Provisions banning vehicles like motor homes, boats and motorcycles are frequently included in deed restrictions and covenants. Vehicle restrictions can also have a negative impact on your hobbies. If your neighbors sue you and win, a judge could order that your vehicles be impounded. But be careful that you don't violate the restriction. Some homeowner's associations may grant a variance for an increased number of cars. So, if you have a large family with several children old enough to drive, you could run into problems if, for example, you have five cars, and the restrictions only allow three. This is usually used as a measure to keep the streets and the fronts of houses from looking cluttered. ĭeed restrictions frequently limit exactly how many cars you can have parked in the driveway and in front of the house. It can be very difficult to build a house on one of these deed-restricted lots, since the restriction might affect how high or wide you can build your home, or even where you can situate it on the property. But even seemingly mundane views like distant mountains or neighborhood lakes and golf courses could be protected. Such agreements are especially popular in vacation destinations and resort areas, where that view of the mountains or the beach is considered very important. Often written in as deed restrictions, these agreements may have been in place for decades, and stipulate that the view must be exactly the same as it was when the agreement was signed.
So, homeowners often have mutual agreements not to build any structures that obstruct existing views. Property owners can get very touchy when a new neighbor comes in and plans on putting up a three story house that completely obliterates views from surrounding homes' front porches, back decks, bedroom windows, etc. Maybe the property is located in a neighborhood with an active homeowner's association that created the restrictions, or in a historic urban neighborhood where restrictions have been in place for years, or in a rural area where two neighboring farmers made a deal 100 years ago that is still in force. The origins of these restrictions can vary. Deed restrictions "run with the land," meaning they apply to all future owners of the property, not just the person who owns it when the restriction is adopted. A deed restriction (also known as a restrictive covenant), is a provision in a deed that limits what can be built on a property, or how that property can be used. You might need to keep dreaming if you plan to build that home on land that is subject to any deed restrictions.
This is your dream home - the one you've been waiting for your entire life.īut, not so fast. Later, you'll sit on your huge back porch, hidden from view by your privacy fence, and overlook your pool and the huge shed where you keep your gardening equipment.
You have beautiful picture windows looking out on a well-manicured lawn that seems to go on for miles. There's the white picket fence, and a boat parked out front that you take to the lake on the weekends.