Restrictive covenants limit use of land by agreement. In subdivisions and commercial developments they are recorded as declarations and bind successive owners.

Running with the land. A covenant binds successors where the original parties intended it to, it touches and concerns the land, and there is the required relationship between the parties. Equitable servitudes achieve a similar result in equity with notice substituting for strict privity.

Enforcement. By the association, by the developer while it retains rights, and by other owners within a common scheme. Injunctive relief is the usual remedy.

Defenses. Changed conditions in the neighborhood so substantial that the restriction’s purpose can no longer be achieved; abandonment through widespread violation tolerated over time; waiver and estoppel as to a particular owner; and laches.

Amendment. The declaration’s own amendment provision controls, and courts scrutinize amendments that impose new burdens on existing owners rather than merely administering the scheme.

Termination statutes. Marketable title acts in many states extinguish old restrictions unless re-recorded, which surprises both those relying on them and those who assumed they were gone.

In commercial settings, use restrictions, exclusives and no-build areas are the most valuable and most litigated, and a title search that stops at the current deed will not find them.