Covenants restrict use, construction, or occupancy. To bind successors, the covenant must touch and concern the land, the parties must have intended it to run, and notice requirements must be satisfied.
Enforcement is typically by injunction.
Alternative Names:
Deed Restriction, Covenant Running with the Land
Why it Matters?
Changed conditions and waiver are the principal defenses, since a covenant unenforced across a neighborhood while violations accumulated may be abandoned, and a restriction rendered obsolete by surrounding development may be unenforceable. Selective enforcement supports waiver where the association permitted comparable violations. Recorded declarations governing planned communities carry their own amendment and enforcement procedures that constrain both sides.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What defenses defeat enforcement?
How are covenants enforced?
