Define: Restrictive Covenant

Restrictive Covenant
Restrictive Covenant
Quick Summary of Restrictive Covenant

A restrictive covenant is a legal agreement or provision that restricts the use of land or imposes certain obligations on property owners. These covenants are typically found in deeds, leases, or homeowners’ association agreements and serve to regulate how the property can be used or developed. Common types of restrictive covenants include limitations on building height or design, restrictions on commercial activities, requirements for property maintenance, and prohibitions on certain uses such as keeping pets or operating businesses from home. Restrictive covenants aim to maintain property values, preserve a certain aesthetic or character in a neighbourhood, and protect the interests of property owners. Violating a restrictive covenant can lead to legal action and enforcement by property owners or homeowners’ associations.

What is the dictionary definition of Restrictive Covenant?
Dictionary Definition of Restrictive Covenant
n. 1) an agreement included in a deed to real property that the buyer (grantee) will be limited as to the future use of the property.
Full Definition Of Restrictive Covenant

A Covenant (an agreement by deed) that prohibits the covenantee from doing something. Whether a covenant is restrictive or not is a question of form, not of substance (Tulk v Moxhay (1832)), and is often assessed by determining whether it requires an expenditure on the part of the covenantee. A restrictive covenant is always enforceable between the original parties, under straightforward common-law principles. The more interesting question is whether a restrictive covenant can be made to ‘run with the land’, that is, bind purchasers of the land who are not parties to the original covenant. See covenant for more details.

Example: no fence may be built on the property except of dark wood and not more than six feet high, no tennis court or swimming pool may be constructed within 30 feet of the property line, and no structure can be built within 20 feet of the frontage street. Commonly these covenants are written so that they can be enforced by the grantor and other owners in the subdivision, so that future owners will be bound by the covenant (called “covenant running with the land” if enforceable against future owners). All restrictive covenants based on race (“the property may be occupied only by Caucasians”) were declared unconstitutional in 1949 and if they still show on deeds are null and void.

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This glossary post was last updated: 28th March, 2024.

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