covenant on land

[roizee09]

Hi all
a few years ago a lady in our village who has since passed away,, owned a piece of land who put a covenant on it for villagers and children of the village to enjoy for ever, my question is can the parish council get this covenant overturned and sell the land.
Thanks to all in advance

[notnutnut]

Why on earth would you want to do that ? If the good lady wanted to bring some joy to the village on an ongoing basis what possible reason could you have to want to spoil it ? (unless I've go the wrong end of the stick)

[factor-fiction]

It may be that roizee wants to make sure it isn't sold- maybe she doesn't trust the council

[chrissa1]

I think you have got the wrong end of the stick nnn. least I hope you have.

[Baldric]

Unless the OPer is the Parish Council I think you're missing somrthing

[notnutnut]

OK,'it's beginning to look a lot like' (I've got the wrong end of the stick) but my heart was in the right place surely ? PS Never trust anyone in politics !

[FredPuli43]

Are we to understand that this lady gave the land to the parish? And when the land was conveyed, the deed of conveyance included an express term stating that the land was to be held in perpetuity for the benefit of villagers and their children? So the beneficiaries are both identifiable and existing? What are the precise terms of this covenant?

This seems, in effect, to be a trust set up, with the Parish, in the form of the Parish Council for the time being, as the trustees and the beneficiaries the persons identified in the deed. On that basis, any beneficiary has the right to stop the Parish from breaching the terms of the trust created. So long as there is a beneficiary extant , that deed remains valid. Only if there were no villagers would it fail.

It would be a very curious consequence if the Parish could either sell the land without that covenant passing with the land, as covenants generally do, and binding the new owner or decide to change the nature of the land held by revoking the term. Bear in mind that Parish councils commonly have land in the parish declared 'amenity land', whoever owns it, a declaration which results in the land being kept as it is and not developed, because it is regarded as of benefit to the parish. With that principle established, it would be odd if a parish could deliberately remove land from the benefit to the parish when it had been established for that very purpose.

But wait to see what Barmaid and the rest of the lawyers on this site think. That's my take on it. There is perhaps a charitable side to this deed, but I don't see that that is relevant.

[dzug2]

I suspect they could - with difficulty - sell the land, but would have to go to court to do it and show the covenant/bequest was no longe relevant..

One sop they could offer is to provide a similarly sized piece of land elsewhere in the village

[Barmaid]

Is it just a covenant or is it held in trust - particularly a charitable trust?

[buildersmate]

I've seen a situation where a charity inherited a cottage and land with a term in the will that it be for the people of the village. The cottage was intended as home for the warden of the land (a Nature Reserve). Some time later the charity persuaded the Charity Commission to sell the cottage, and I do not believe a Court Order was necessary.

Has your community investigated getting it turned-over to be a Village Green?


Village Greens are registered on the Register of Common Land, though you don't have a right to roam on it (as you do with common land). It does provide a level of 'protection' against deals done by those that should know better. Village green status could still apply to a piece of land that is actually legally owned by a landowner, including a PC.

This applies in England and Wales.

[tonywiltshire]

This was probably a positive covenant on as I understand land only which touches and concerns the land and it should bind successors in title if properly written and with privity of estate, if it is for the benefit of the village and still used as such it would be very difficult if not impossible to overturn this covenant and then sell the land.

[Peter Pedant]

This isnt Mosterton playground in Dorset by any chance is it ?

They had an almost identical wrangle ten to fifteen yrs ago

I am not sure what the outcome was - I think the parish council got its marching orders......