It has been estimated that there may be as many as 35,000 covenants created by in Victoria by the Urban Land Authority, or statutory corporations that have carried on similar functions, including:
- Urban Land Corporation;
- Urban or Regional Land Corporation;
- Victorian Urban Development Authority; or
- Development Victoria.
These restrictive covenants can contain a combination of orthodox and unorthodox covenants, for instance:
i) there will not be erected on the land hereby transferred any building other than one house and usual outbuildings; and ii) such house will not have less than seventy five percent (75%) of all external walls (save for provisions of windows, doors, fascias and gables) of brick or brick veneer; and iii) such house will be for his own occupation; and iv) he shall occupy the said house as his home for a period of at least five years.
Significantly, these covenants are unlike ordinary covenants that transfer the benefit to enforce a covenant to other landowners in the neighbourhood. Rather, the covenants are created by statute, and the only party with the ability to enforce the covenant may be the statutory corporation that created the covenant (or its successor).
However, officers of those authorities have expressed the view that they will not consent or assist in the removal of existing covenants. That is, they say, a matter for the responsible authority pursuant to the Planning and Environment Act 1987–typically Councils, or VCAT on review.
Yet at least one Council says it has no ability to remove the covenant, via the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Thus, there seems to be a lack of consensus on how these covenants may be modified or removed.
However, we now know that the Supreme Court of Victoria does have the power, and is prepared to modify statutory covenants in appropriate circumstances. See Re: HamdanS CI 2018 02512.
*Matthew Townsend has an online blog, Restrictive Covenants in Victoria, in which he discusses cases and news about restrictive covenants in Victoria.