"Cicero" wrote:
I'd never heard of a covenant in this context and certainly
wouldn't have been able to ask any questions about them.
As you say, the Land Registry, is a useful source of information
but in my case there was no registry information because the
house was a new build.

This is a big problem with new builds. Because the house will be
being registered for the first time, the purchaser will often be a long
way down the line before they get to see any restrictive covenants
in the deeds. They will already have paid reservation fees etc. and
will be far less likely to pull out. The *only* advantage is that if the
land has not yet been registered, then there can be some discussion/
negotiation with the builder/vendor about what goes in the covenants.
If I was buying another new house (which I probably won't), I would
ask to see a copy of the proposed deeds including restrictive covenants
at the same time as paying the reservation fee.

Al