Also known as: runs with the land · run with the land · ran with the land · covenant running with the land
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An obligation or right created by a covenant or promise respecting land use that automatically passes to successors in interest upon conveyance of the relevant parcel. The benefit runs only to the extent the original parties intended and only to a successor who acquires an interest in the land to which the promise relates.
Roberto Reyes conveyed land to Roger Ramirez by general warranty deed containing a covenant against encumbrances. Ramirez later conveyed the same parcel to Rowan Russell. When Russell discovered an undisclosed lien, he enforced the covenant against Reyes because the covenant had run with the land.
RiverKeep Conservancy recorded a document requiring all future owners to preserve a footpath across the tract. Chen purchased the tract with record notice and blocked the path. Neighboring owners enforced the obligation against Chen because the recorded promise was intended to run with the land.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A recorded building declaration required each unit owner to contribute to shared library maintenance. Global Legal purchased a unit and refused to pay, claiming the duty was personal to the original owners. The court held the affirmative covenant ran with the land because Global Legal succeeded to the interest of the original beneficiary.
Lakeside Village recorded CC&Rs limiting pet ownership in each unit. Nahrstedt purchased a unit years later and kept three cats in violation of the restrictions. The association enforced the restrictions against Nahrstedt because the covenants ran with the land and bound successive owners.
Broadwest obtained an option to purchase property and the agreement stated the option was a covenant running with the land. Broadwest assigned its lease and option rights to Pergola Properties. Symphony Space argued the option did not bind it, but the covenant ran to the successor because the parties intended it to travel with the land.
Eyerman's will directed that her house be razed and the lot left vacant. The executor sought to sell the property free of the restriction. The court refused enforcement because the covenant against building would run with the land yet constituted an unreasonable restraint that injured the community.
The parties must have intended the benefit to run. The successor must acquire some interest in the land to which the promise relates. Recording supplies notice but does not itself create the running quality.
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Future covenants such as quiet enjoyment and warranty run with the land and may be enforced by subsequent grantees. Present covenants are breached at delivery and do not run unless expressly assigned.
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No. A license is a personal privilege arising from consent and does not create an interest in land. Only easements, real covenants, and equitable servitudes that satisfy the running requirements bind successors.
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An appurtenant easement ends when one party acquires both dominant and servient estates to the extent the use can be made by virtue of fee ownership alone. The easement does not revive automatically upon later severance.
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…with buildings. On a motion to discharge that order, Mr. R. Palmer for the defendant contended that the covenant did not run with the land so as to be binding at law upon a purchaser from the covenantor, and he relied on the dictum of Lord Brougham C. in Keppell v. Bayley (2 M. & K. 547) to the effect that notice of such a…