Also known as: real covenant · covenants running with the land
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A written promise concerning land use that historically ran with the land at law when the parties intended it to bind successors, the promise touched and concerned the land, and horizontal and vertical privity existed between the original parties and their successors. Modern doctrine treats such promises as servitudes enforceable under unified rules that no longer require separate labels or the full set of traditional privity elements.
Riverstone Manufacturing subdivided its waterfront parcel and sold one tract to Trident Marine Corp and another to Anchor Storage LLC. Both buyers refused to maintain the shared dock required by a recorded covenant benefiting Bayview Marina. Bayview sued each successor, and the court held that the burden continued on every resulting parcel because the covenant ran with the land.
Rita Russell purchased a unit in Lakeside Village subject to recorded covenants limiting pets. She kept three cats despite the restriction. The association sought to enforce the covenant against her as a successor owner, and the court applied the running-covenant analysis to determine whether the burden bound her.
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Raphael Rivera owned a unit in La Jolla Shores and objected to the association's decision on common-area maintenance. He sued claiming the association acted unreasonably. The court reviewed whether the governing covenants ran with the land and bound successors under the applicable enforcement standards.
The covenant must be in writing, the original parties must intend it to bind successors, it must touch and concern the land, and both horizontal and vertical privity must exist. Modern analysis under the Restatement focuses on intent, creation method, validity, and termination rather than these separate labels.
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The Restatement abandons the separate labels and treats both as servitudes encompassed within the term covenant that runs with land. It eliminates the need to distinguish enforcement at law from enforcement in equity for most purposes.
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No. When land subject to a running covenant is subdivided, each resulting parcel ordinarily remains burdened unless the creating instrument provides otherwise. A court may apportion the obligation if necessary to avoid an unreasonable increase in total burden.
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…is possible only if the restriction that is sought to be enforced meets the requirements of equitable servitudes or of covenants running with the land. (Cal. Condominium and Planned Development Practice, supra , §§ 8.42-8.44, pp. 666-668; Note, Covenants and Equitable Servitudes in California (1978) 29 Hastings L.J. 545,…