Deed restrictions

[bdog]

I am looking at buying a house with ten acres and am concerned about the deed restrictions. There is no HOA, just deed restrictions. The subdivision consists of ten ten acre tracts and is rural.

The deed restrictions state:
"The property shall be used for farm or residential purposes only; and no business or commercial enterprise of any kind shall be conducted or permited on such property"

What exactly does this mean? I am sure the general intent is the do not want businesses there, signs up, customers coming and going, people going there to work, lots of traffic, etc. What about home based business like a guy that is a contractor and keeps his truck and trailer there or a landscaper, etc. What about if the woman was into Avon or Mary Kay or even if you had an ebay business, etc?

I am looking to buy the property and build a 50' x 100' shop to store my business vehicles in. No one will be working there, no customers coming to the property, no signs, not a lot of traffic, etc. I doubt I would bother anyone and I don't think it would be an issue but I would hate to buy the place and build a 75k shop and then run into problems.

Who interprets Deed restrictions or enforces them?

 

[CurlyDave]

See a lawyer.

I have no idea who actually enforces deed restrictions -- does someone else have to sue you to enforce them?

 

[bdog]

I think I will ultimately see one but trying to get a feel for it before hand.

Of the ten houses there is one guy who drives a 18 wheeler and hauls cattle. He regularly parks the truck at his house. Another guy is a contractor and has a trailer or two with his tools there.


Seems like these days everyone has a home business of some sort.

 

[jinman]

It's my experience that without the power and authority of an active HOA, deed restrictions mean nothing. In the area where I live, we have 10 to 15 acre tracts. The HOA has disbanded. The only deed restriction that is enforced is the limit of 2 acres minimum when subdividing into lots. That's a state/county restriction because of septic systems. You cannot get a septic system approved on less than 2 acres.

The other deed restrictions say there can be no inoperable motor vehicles for more than 60 days. The restrictions say that any resident can have the vehicles towed away. One of the neighbors has about 20 junk cars back in the woods. I'm not about to go back there to tow those nor is anyone else. I'm also not willing to bear the full cost of legal action against him or the other neighbors who raise pigs, have scrap yards full of excess building materials, junk vehicles, and run businesses; all of which are against deed restrictions. I don't even know if I'd try to fight to keep a neighbor from building closer than 50' to the property line, also a restriction.

If there is any doubt in your mind about what you can do, I'd look around at other neighbors in that area and see what they have and do. What you are describing is not what I would consider running a business out of your property. Most likely you will find that if the HOA does ever become active, there will be lots of changes made to the restrictions because others have also failed to follow the "letter of the law."

One additional thing: Is the land located completely out of any city? If you are in a city, you might find some zoning issues that would enforce deed restrictions, but out in the county in unincorporated areas, I think you would be free to do as you please.

 

[dave1949]

That's a touchy subject. I think in general, deed restictions are enforced by your neighbors. If it is something blatant, like sub-dividing, the town or county might do something.

It's a mess really. The concept is good, different people have different tastes. I might not like one thing and you another. You would think we could each find neighborhoods to our individual liking. But that isn't generally the way it works out in reality.

I would speak to your potential new neighbors at least to get an idea of their attitudes. After all, if you move there, you'll want to get to know them.

Dave.

 

[woodchuckie]

Some businesses' I see out of homes are auto repair shop, beauty shop, deer processing, taxidermy, pageant dress shop, produce and scrap metal storage.
Some of these I'm sure you wouldn't want to see going to your house. I don't think the things you mention would be a problem for anyone.

 

[EarPlug]

This article may help

recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1434.pdf

 

[bdog]

Excellent replys so far.

It is not in any city nor likely will never be. It is about 15 miles from town.

I looked at the property last week but now am out of town on a three week business trip. I am trying to negotiate the deal while I am gone but I am not there to talk to the neighboors, etc. These are all nice houses 2500 -3500 sq feet and all built in the last 3 years. Lots of the peoploe have big shops or horse barns.

I really dont see how I could bother anyone but you never know. We atually love our house on 1/2 acre now but are tired of paying $1000 a month for shop rent so we are looking for a place with more land where we can build a shop.

 

[dave1949]

In this real esate market, I'm sure you could put in a conditional offer that would allow you time to scope out the deed restriction issues, talk to neighbors, county/township, etc, just make that explicit in the offer. It doesn't cost anything to discover probelms. It can be expensive to fix them later.

 

[Mike Costello]

Can you find out if any of those deed restrictions have been recorded with the county? Many times, restrictions are placed on the land by the original land owner who is looking to subdivide the property. Once all the parcels are sold he's out of it and could care less. Also, since the HOA has been disbanded, it sounds like no one is too keen on enforcing those restrictions. If they're informal restrictions (not recorded) you are probably in the clear. Parking or storing business vehicles on your property doesn't mean you are actually running a businees out of your property--only a nitpicker would try to enforce that one as a violation.