Restrictive covenants are the specific rules recorded against a property — as part of the community's Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) — that limit how an owner can use or modify their home. Common examples include approved exterior paint colors, restrictions on fences or landscaping, parking rules, and limits on things like short-term rentals or visible clutter.
Because they're recorded against the property itself rather than just written into a homeowner's individual contract, restrictive covenants bind every future owner too, not just the person who bought when the community was built.
The board (or its architectural committee) typically monitors compliance and issues violation notices when a covenant is broken, following whatever escalation process the governing documents lay out — often starting with a warning, then fines, and in persistent cases, legal action. Enforcement generally needs to be applied consistently across the community; a board that enforces a rule against one homeowner but ignores the same violation elsewhere can undermine its own ability to enforce it at all.
Yes — covenants can be amended through whatever process the governing documents specify, usually requiring a supermajority vote of the membership. Existing structures or uses that were compliant when built but would violate a newly added or changed covenant are often protected under a grandfather clause, meaning the rule applies going forward without forcing existing owners to retroactively comply.
Boards updating covenants should think through grandfathering explicitly, since failing to address it clearly is a common source of disputes when a new rule takes effect.
