales staff of my findings they like me assumed that DW weights were wrong but not the case. As I said most cars are over the 1000kg limit. Van van weighs just over 2000kg and my car weighs just over 1700kg. A ford fiesta weighs just 1000kg so the weight limit is far to low.In the contract it states a limit for commercial vehicles no mention of cars. The sales staff that told me from the start that I would be ok agree that this weight is stupid but they dont make the decisions, they just the messenger. I've got it into my head now that they wont remove the covenent so we wont be purchasing the house but we shall see.

cheers

Tony · 31st July 2007, 10:32

The local paper would be interested in this 'The estate where you can't park your car'. Tell them this is what you plan to do - it will change their mind. We could probably get it in a national with a bit of effort. Mail me at tony@snagging.org if interested.

Tony

ferritt · 31st July 2007, 19:32

Well got the call today saying sorry DW cant and wont alter/change/remove this covenent to allow my to purchase the house. So as I said before I told them that I was no longer going to purchase the house. So tat was that I thought until about a hour later I get a call again saying is this the only problem and if it could be sorted would I buy the house..... I've been saying this now for the last 2 weeks and they still dont understand. So they try again this time I was told it went to a top director? Again the answer came back as no. So thats it I've walked away. I suppose I could try to claim back the fee's that I've already paid out but what the point DW wont play ball. The sales lady tried to scare me abit by saying that I may have to pay some fee's because we were doing a part ex with DW but I've look thru the t & c's and I cant find anything. If anybody know different please let me know. DW had already accepted an offer on my house so I just canceled with DW ran up estate agent explained the situation and said we would still like to sell the house to the same person and that agreed offer. as apected estate agent agrees straight away (dont wanna loose fee). So at the moment I think were about £1000 out of pocket this is as follows:

£250 survey for our own house (non-refundable)
£355 Morgage survey on DW property (paid to halifax)
£105 local area search
£250 reservation fee (£125 refundable as stated in t & c's)

Told solicitor whats happening and they are now acting for us to just sell our home. Unsure if solicitor will charge more as all work done for DW house is wasted?

Now my argument is that I was mislead into getting this far in the house purchase because I was told by three seperate sales staff that My van would be fine to park on my property. I even took the van down to show one of them. I never thought of going to the local paper as in the contract and I quate:

'Not to park an commercial vehicle (other that light van not exceeding 1000kg) on the property or on any part of the estate (including any unadopted roads)'

See if it just stated vehicle a think I could fight it but as it's written i'm unsure. I still have to write to DW to confirm that I'm pulling out. I will add in the letter the names of the staff that told me that it would be ok and point out my argument but I'm not expecting anything.

So my only hope now is that DW dont try to sting me for some unknown fee. I've look thru all my t & c's and cant find anything other than the 50% refund of my reservation fee.

We shall see. I'll keep you informed.

cheers

CoolBeanz · 29th September 2009, 22:49

As I'm looking through some older threads, with my current purchase no covenants could be changed. This is because they have to apply to all houses in the development, and they could only be changed before the first home exchanged.

I was a bit miffed when I first read them, but after a good think I thought they were ok as it would prevent my neighbour parking a massive van next door.

gary · 10th October 2009, 19:44

David Wilson Homes will say anything to get a sale , ive been in my house almost 2yrs and we are still trying to get serious defects put right.
I work in the bulding industry so i have a good knowledge of the way a builder should respond to defects, but i have never come across a builder with such an uncaring attitude as david wilson homes.
My advice is NEVER buy a house from David Wilson Homes.