Deal Breaker part 2..

My solicitor just rang and said that the vendor will in no way agree to a covenant. The wants to keep the land unfettered. She intends to use the land as garden and 'for her own aesthetic', but she will not put any restrictions of height or purpose onto the land.
She claims that we have 'known this all along', (but of course we haven't as we were told in the beginning that the vendor wanted to build an artist studio on it!).

I have to ring my sister to hear her thoughts and also speak with the estate agents as my initial thoughts are that after all the concessions we have made to make this sale go through, (agreeing to absorb the extra costs for repair work that the survey threw up, etc) that should any other problems arise, that it would be the vendor's turn to move. She has been rude and threatening throughout and now it looks as if the tables are about to turn.

The situation is difficult as i do understand her point of view. If i had just bought a piece of land, i wouldn't want someone else dictating what i can and can not do with it. However, in order to sell the house i do think that she needs to be a little more understanding of her buyer.

As a result i decided to contact the Estate Agents and see whether they would have more joy speaking with the vendor than us. I wrote them a long letter explaining the situation and begging them for their help. They in turn tried speaking with the vendor about a covenant but she was immovable.

So, I contacted the planning office to see whether any plans had already been submitted for the land. None had. I also spoke with them about what plans had been passed and were likely to be passed in that area. I learned that on the street, not a single property had been granted planning permission for a two story building to be built on the land at the back and that it was highly unlikely that one ever would. The worst case scenario, they believed would be a single story unit for office use.

After much discussion, my sister and I decided to continue with the sale, despite everything. Having seen the property (our solicitor had not), at first glance we hadn't expected the extra land at the back to be ours anyway (as it looks like it is separate from the property). With this in mind, and also after seeking advice from The Land Registry, we figured that the risk wasn't as large as our soliciotor had originally made out.