Covenants against parking motorhome on drives.

Well, I've just found this, it's from another MH forum so I don't think I can post a link so I've copied and pasted it. Turns out there HAS been a court case where it was established by a high court judge that a MH is NOT a caravan.
Posted June 22, 2021
Hi,

There was an old thread on here several years back regarding restrictive covenants and whether motorhomes would fall under the same restrictions as caravans.

The thread is: https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.u.../Restrictive-covenants-and-motor-homes/38826/

I have an update which people might find useful.

I have personally been fighting my own battle with the "directors" of the private estate I live on who assert that a motorhomes is essentially a "motorised caravan" and therefore under my covenant (written in 1923), which states caravans cannot be kept on my land, I cannot keep it. I have taken great exception to this as I keep my shiny motorhome completely hidden, unlived in and with the agreement of all adjacent neighbours - yet the estate find this to be in "breach" and are constantly threatening court action. This is stressful and unnecessary yet they will not engage in any discussion about it.

Those "for" the argument will often quote two sources to say they motorhomes and caravans are the same thing:

- The DVLA classification of the motorhome as a "motor caravan"

- The The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 and The Caravans Sites Act 1968. These define a caravan as being: ‘any structure designed or adapted for human habitation that is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether being towed or by being transported on a motor vehicle so designed or adapted)”

HOWEVER:

I have recently discovered a high court / upper tribunal ruling on this matter, which now stands as case law.

Essentially, when the European Union asked the UK to remove VAT from caravans (so as not to penalise those who use them as permanent homes), a motorhome company called Oaktree Motorhomes Ltd took HMRC to court to recover VAT on the basis that motorhomes WERE caravans.

They lost.

They appealed.

They lost again in the higher court.

The ruling is long and complex, but the basic gist is that unless there are any special or technical definitions in a law or contract, the common ordinary meaning of the English term "caravan" shall prevail when assessing whether a motorhome is a caravan, and by that measure, they are not the same since a caravan is always reliant on external power to pull it (be it a horse, car or truck) whereas a motorhome is self propelled (Oxford English Dictionary).

The full ruling can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/tax-and-chancery...for-hm-revenue-and-customs-2017-ukut-0027-tcc

So, if you do own a motorhome or campervan and your covenant does only say "caravans" and not refer to motorhome, campervan or home on wheels etc (usually this limited definition only happens in very old covenants), then a court looking to uphold the covenant against a motorhome or campervan would need to overturn this high court ruling.

This is EXTREMELY unlikely.

This is not to say you should store massive motorhomes that block light etc from your neighbours, and normal good code of conduct should apply, but I do feel it necessary to publish this to help those people who are keeping vehicles well hidden but are pursued by unreasonable neighbours or estate committees.
 
A wee snap shot of my driveway 😜

IMG_0750.jpeg
 
Yeh, I've also read that the covenant gets enshrined in planning too Trev, it's complicated but ultimately IF a judge has at some point in time made a decision that a MH is NOT a caravan then everything else becomes a mute point because when a judge makes a clarification it then becomes the law, ie case law.
Not necessarily. If Judge A says that 'A caravan may not be parked ...', Judge B in the next case may say that a caravan differs from a motorhome, the latter being a motor caravan' which is self-propelled, and which can be used as a replacement for the family car for the daily commute, whereas a caravan clearly cannot; and Judge C in the next case may say that the distinction is irrelevant, but that the real purpose in the 'no caravans' covenant is to avoid offending neighbours by impeded sights of properties opposite/driveway parking being taken by the caravan, requiring the car to be parked on the street when the overall parking capacity relies on house driveways being used for car parking, and, as a solution, a Motor Caravan can be parked on the driveway, as long as it is the *only* vehicle. Meanwhile Judge D died of boredom waiting for his chance to pass judgement, and his breakfast ... :eek:

Steve
 
Personally, as long as I was in a position to choose (i.e. alive, kicking, compus mentis, able to drive, etc.) I would never consider purchasing (or renting) any kind of property restricted by such ridiculous covenants. 🤷‍♀️
The worst one [when I was much younger, and friskier] was the prohibition against lovemaking in our back garden. 'The property owner shall not cause any erections to the rear of the property' ... :ROFLMAO:

Steve
 
Not necessarily. If Judge A says that 'A caravan may not be parked ...', Judge B in the next case may say that a caravan differs from a motorhome, the latter being a motor caravan' which is self-propelled, and which can be used as a replacement for the family car for the daily commute, whereas a caravan clearly cannot; and Judge C in the next case may say that the distinction is irrelevant, but that the real purpose in the 'no caravans' covenant is to avoid offending neighbours by impeded sights of properties opposite/driveway parking being taken by the caravan, requiring the car to be parked on the street when the overall parking capacity relies on house driveways being used for car parking, and, as a solution, a Motor Caravan can be parked on the driveway, as long as it is the *only* vehicle. Meanwhile Judge D died of boredom waiting for his chance to pass judgement, and his breakfast ... :eek:

Steve
Judges have to be aware of precedent and if they aren't aware then lawyers will certainly make them aware to reinforce of their case. I doubt you'd see conflicting decisions on something as black and white as 'is a motorhome a caravan', ,(took me a lot of digging to find ONE!) I wouldn't have been concerned anyway had it not been for the V5 description as motor caravan.
Personally Steve, it's put my mind at rest re purchasing a house with a covenant against parking a caravan on the drive.
 
Previous property I bought to 'do up' and sell had the covenants. No making of pans and no making of fish and chips. I kid you not. Mid terrace house in Warrington!
If that was here most folk would be dead, f/chips 24/7 for many, i kid you not.
 
Our Deeds say no Caravans can be parked on the property but our MH is not a Caravan so its parked on the driveway. Both sets of neighbours have changed over the last few years so they know we keep it on the drive. The only thing that gets me about our small estate is the management fee that we get charged for cutting a small section of grass. All new estates seem to have the same. We also have a gas pipe that doesn't belong to the Gas Supply and is owned indirectly by we assume the developer who gets a cut of the gas we use.
 
We have a house we rent out that we bought as a new build. In the deeds it stated that every property could only have 1 car and there was to be no parking on the roads. They had provided a car park for visitors but then went and built flats on it. When you go on the estate now there are cars and caravans parked all over the place.
My Sister had a house in a development like that. The local planning rules dictate that there must be no more than one parking space per property (supposedly to discourage car ownership and promote use of public transport).
Obviously these kind of rules get ignored and every bit of road space is taken up with parked cars including around the little roundabouts in the estate.
No Caravans or Motorhomes I noticed but probably because finding a space to put one would be impossible (the driveways are also very short and couldn't be used to park one - I had a LWB Transporter, so approx 5.4M long and that overhung the pavement a bit when I was parked right up to the garage door).
The house was fine but I would hate to live there.
 
Among the covenants that can attach to properties are manorial and seigneurial rights which give the Lord of the Manor the right to spend the Wedding Night with the new wife ... Such covenants are described in the Law of Property Act as 'Overriding Interests', which may have given inspiration for Jilly Cooper's books ... :ROFLMAO:. 'Is that a polo mallet, or are you just pleased to see me?'

Steve
 
Among the covenants that can attach to properties are manorial and seigneurial rights which give the Lord of the Manor the right to spend the Wedding Night with the new wife ... Such covenants are described in the Law of Property Act as 'Overriding Interests', which may have given inspiration for Jilly Cooper's books ... :ROFLMAO:. 'Is that a polo mallet, or are you just pleased to see me?'

Steve

Ah Prima Nocta Steve as seen in Braveheart.

If that was still around I could have gone to the pub on me wedding night. :mad:
 
Think from mem ours says one car a caravan or boat, chap up the street has 1 caravan a speed boat and 3 cars, no one gives a flying fa-t here.
 

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