A Covenant is, in essence, a promise.
A restrictive covenant is a private written agreement between landowners to restrict the use or development of land for the benefit of other land. The land where the restrictions apply is called the ‘burdened’ land. The land that benefits from the restrictions on the burdened land is called the ‘benefited’ land.
A Restrictive covenant will most likely be registered on the title to a property when a developer subdivides land for sale and wishes to apply some restrictions on the use and development of the lots to benefit or protect other land.
A covenant that limits the use and development of a lot to a single house is a common type of restrictive covenant. Covenants also restrict the type of building materials that can be used for new buildings. The more extreme forms of covenants we have seen can limit the type of turf that can be laid on a particular property.
It should be noted that the onus is on the owner of the benefited land to enforce the covenant. It should also be noted that most Environmental Planning Instruments, such as Local Environmental Plans, contain provisions suspending the operation of covenants which have the effect of restricting development that would otherwise be permitted under the Environmental Planning Instrument.
For any queries that you may have in relation to restrictive covenants, call First State Conveyancing today on 1800 180 102.
