Property purchase: Watch out for restrictive covenants

Nature of Legal Covenants

It is important to understand the nature of legal covenants to get an insight into restrictive covenants. A “legal covenant” generally refers to a contractual understanding, agreement or written promise between two parties, which constitutes a pledge to perform a particular act or refrain from doing something which has been outlined in specific terms.

Some of the features of legal covenants are:

Contractual agreements are enforceable in a court of law.

“Positive covenants” refer to those legally binding promises, which lead to the performance of predefined actions.

n When the covenant prohibits the performance of a specific act or set of actions, then it is known as a “restrictive covenant”.

The individual who undertakes or promises to perform a certain act is referred to as the “covenanter”.

The other party in the legal covenant, to who the promise is made, is called the “covenantee”.

Restrictive Covenants

The restrictive covenants, which are typically mentioned in the title deed are in the nature of legal obligations imposed on the purchaser of the property by the seller and buyers are expected to adhere to them.

Restrictions which ‘Run

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