Deed Restrictions: What They Are and How to Find Them

Deed restrictions, also called restrictive covenants, are recorded limits on how land may be used, such as single-family homes only, a minimum house size or no further subdivision. They are written into a deed or a recorded declaration and usually bind every later owner. They are private rules, separate from zoning, and enforced privately rather than by a zoning office.

Pillar, a land research software company, wrote this guide. Each statute and court opinion below links to its source, and we checked all of them on November 12, 2026. Property law differs by state, so each rule is an example from the state named. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm how a restriction applies to your property with a real estate attorney licensed in your state.

What are deed restrictions?

A deed restriction is a promise about the use of land that is attached to the land itself. California's statute describes a covenant as a promise "to do or refrain from doing some act on his own land" (Cal. Civ. Code 1468). Texas defines a restrictive covenant broadly as "any covenant, condition, or restriction contained in a dedicatory instrument, whether mandatory, prohibitive, permissive, or administrative" (Tex. Prop. Code 202.001).

Restrictions show up in three places:

• A deed. One owner sells and writes limits into the conveyance. Deeds from the company that began developing Bethany Beach, Delaware in 1900 said "no intoxicating liquors shall ever be sold on the said lot" and limited each full-size lot to one "dwelling or cottage," with an exception for "suitable and necessary out or back building" at the rear (El Di, Inc. v. Town of Bethany Beach, Del. 1984).
• A recorded declaration. A developer records one document for a whole subdivision, often called CC&Rs (covenants, conditions and restrictions). For declarations recorded on or after January 1, 1986, California requires a common interest development's declaration to set out "the restrictions on the use or enjoyment of any portion of the common interest development that are intended to be enforceable equitable servitudes" (Cal. Civ. Code 4250).
• A plat. A subdivision plat can carry notes and building lines. A 1989 Chester County, Pennsylvania plat marked one lot "Deed Restricted" and cross-hatched a 1.16-acre open space buffer around it (Walsh v. East Pikeland Township, Pa. Commw. Ct. 2003).

Deed restrictions vs zoning, HOA rules and easements

Zoning is public law. A city or county adopts it, and it applies by district. Texas, for example, lets a city's governing body regulate building height and size, lot coverage, yards, population density, and "the location and use of buildings, other structures, and land for business, industrial, residential, or other purposes" (Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003). A deed restriction is a private right that the people it benefits enforce. The two run side by side, and passing one does not clear the other. The Vermont Supreme Court said the zoning rules and "the deed and Covenants in the case of the private property rights — are separate" (Blanche S. Marsh Inter Vivos Trust v. McGillvray, 2013 VT 6). Nevada's Supreme Court put it more bluntly: "A zoning ordinance cannot override privately-placed restrictions" (Western Land Co. v. Truskolaski, Nev. 1972).

Houston shows the difference. "The City of Houston is not zoned," its legal department says, so the state and city council authorized the city to help enforce recorded deed restrictions (Houston deed restriction FAQ). Texas lets qualifying cities sue over violations of recorded subdivision restrictions inside their boundaries, subject to the statute's limits, but a city may neither start nor continue that suit if a property owners' association with authority to enforce the restriction files suit (Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 212.151 and 212.153).

HOA rules are a separate layer. An association enforces the recorded covenants, and its board may also adopt rules of its own. California defines an "operating rule" as "a regulation adopted by the board" (Cal. Civ. Code 4340), and where an operating rule conflicts with the declaration, "the bylaws, articles of incorporation, or declaration shall prevail" (Cal. Civ. Code 4205). Texas groups them together: its "dedicatory instrument" includes the declaration and "properly adopted rules and regulations of the property owners' association" (Tex. Prop. Code 202.001).

Restrictions do not need an HOA. For qualifying residential subdivisions in the counties covered by Texas Property Code 204.002, section 204.006 gives a petition procedure to create an association where the existing restrictions provide none and require approval of more than 60 percent of owners to amend them (Tex. Prop. Code chapter 204), and the Bethany Beach deeds let "any co-lot owner in said plan" sue over a breach.

An easement is a right to use land; a restriction limits its use. Federal highway rules define an easement as an interest that "conveys a right to use or control a portion of an owner's property" (23 CFR 710.105). A restrictive covenant gives no one a right to occupy your land; it limits what you may do on it. See our easement vs. right-of-way guide.

Do deed restrictions run with the land?

Usually, if the document was meant to bind later owners and they had notice of it. The elements differ by state:

• Texas. "A covenant runs with the land when it touches and concerns the land; relates to a thing in existence or specifically binds the parties and their assigns; is intended by the original parties to run with the land; and when the successor to the burden has notice" (Inwood North Homeowners' Ass'n v. Harris, Tex. 1987). In 2018 the Texas Supreme Court repeated that a buyer who "purchases for value and without notice" takes the land free of the restriction (Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass'n, Tex. 2018).
• California. By statute, the instrument must particularly describe the burdened and benefited land, expressly bind successive owners, relate to the use, repair, maintenance or improvement of the land, and be recorded in each county where the land sits, among other conditions (Cal. Civ. Code 1468).
• Pennsylvania. Recording decides a lot. In Walsh, a township found a 1989 declaration saying the lot "shall not be further subdivided." It had not been recorded when the new owner bought, so it could not be used to deny his three-lot sketch plan. The only restriction of record at that point was the open space buffer on the recorded plan (Walsh).

How to find deed restrictions on a property

Start with the documents that create restrictions, then use the index and title commitment to catch what you missed.

1. Read the current deed. Look for "subject to," "restrictions," "covenants," "declaration" and any book-and-page or instrument number. A deed often names the restriction only by its recording reference, so write each one down.
2. Walk the chain of title back. A restriction may sit in a deed from decades ago or in a declaration only older deeds mention. Florida shows why references matter: its Marketable Record Title Act can extinguish restrictions created before the root of title, the last qualifying title transaction recorded at least 30 years earlier. Section 712.03 has exceptions, including a "specific reference to the official records book and page number, instrument number, or plat name" in the legal description of the root of title or a later title document; an affirmative statement in such a document preserving restrictions identified by official records book and page or instrument number; and a properly filed preservation notice. Age alone does not show a restriction has ended (Fla. Stat. 712.02 and 712.03).
3. Pull the recorded plat. Read every note, the dedication statement and any building or setback lines. The 2026 ALTA/NSPS survey standards require a land title survey to show "platted setback or building restriction lines that appear on recorded subdivision plats" (Section 6.C.vii).
4. Search the county recorder's index. Search by the subdivision name, the parcel number, and the developer's name as grantor in the years the subdivision was platted. Then look for later amendments, extensions and releases. Three real systems, checked November 12, 2026:
   • Harris County, Texas. The clerk's Real Property search takes grantor, grantee, "Subdivision or Description," instrument type, volume and page, section, lot and block. Images are online from November 1, 1960. Houston's FAQ advises having the legal description, lot and block, and subdivision name ready, and says restrictions can vary by section and even lot by lot.
   • Cook County, Illinois. The clerk's recordings search recommends searching by PIN and showed documents indexed through October 30, 2026. Condominium declarations, dedications and plats cannot be bought on the website; the clerk sells them at its downtown office.
   • King County, Washington. The recorder's Landmark Web system searches by name, document, book and page, parcel ID, recording date, recording number and legal description.
5. Read Schedule B of the title commitment. Restrictions appear there as exceptions. Get every listed document and read it. The 2021 ALTA commitment treats "any Discriminatory Covenant in a document referenced in Schedule B as if each Discriminatory Covenant is redacted, repudiated, removed," and excepts only the rest of the document (ALTA forms). Our title commitment guide explains the rest of Schedule B.
6. Get the association's documents. Ask for the declaration, every recorded amendment, the bylaws and any board rules, and ask whether an amendment or extension vote is pending.

Common deed restrictions on land

These come from recorded restrictions quoted in court opinions:

• Residential use, single-family structure and minimum size. Deeds in Timberwood Park Unit III, a subdivision platted in Bexar County, Texas in 1979, allowed "No building, other than a single family residence containing not less than 1,750 square feet, exclusive of open porches, breezeways, carports and garages," with at least 75% of the exterior ground floor walls in masonry (Tarr).
• No mobile homes. The same deeds said "no structures or house trailers of any kind may be moved on to the property."
• No commercial use. A 1941 subdivision in Reno, Nevada, limited all 40 acres to single-family dwellings and prohibited "any stores, butcher shops, grocery or mercantile business of any kind" (Western Land).
• No further subdivision. A 1948 deed of dedication in Fairfax County, Virginia, said "there shall be no resubdivision of any of said lots, without the written consent of three-fourths of the then owners of lots in said subdivision" (Barris v. Keswick Homes, Va. 2004).
• Building placement beyond zoning. At Quechee Lakes, Vermont, a 1971 deed required the dwelling "at the set back line of seventy (70) feet from Hillside Road" (Marsh).
• Conservation and farming. Massachusetts recognizes conservation restrictions that retain land or water areas predominantly "in their natural, scenic or open condition or in agricultural, farming or forest use." Its agricultural preservation restrictions can bar buildings except those used for agriculture or as dwellings for the landowner, the landowner's immediate family or employees (M.G.L. c. 184, § 31).

Wording decides the outcome. In 1976 the Texas Supreme Court held that "A restriction that property is for residence purposes is quite different from a restriction which additionally provides that only one residence may be erected on the property," and a residence-only covenant did not bar duplex or apartment housing (Stephenson v. Perlitz, as described in Tarr). In Tarr itself, the court held that renting a home short-term did not violate a covenant limiting tracts to "residential purposes," so long as the renters used it for a residential purpose.

Which deed restrictions are unenforceable?

Racially restrictive covenants cannot be enforced. In 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court held that "in granting judicial enforcement of the restrictive agreements in these cases, the States have denied petitioners the equal protection of the laws" (Shelley v. Kraemer). The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to publish any statement about the sale or rental of a dwelling that "indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin" (42 U.S.C. 3604). Old language still sits in the records, and some states let owners strike it:

• Texas. A restriction that prohibits use, sale, lease or transfer "because of race, color, religion, or national origin" is void (Tex. Prop. Code 5.026). Since September 1, 2021, an owner can file a verified motion to remove it in district court, or another court with jurisdiction over real property in the county. No filing fee is charged. If the court has not ruled by the 15th day, the motion is deemed granted, and the finding is recorded in the county's real property records (Section 5.0261).
• California. An owner, or a title company, escrow company, county recorder, broker or agent, may record a "Restrictive Covenant Modification." County counsel reviews the documents before recording, within a reasonable time not exceeding three months from the recording request unless extraordinary circumstances apply. Once approved and recorded, the modification removes the unlawful covenant from every property the original document covered (Cal. Gov. Code 12956.2).

Some states also void particular covenants by statute. In planned developments, California voids covenants that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on a lot zoned for single-family use, provided the unit meets the referenced state-law requirements, while allowing reasonable restrictions (Cal. Civ. Code 4751).

Can deed restrictions be removed or changed?

Sometimes. Which routes are open depends on the document and the state.

• The restriction expires. A declaration may set its own term and renewal rules. Some states set a limit by law: in Massachusetts, restrictions "unlimited as to time" are generally limited to 30 years from the deed or other instrument, or the probate of the will, that created them. Section 23 excepts gifts or devises for public, charitable or religious purposes, restrictions existing on July 16, 1887, restrictions in a deed, grant or gift of the Commonwealth, and restrictions that have the benefit of section 32, which covers qualifying conservation, agricultural preservation, watershed, historic preservation and affordable housing restrictions held by public bodies or qualifying charitable organizations (M.G.L. c. 184, § 23). Florida's Marketable Record Title Act can extinguish old restrictions that were not preserved, as described above.
• The owners amend or release it. Look for the amendment clause and the vote it requires, and read it closely. In Barris, just over three-fourths of the owners signed a 1984 "release of covenant" for one lot. Virginia's Supreme Court read it as consent to a one-time resubdivision, because the covenant gave the owners no power to grant a permanent release. The roughly 5-acre lot created by that split stayed restricted, so Keswick Homes, which owned it and was seeking county approval to resubdivide it again, needed fresh consent (Barris).
• Abandonment or waiver. Widespread, tolerated violations can end a restriction, but scattered ones do not. In Reno, past violations were "too distant and sporadic to constitute general consent" (Western Land).
• Changed conditions. Delaware's Supreme Court stated the rule: "A court will not enforce a restrictive covenant where a fundamental change has occurred in the intended character of the neighborhood that renders the benefits underlying imposition of the restrictions incapable of enjoyment." It added that "a change in zoning is not dispositive as against a private covenant" but is evidence of change (El Di). The bar is high. Reno grew from slightly more than 20,000 people in 1941 to about 95,100 in 1969, and Nevada's court still enforced the single-family covenant because it remained "of real and substantial value" to the homeowners (Western Land).
• A quiet title or declaratory judgment action. An owner can ask a court to decide whether a restriction applies. The Vermont owner in Marsh filed a declaratory judgment action in 2007 and obtained a building permit in 2008 while that suit was pending; the Vermont Supreme Court upheld enforcement of the private restrictions against the proposed house.

Ignoring one is costly. In Texas a court may assess civil damages "not to exceed $200 for each day of the violation" (Tex. Prop. Code 202.004), and the Timberwood association warned of a $25 daily fine.

Deed restrictions when buying or developing land

A home buyer reads the covenants to learn what they can add to a house. A land buyer reads them to learn whether the project can be built at all. In Marsh, the owner had zoning approval for a second house and the courts still blocked it.

Where a restriction kills a plan that zoning allows.

• Lot splits and subdivisions. A no-resubdivision covenant can require private consent separately from county approval. In Barris, the owner was seeking county approval, but the court held that the lot remained subject to the covenant requiring consent from three-fourths of the current lot owners. A flag lot or a two-lot split needs this check first.
• Duplexes, townhomes and apartments. A covenant allowing only "one detached single-family dwelling" or one residence per lot blocks extra units even after a city upzones, unless a state statute such as California's ADU law overrides it. Read the zoning (our R1 zoning guide shows how), then the covenant's exact words.
• Commercial and mixed use. A residential-only covenant can block commercial use even where the city is willing to rezone. In Reno it stopped a planned shopping center inside the subdivision.
• Yield. A covenant setback larger than the zoning setback, a minimum house size or a masonry rule changes the building envelope and the cost per lot.
• Assemblages. Each parcel may carry its own restrictions; Houston notes they can change by subdivision section or lot. Keep a record for each parcel.

How to read the exception in the title commitment. A Schedule B line may read like "Restrictions recorded in Volume X, Page Y" or name a declaration by instrument number. The exception identifies a matter proposed to be excluded from coverage; read its wording with the issued policy and any endorsements. It does not tell you what the document says. Read each one, and check for amendments recorded after it. ALTA publishes endorsements in its 9 series titled "Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions" for unimproved land, improved land and land under development (ALTA forms). Ask the title company which is available in your state and what it covers. Give every restriction to the surveyor: the ALTA/NSPS standards list "Any recorded easements, servitudes, or covenants burdening the property to be surveyed" among the documents the surveyor must receive (Section 4).

Questions to answer before an offer.

1. What recorded restrictions apply, and are they in a deed, a declaration or a plat? Who answers: the title company and the recorder's index.
2. Does any restriction limit lot count, resubdivision, unit type, house size, materials or use? Who answers: the documents themselves, read with your attorney.
3. Has any restriction expired, been amended or been released, and is a vote pending? Who answers: the recorder's index and the association.
4. Who can enforce it: an association, every lot owner in the plan, a prior grantor or, in a few Texas cities, the city? Who answers: your attorney.
5. Is any provision void under state or federal law? Who answers: your attorney, with the title company.
6. Will the title company add a covenants endorsement, and what does it cover? Who answers: the title company.
7. Does the plan also pass zoning and the future land use map? Who answers: the planning department. Our zoning vs. future land use guide shows how to check both.

Ask your attorney how the contract provides for reviewing exception documents and raising objections before the applicable deadline.

Where Pillar fits

Pillar's property search shows the owner, acreage, zoning and land use from the available parcel record, which is a quick first screen before you order title. It does not show recorded deed restrictions; the recorder's index, the title commitment and the documents themselves do.

Quick answers

Are deed restrictions public record? Recorded ones are. Search the county recorder or clerk by subdivision, parcel number or grantor name. An unrecorded restriction may not bind a buyer without notice, as Walsh held in Pennsylvania.

How long do deed restrictions last? As long as the document says, unless state law cuts it short. Massachusetts generally limits restrictions with no stated end to 30 years, with exceptions explained above. Read the term and any renewal clause in the declaration.

Can deed restrictions be enforced without an HOA? Yes. Depending on the document and state law, other lot owners, the original grantor or, in some Texas cities, the city can sue.

Do deed restrictions override zoning? They don't override it; both apply. Where zoning allows more than a covenant does, the covenant can still be enforced, as the Nevada and Vermont courts held.

Are deed restrictions the same as HOA rules? No. Deed restrictions are recorded against the land; board-adopted HOA rules sit under them, and in California the declaration prevails over a conflicting rule.

Can I get a deed restriction removed? Possibly, through expiration, an amendment vote, a release from everyone who benefits, or a court ruling on abandonment or changed conditions. Discriminatory language is void, and Texas and California have procedures to strike it from the record.