Owning a property does not mean you can do anything you like with it. Almost every parcel carries rights that belong to somebody else, and rules about what you may build, park or run there. These limits are legal, usually permanent, and generally discoverable before you buy — if you look.
This is a general overview rather than legal advice. A real estate attorney or title professional can tell you what actually attaches to a specific property.
Easements
An easement is a right for someone else to use part of your land for a defined purpose. You keep ownership; you give up specific rights over a specific area. Most properties have at least one, and most owners never notice.
- Utility easements — the commonest kind, letting a utility run and maintain lines, pipes or cables across the property.
- Access easements — a neighbor’s right to cross your land, typically a shared driveway or a route to an otherwise landlocked parcel.
- Drainage easements — rights concerning water flow across the property.
- Conservation easements — permanent restrictions on development, often in exchange for a tax benefit.
Most easements are appurtenant: they attach to the land, not to a person, so they survive the sale and bind you as the new owner. That is why “the previous owner had an arrangement with the neighbor” is not something you can rely on or ignore — only the recorded document matters.
The practical risk is building. Put a shed, fence, pool or extension over a utility easement and the utility may have the right to remove it to reach their equipment, at your expense. Before you build anything, check the survey and the title report for what runs where.
Restrictive Covenants
Restrictive covenants are deed restrictions governing what you may do on the property. They are not zoning: zoning is public law set by government, while covenants are private rules attached to the land, usually created by a developer and often enforced by a homeowners association. Where both apply, you must satisfy both, and the stricter one wins in practice.
Typical subjects include minimum home size and construction type, exterior colors and materials, fencing, sheds and outbuildings, parking of recreational vehicles, boats and inoperable cars, number and type of pets, tree removal, satellite dishes and antennas, signage, short-term rentals and home businesses. Condominium rules tend to be considerably more restrictive than those in a subdivision.
Read them before you buy, not after. People discover covenants when they are told to remove something they have already paid for. If you plan to run a business from home, park a work truck, rent the property out or add an extension, check specifically for those. See condo, townhouse, or house? for how HOA enforcement works.
Covenants That Are Void
Reading an older deed, you may find language restricting ownership or occupancy by race, religion or national origin. Such covenants were widespread in the twentieth century and their text still sits in property records across the country.
They are unenforceable. The Supreme Court held in Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) that courts may not enforce racially restrictive covenants, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 made housing discrimination on these grounds illegal outright. Finding the language in your chain of title does not restrict you and does not cloud your ownership. Many states now provide a straightforward process for a homeowner to have the offending language struck from the record, and your title company or county recorder can explain the local procedure.
Finding Out What Applies
- The title report and title commitment — list recorded easements and restrictions. Read the exceptions section, which is where they live.
- A current survey — shows where easements physically run, along with encroachments and setback lines.
- HOA governing documents — the declaration, bylaws and rules, plus recent meeting minutes and the reserve study.
- The local zoning office — for permitted uses, setbacks and height limits.
Ask for all of these during your contingency period, while you can still act on what you learn.