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Thomas
Thomas, Solicitor
Category: Property Law
Satisfied Customers: 7676
Experience:  UK solicitor holding an England and Wales practising Certificate.
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I am secretary of a residents society which is a limited company. We

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I am secretary of a residents society which is a limited company.
We have 36 properties on our private estate and each owner is a member of the society.
The estate consists of two unadopted residential squares which are serviced by our society since the council only offers refuse collection.
One of these properties is being sold by a local estate agent and I have written to
the agent twice pointing out we are a private estate and asking that this is disclosed
to the buyer.
I have received no reply.
What action should I take?
Thomas
Hi
Thanks for your question.
Are all owners obligated by their land registry titles to contribute to the costs of the estate?
Kind regards
Tom
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

No but we have a Deed of Covenant which is properly drawn up, signed and witnessed for each owner.

This requires the society to provide services on the one hand, while each

owner undertakes to pay a service charge and abide by any rules.

It contains a commitment by each owner not to sell without requiring the

buyer to enter into a similar agreement with our society.

This is liable to be ignored by the owner, so we are dependent on the

estate agent to disclose the info that we are a private estate.
Hi
Thanks for your reply.
It must be a legal obligation on each owner to contribute fire the land registry title. I will likely be reference image title to an earlier conveyance requiring a party to contribute. I would normally expect that there is also a restriction entered in each person's freehold title which says that property cannot be transferred without a certificate signed by your association. When this happens the buyer's solicitor will reply information from the seller's solicitor about how much all of this cost and make sure that the client is aware of it before they exchanged contracts. I will also contact you to arrange the execution of the relevant deed of covenant which you will require in order to give consent. This being the case it will probably not matter very much at all that the agent does not mention that it is a private estate in the marketing for the property, since the solicitor will immediately become aware of it when going through land registry documentation. Even if it is not registered on the title to the property i will certainly become aware that the roads are not adopted when they carry out their local search. I would start by downloading the official copies for the property bidding site and checking that there is reference to the obligation on there. If there is an you can relax and a buyer's solicitor will make the buyer aware. Ultimately if there is no legal obligation contained in the land registry document on the owner to contribute than any new owner would not be legally bound to execute the deed of covenant. However this would be highly unusual and i suspect it is almost certainly not the case
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Thanks for your reply.
It must be a legal obligation on each owner to contribute fire the land registry title. There will likely be reference on each title to an earlier conveyance requiring a party to contribute.
I would normally expect that there is also a restriction entered in each person's freehold title which says that property cannot be transferred without a certificate signed by your association.
When this happens the buyer's solicitor will request information from the seller's solicitor about how much all of this cost and make sure that the client is aware of it before they exchange contracts. They will also contact you to arrange the execution of the relevant deed of covenant which you will require in order to give consent.
This being the case it will probably not matter very much at all that the agent does not mention that it is a private estate in the marketing for the property, since the solicitor will immediately become aware of it when going through land registry documentation.
Even if it is not registered on the title to the property they will certainly become aware that the roads are not adopted when they carry out their local search.
I would start by downloading the official copies for the property bidding site and checking that there is reference to the obligation on there. If there is then you can relax and the buyer's solicitor will make the buyer aware.
Ultimately if there is no legal obligation contained in the land registry document on the owner to contribute than any new owner would not be legally bound to execute the deed of covenant.
However this would be highly unusual and i suspect it is almost certainly not the casecase.
Kind regards
Tom
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