vague restrictive covenants

Hey.

I had a few cases of vague restrictive covenants cross my desk today so I thought I'd share them with you.

In case you didn't know, restrictive covenants are rules created by a seller at some point in the history of the property that run with the land.  These are usually meant to preserve some desired character or atmosphere in the neighborhood.  The thing about restrictions is that they often reflect the values of the time in which they are created and can cause problems later, especially if they are vague.

Let's look at each restriction:

• No building hereafter erected thereon shall be erected as or for or used or occupied as or for a public garage, manufacturing establishment, commercial business or any offensive or malodorous occupation or purpose, or to be used for any purpose other than that of a private dwelling house with or without private garage.

What to do about offensive or malodorous which are highly subjective words? What if you occupy yourself in some hobby that your neighbors find offensive but to you is lawful and acceptable on your own land? I have a neighbor who constantly makes noise in the garage poking around with machinery.  I have another neighbor who target shoots. I like to have campfires.  Perhaps the smoke is offensive to a neighbor. And, what to do about operating a web based business from your home? Could a neighbor force you to stop because of this restriction against commercial business? Even if you occupy the dwelling, is the mixed use of the home business a violation of the covenant?

• No trailers or mobile homes shall be erected on said lot.

Interestingly, the dwelling sitting on this lot is a manufactured home which has a mobile home title that we are in the process of having surrendered to the state.  Could the neighbors have forced removal of this dwelling under the restrictive covenants?

• Each of said lots is hereby designated as a residential lot with no structures to be erected thereon other than a one family dwelling, not less than 1600 square feet in area, exclusive of garage, breezeways, and porches, which said house and garage may be constructed of any recognized building material, but shall not have affixed thereto any imitation siding.

What is a recognized building material?  What the heck is imitation siding?  Can you imagine the problems neighbors could make for each other trying to sort out those restrictions?

a restrictive covenant situation... always read the restrictions before buying real estate

An online advertisement described the 10-acre, four-bedroom Mount Abu mansion in Ligonier Township as the ideal weekend getaway.

A group of seven neighbors on Wicklow Lane thinks otherwise.

They have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent John and Paragi Stewart from renting out their home to vacationers.

Attorney Jim Fox, representing the neighbors, wants a county judge to step in and enforce a restrictive-use covenant, signed by the Stewarts in 2009 when they purchased their home, that bars its use for rental purposes.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/3384718-74/neighbors-ligonier-rental#ixzz2JTAWKNHj 
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restrictions...for heavens sake, get a copy and read them!

I've had a nice e-mail exchange this week with a reader who wondered why her title insurance agent had never told her about the restrictive covenants for the housing plan in which she lived.

The lots in this plan are large and were meant to be used for residential purposes only. A neighbor, unaware of the restrictive covenants, started farming on their lot and added livestock. Our reader, also unaware of the restrictive covenants, has suffered for years battling with the neighbor over noise, smell, and general degradation of their use and enjoyment of their real estate. Only recently did our reader discover the restrictions and realize that the homeowners in the plan had legal standing all along to deal with the farm problem.

Read this, please, so you can understand how very important it is to select a title insurance provider who will give you a copy of the title commitment prior to closing along with copies of restrictions. Ask for these copies when shopping for services and then follow up to make certain you are getting a full and complete report BEFORE you close.

We found out last year that there are legally filed deed restrictions on our property that can be enforced by the property owners at the county building (we have a defunct Association) the restrictions effect all the other properties where we live (39/10 acre parcels) the deed restrictions run with the land and keep going every 10 years unless the majority of land owners vote them out etc which has not happened so people owning the land can enforce them. We were not given any of this info. when we bought our property by either the title company, the realtor nor the people we bought from - we bought it in 1998 and started building our house.

Last summer we had more continued issues with our neighbors who have livestock and poultry and started their farm after they moved out - about a year after us (improper disposal of manure is what they did last year), when they first moved out in 1999 we had issues too with them letting their sheep run all over the place and on our property (they have 30 acres we have 10) we found out about the deed restrictions by a friend who told us about such a thing when I was complaining about their farm. We had no idea there even was such a thing as we had never owned like this before. Well, I did the research and within one day I found the documents filed legally at the county building and they have been there since the 70's -our neighbors should never have put a farm in and had we known we could have stopped it right at the beginning and not be in this horrible situation where we have to smell manure, listen to roosters and cows and sheep and see their cows and barns (that they shouldn't have either) from our living room window. We do not know if they were told about the deed restrictions. Others who bought property way before we did received the deed restrictions when they bought their land. I've been told we could have a suit against our title company for not giving those to us and that we could get them to pay for all the harassment and loss of enjoyment of our property, the decreased value we now face due to the farm practically in our back yard and the cost of making our neighbors abide by those restrictions and remove the farm they shouldn't have. (we should not have to pay thousands to do this!) We have had a huge hassle to endure due to this, we were even told that we may have a suit against our neighbors title company if they didn't tell them.. our neighbors tried to file a harassment suit on us because we called the MDA on their improper disposal of manure, (yea they considered us calling the MDA harassing them of course the sheriffs dept told them they had no grounds for their attempted charges the MDA found them in violation and made them clean up the manure) they were putting bob cats buckets full of cow, horse, sheep manure right next to the property line in view of our back deck. (they were mad cause we and another neighbor filed a complaint with the health dept due to their garbage bags ripped open and garbage all over the place, which is also a violation of the deed restrictions) there's more to tell here if you find this a case your interested in. They are not nice people and retaliate if you turn them in for any violations. If we had known about these deed restrictions we would have stopped them years ago when they got their first cow!! I even called the title company and asked if they look for deed restrictions and they told me no.

Bottom line, I suggested they hire a good real estate attorney to sort the mess out. She found her owner policy and has hired an attorney. It will be interesting to see how the case is resolved and I do hope we hear the end of the story. ;)