Restrictive covenants

Do you own an area of land or property which you wish to protect for the future but do not necessarily wish to gift to the Trust ? If so why not consider the option of applying a restrictive covenant on the property in favour of the Trust. This will enable you to safeguard its historic integrity or natural beauty, whilst still allowing you to sell or dispose of the property at a future date.

For example if you are considering the option of selling an area of agricultural land but wish to ensure that it is never developed or built on, you can simply insert a clause in your contract of sale restricting the future use of the land. This clause would be enforceable by the Trust enabling it to prevent any development on the land, both now and in the future. The Trust is the only organisation in the island to which such a benefit can be granted (cf. Law extract) and we sincerely hope that members and supporters of the Trust’s work will consider adopting and promoting this practice. The impact of this scheme could be considerable and from the Trust’s point of view restrictive covenants enable us to retain control over greater areas of land without the undue burden of maintenance and ongoing management.

If you would like to discuss the option of applying a restrictive covenant in favour of the Trust then please do contact the Trust’s President, Mike Stentiford, on 01534 861114 to discuss how this might be achieved.