Glossary

Restrictive Covenant

Also known as: CC&Rs, Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions, CC&Rs

A recorded provision limiting how a property may be used or developed, typically imposed by a deed, declaration, or agreement and binding on the current owner and all future owners.

Restrictive covenants can arise from a developer's declaration (governing an entire subdivision or master-planned development), from a deed itself (a use restriction imposed by a prior seller), or from a private agreement between neighboring owners. A covenant is said to "run with the land" when it binds successive owners rather than only the original parties, which generally requires that it touch and concern the land, that the original parties intended it to run, and that subsequent purchasers had notice (typically through recording). Common CRE examples include exclusive-use restrictions in retail centers preventing competing tenants, architectural and design covenants in office parks, and use restrictions imposed by a prior institutional seller. Courts in some circumstances will refuse to enforce covenants found to be unreasonable restraints on alienation or, historically, discriminatory racial covenants, which are void and unenforceable under federal law though sometimes still visible in older recorded documents.