Most developers are probably aware of the pitfalls of covenants and the unwelcome restrictions that they can place on our development plans. Receiving a “clean title” report on a preliminary check is always a great feeling. However, sometimes restrictive covenants can be concealed and not immediately apparent from the existing deeds, as we learnt to our cost on one project. The site in question appeared, on the surface, free from any major issues. (We were planning to demolish the existing 1950’s house of around 1500 sq ft and replace with a 5000 sq ft luxury house). The road was situated on a leafy private estate and had been carved out from the gardens of a larger residence which had retained one covenant requiring their consent to any proposals. This was easily gleaned from an online check of the title deeds. We contacted the current occupiers of the original house and were pleased that they were supportive of our plans, and readily consented to provide approval. Heads of terms were then agreed and we moved forward with instructing solicitors and furthering the due diligence process. We then discovered a major obstacle; the covenant applied to the entire land of the original house, not just its present day reduced site curtilage. This meant that all of the properties in the road (13 in total), were beneficiaries of the same original covenant even though it was not mentioned on the actual title deeds. Suddenly consent was now required from another 12 houses for our project to continue without potential future injunctions. Needless to say, this created a major set back and required immense diplomacy to negotiate a way forward, which ultimately we achieved! The lesson learnt here is to always look at a covenant from the point of view of the day it was applied.