RESIDENTS of a Victorian housing estate in Wanstead are trying to use 100-year-old legal documents to protect their area from a thoroughly modern encroachment blocks of flats.

Members of the Counties Resident Association, which was formed to fight planning applications for large-scale housing developments, are consulting top lawyers on whether a convenant dating back to the 1890s can be used to block current planning applications.

Restrictive covenants are normally put in place when houses are first built and attached to the deeds of the house.

They often dictate how property and land can be used and what can be built on it if the original homes are demolished.

And Chairman of the Counties Residents Association, Helen Zammett, is investigating if a covenant drawn up in the 1890s which stipulates only detached or semi-detached houses can be built on the nine roads which make up the Counties estate will hold firm in the 21st century.

The legal move is in direct response to a number of applications for flats reaching Redbridge Council, including one to demolish a cottage-style house on Leicester Road and replace it with a block of eight flats.

Mrs Zammett, who started the assocation with her neighbours, said: "In the covenant attached to the deeds of the houses, if you demolish a detached or semi-detached house you can only build a similar house again.

"You are also not allowed to build within 20 feet of a road and you are not allowed to do anything that would be out of character with the area or damage the value of neighbouring properties."

And the residents association believes the flats will completely destroy the look and feel of roads on the estate which are filled with large family homes.

But if the Chancery Lane lawyers agree that the covenant protects the houses from being turned into flats, the fight is not over.

The Counties Residents Association will have to fight developers in the courts if they are given planning permission by Redbridge Council.

But if the residents association win the legal battle it will not just be a victory for them it will have repercussions for all houses with restrictive covenants attached to the deeds.