London host to highest proportion of restrictive covenants - Mortgage Introducer

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This was followed by Greater Manchester at 5,286 and Merseyside at 2,860.

Pure Property Finance analysed the data and looked at the number of convents in each region compared to the population, to estimate the percentage of buildings in the region that have a restrictive covenant attached to them.

According to the property broker, developers are less likely to have a restrictive covenant in East Anglia, with only 2,415 properties having restrictions.

As a result, on average, there is a covenant per every 1086 properties.

However, Greater London was the strictest region, with nearly 42,000 restrictive covenants on properties used by its nine million inhabitants.

This works to be a restrictive covenant per every 90 properties.

The data also showed that the lowest number of restrictive covenants in August was in Blaenau Gwent with 43, followed by Powys at 35 and Merthyr Tydfil with 27.

Restrictive covenants are binding conditions written into the deeds or contract of a property or land which determine what an owner can or cannot do under particular circumstances. These vary on location and type of property.

Ben Lloyd, managing director of Pure Property Finance, said: “It’s no surprise that Greater London has the most restrictive convents, although it’s interesting that there’s such a big jump between Greater London and the area with the second most restrictive covenants, the Southeast of England.

“Considering how close they are geographically; it shows how different the rules and properties can be.

“Typically, covenants appear where there are high levels of development, high property density, or historic or high value buildings.

“So, developers looking for less restrictions may choose to build or refurbish property in East Anglia or Wales where covenants are less common.

“However, although work here may be quicker and more standardised, these are not necessarily the places where the greatest gains are to be made.

“Therefore, we would always recommend speaking to a property expert before investing.”