Webinar: Restrictive covenants

Restrictive covenants – are they worth the paper they’re written on?

Watch our Dispute Resolution team’s latest webinar.  Kyle Wyness and Katie Mann provide a general overview of this tricky area including the nature and enforceability of restrictive covenants, as well as a case law update in relation to the types of restrictive covenant that most commonly arise.

This webinar will be of interest to private landowners, property investors, developers, surveyors and land agents. The webinar is eligible for CPD points.

What is a restrictive covenant?

As a general starting point, a restrictive covenant is a condition imposed on a parcel of land which restricts the use in some way; the land affected by this restriction is called the burdened land. A restrictive covenant must be for the benefit of another person’s land, with the intention of the other person’s land being ‘protected’ by the covenant; this land is called the benefitting land. An example of this could be a covenant prohibiting the erection of more than one building or dwellinghouse on a piece of land.

Restrictive covenants vs positive covenants

Restrictive covenants are countered with positive covenants. Positive covenants impose an obligation on a party to positively do something to the land or to spend money, generally to improve or upkeep it. For example, a positive covenant may require a party to erect or maintain a boundary feature between two properties or, within a reasonable amount of time after a purchase, to install a water pipe or other service media.

Another key difference between positive and restrictive covenants is that the burden of restrictive covenants may bind successors to title whereas positive covenants generally will not. The purchaser of land burdened by a positive covenant will usually need to enter into a deed of covenant for the obligation imposed to pass and be binding on them in future.