We are in the process of buying a new build house from Barratt Homes. We have paid the deposit on the house and paid the deposit on the upgrade and have been told the house completion date is some time in April 2022.
My main worry is it does not have a garage, only 3 parking spaces, as we are on the end in a corner of the estate and there are only trees next to us.
I enquired with Barratts if we could build a garage on one of the parking spaces and was told no. I also enquired if I could build a shed in the garden as an extra to the one they supply. The one they supply is quite small just for storing garden tools/lawnmower est.
I was told can’t see any reason why you can’t have another shed.
But looking into the matter further I found this as below:
Restrictive covenants RE BARRATT HOMES
Attached to the deeds of your new home may be certain rules about what you can and can’t do with your house and land. These are known as restrictive covenants. All residents will have agreed to them.
Restrictive covenants can cover anything from adding a satellite dish to your home to keeping chickens in your back garden!
Details of any restrictive covenants relating to your new home should be explained to you by your solicitor. Check them thoroughly to avoid any problems later.
The problem is as far as I can see why do you have to wait until you get your deeds before finding out what the Restrictive covenants are? They should be explained and a copy should be given to you when given the details about the house and before you put your deposit down.
In my case, we paid the deposit on the house and the deposit on the upgrade. But there is always a chance when we see this Restrictive Covenants form from Barratts and see what we are allowed to do and not do, we may change our minds about purchasing the property and if we pulled out we would lose a lot of money as we would not get all our deposits back, as I see it Barratt are in the wrong they should have explained to me about the Restrictive Covenants requirements and supplied me with a copy of the form before we paid the deposit.
I do not want to find out after I have purchased the property what I am allowed and not allowed to do and the costs to me by Barratt if I am allowed to in my case build an extra shed in the garden.
You're probably thinking why not buy a house with a garage? Firstly it's will cost an extra £30,000 and also the house would be too big for us.