Enforcement of restrictive covenant makes national headlines
Edward Peters acted for local residents who, through proceedings in the High Court and the Lands Tribunal, successfully forced Taylor Wimpey to demolish 17 homes and garages which they had started building in breach of a 1936 restrictive covenant.
Wimpey had proceeded with the construction of the 17 dwellings in the face of letters before action from the residents. The residents issued proceedings in the Chancery Division for an injunction for the enforcement of the covenant, following which Taylor Wimpey applied to the Lands Tribunal for a modification of the covenant to allow the homes to remain under s. 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Following a three-day hearing, the Tribunal held that Taylor Wimpey had failed to make out any of the grounds for modification under s. 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
Moreover the Tribunal broke new ground in accepting the residents’ submission that it would in any event have been inappropriate for the Tribunal to exercise its discretion to modify the covenant in the tenants’ favour, given, in the Tribunal’s words, Taylor Wimpey’s “deliberate strategy of forcing through the development on the restricted land in the face of many objections from those entitled to the benefit of the restriction, to the point where they had so changed the appearance and character of the application land that the Tribunal would be persuaded to allow them to continue with the development. It is appropriate for the Tribunal to make it clear that it is not inclined to reward parties who deliberately flout their legal obligations in this way.”
Taylor Wimpey’s demolition of the homes following the successful conclusion to the residents’ fight made national headlines, including in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the BBC.
George Wimpey Bristol Ltd v Gloucestershire Housing Association Ltd [2011] UKUT 91 (LC) (14 March 2011).
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-16309548
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