Also known as: deed restrictions · restrictive covenant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A negative covenant recorded in a deed that limits permissible uses of land. The covenant runs with the land when the benefit or burden passes automatically to successive owners.
Dover Bank conveyed a parcel to Dakota Industries by deed containing a promise that Dakota would never operate a retail store on the land. Dakota later attempted to open a store. The bank sued to enforce the promise as a deed restriction. The court treated the promise as a restrictive covenant rather than an easement because it imposed a negative obligation not to use the land in a specified way.
Demetrius Douglas sold land to Diana Delgado by deed that prohibited any industrial activity on the parcel. Delgado later planned a factory. Douglas sued to enforce the deed restriction. The court classified the promise as a restrictive covenant because it required Delgado to refrain from a particular land use rather than to perform an affirmative act.
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Dwight Dorsey owned beachfront property and sought a building permit from the coastal commission. The commission granted the permit only after Dorsey recorded a deed restriction granting the public an easement across the property. Dorsey challenged the condition. The restriction operated as a recorded negative covenant limiting Dorsey's exclusive use of the land.
Darius Dixon built a home with solar panels relying on an existing deed restriction that limited neighboring structures. Damian Decker proposed a new house that would block sunlight. Dixon sued to enforce the restriction. The deed restriction functioned as a negative covenant protecting Dixon's access to light across the burdened parcel.
Davenport Pharmaceuticals purchased a condominium unit subject to a recorded deed restriction banning pets. The owner kept a dog. The homeowners association sued to enforce the restriction. The court upheld the deed restriction as a valid negative covenant running with the land and binding subsequent purchasers.
Delilah Duran owned a condominium unit governed by a recorded deed restriction requiring board approval for certain alterations. Duran made changes without approval. The homeowners association sued. The court deferred to the association's enforcement of the deed restriction as a reasonable negative covenant serving the community's interests.
A deed restriction is a negative covenant that requires the owner to refrain from specified uses of land. An affirmative covenant instead requires the owner to perform an action such as making payments. The distinction turns on whether the burdened party must act or must abstain.
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A deed restriction runs with the land when the recorded instrument shows intent that the burden or benefit pass automatically to successive owners. Recording provides constructive notice to later purchasers who then take subject to the restriction.
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Yes. When the restriction is recorded and runs with the land, it binds later owners who take with notice. Courts enforce the restriction as a servitude provided it satisfies validity requirements such as not violating public policy.
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The law of the situs state governs because the restriction concerns interests in immovable property. The forum court applies the entire law of the situs, including its choice-of-law rules, to replicate the outcome a situs court would reach.
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…of potential pupils and their parents; and to Barrows v. Jackson , 346 U. S. 249, where a white defendant, party to a racially restrictive covenant, who was being sued for damages by the covenantors because she had conveyed her property to Negroes, was allowed to raise the issue that enforcement of the covenant violated the rights of…