A covenant was imposed over freehold land in 1937, preventing alterations without the approval of the vendors. The vendors are likely to be dead. Alterations were made without consent twenty years ago. Is the covenant enforceable?

When A and B enter into a covenant controlling the use of freehold land owned by (or to be transferred to) B for the benefit of land retained or held by A, as a matter of contract it is directly enforceable. Where however either A or B transfers the interest in the respective plots of land, it is only if the rules relevant to the enforceability of freehold covenants in equity are satisfied that the covenant can be enforced.

If A (as original covenantee) has transferred the interest in the benefitted land to C, then C can only enforce the covenant if it can be shown that it benefits that land and that the benefit of the covenant has been assigned. This latter requirement will usually occur automatically as a result of section 78 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925). If B has transferred