Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R)

Key Takeaways

• Covenants, conditions, and restrictions are private rules recorded against the land, so they bind every later owner whether or not that owner signed the declaration.
• Recorded restrictions are enforced by the owners association or by another owner in the community, while zoning is enforced by the city or county.
• In Washington a recorded provision restricting conveyance, occupancy, or lease by race, disability, or another listed class is void, and inserting or honoring one is an unfair practice (RCW 49.60.224).
• A Washington condominium seller must furnish a resale certificate that includes the declaration, bylaws, and association rules, and the buyer's contract is voidable until it arrives and for five days after (RCW 64.34.425).

What It Means

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are the private rulebook for a subdivision, a Condominium, or a planned community. A developer records the declaration in the county records before the lots or units sell, and from that moment the rules run with the land. Every buyer who takes title afterward takes it subject to them, including one who never read the declaration.

The declaration usually sets what an owner may build, how the exterior may look, whether a unit may be rented short term, where vehicles may be parked, and what the association may charge in dues and assessments. It is private law sitting alongside public Zoning, so a city permit does not override the declaration and the declaration does not override the city. An owner can be well inside the zoning code and still violate the recorded restrictions.

Enforcement comes from the association or from another owner in the community rather than from a public agency. Because the declaration is recorded, it appears in a title report as an exception to title, which is where most buyers first learn it exists.

How It Works in Washington

Washington treats recorded restrictions as something a buyer must be shown before closing. For condominiums, RCW 64.34.425 requires the selling unit owner to furnish a resale certificate signed by an officer or authorized agent of the association, and that certificate must include a copy of the declaration, the bylaws, the rules or regulations of the association, and the association's current reserve study if one exists. The statute backs it with timing: the purchaser's contract is voidable by the purchaser until the certificate has been provided and for five days after that, or until conveyance, whichever occurs first.

Washington also deals with the ugliest part of the historical record. Under RCW 49.60.224, every provision in a written instrument relating to real property that purports to forbid or restrict conveyance, encumbrance, occupancy, or lease to people of a specified race, creed, color, sex, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation, families with children status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or any sensory, mental, or physical disability is void, and inserting or attempting to honor one is an unfair practice under the Washington Law Against Discrimination. RCW 49.60.227 gives an owner two ways to clear the language: a declaratory judgment action in superior court to strike it from the public records, or a recorded restrictive covenant modification document, which the statute allows without a filing fee.

Example

Priya Raman buys a townhome in a Kent community for $565,000. The preliminary title report lists the recorded declaration as an exception to title. Priya plans to run a dog grooming business out of the attached garage, and the county's home occupation rules would allow it at that address. The declaration, however, limits each unit to residential use and bars any business that draws customer traffic. Zoning says yes and the recorded restriction says no, so Priya cannot operate. Escrow closes anyway, because the restriction is not a defect in title, it is a limit on use that she takes subject to. Three months in, the association sends a notice of violation and begins charging the $50 per week fine the declaration authorizes. That fine is a private remedy under the recorded rules, and the county never becomes involved.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• CC&Rs are private; zoning is public. An answer choice that calls CC&Rs an exercise of police power is wrong, because police power belongs to government.
• A buyer is bound by recorded restrictions even though the buyer never signed the declaration. An answer choice that frees the buyer for lack of signature is wrong.
• A condominium resale certificate is not the seller disclosure statement. The certificate comes from the association and describes the community; Form 17 comes from the seller and describes the unit.
• A racially restrictive covenant in an old declaration is void and unenforceable, but it does not vanish on its own. Washington provides a court action or a recorded modification document to clear the wording from the record.