Restrictive Covenants – August 2013

Trustees of the Coventry School Foundation v Whitehouse & Ors [2013] EWCA Civ 885

Summary

The Court of Appeal overturned the first instance finding that the claimants' plans to build a school on their land would be in breach of a restrictive covenant. The Court found that, although there might well be traffic issues of noise, parking and obstruction, and congestion resulting from the operation of the school, any nuisance or annoyance caused to the (potential) covenantees who owned properties nearby was not within the scope of the covenant because the covenant was directed to activities taking place on the burdened land, rather than on the public highway.

Facts

The claimant trustees had acquired a parcel of unregistered freehold land from the trustees of Sir Thomas White's Charity (STWC) by a conveyance in 1931. The conveyance of the land imposed a restrictive covenant on the claimant trustees' land for the benefit of land retained by STWC, which was registered