Hughes Family Property Co Ltd & Anor v Jonathan Marvin & Ors

Facts

The applicants, Hughes Family Property Co Ltd and Hughes Trading Co Ltd, own 28 Redwalls Meadow, Dartmouth, a house and garden occupied by Mr Bradley Hughes, a director and shareholder of both companies. Part of the garden — a five-sided plot of about 440 square metres fronting Mount Boone — is burdened by a restrictive covenant imposed by clause 2 and paragraph 5 of the Second Schedule of a conveyance dated 5 August 1977, forbidding the erection of any building on the land hatched green and requiring it to be laid out with trees and shrubs. The applicants applied for planning permission in February 2023 to build a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half storey house on the land, and conditional permission was granted on 15 May 2023 by South Hams District Council, subject to a condition that the house be used as a primary residence rather than a holiday or second home. Unable to implement the permission without breaching the covenant, the applicants applied to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 to modify it, relying on grounds (aa) and (c). Seven sets of neighbouring owners in Redwalls Meadow, entitled to the benefit of the covenant, objected. Only Mr Behan attended the hearing; the others made written submissions. The member inspected the land and several objectors' properties.