Restrictions stipulated in the deed to your property can limit the size of the home that can be built on the lot, so if you’re planning a large addition, you need to check your deed for limitations. Other common restrictions regulate access to your property and to adjacent properties. You may not be able to change your driveway access or do anything in your remodeling project that would block access to other properties or violate rights-of-way, or light and air rights. Deed restrictions can limit the height of homes and the placement of fences.

 

 In some cases, restrictions may be altered in negotiations with the holder. In others, the rule of adverse possession can work for or against you if you should try to alter deed restrictions. A concept in common law, adverse possession holds that if a party holds or uses land belonging to another party in violation of the owner’s rights for a specified period of time (usually 10 to 12 years) without legal challenge, the first party can claim title to the land without compensation to the owner.

 

Adverse possession often comes into play in cases involving placement of fences and rights-of-way. Say, for example, you long ago planted a hedge to create a natural barrier between your yard and your neighbors’, but they didn’t notice and said nothing for years, but their kids routinely cut through the hedge and used your yard as a shortcut to the school bus. Now you want a permit to build a fence, but you don’t want to take out the mature hedge—you want to erect it on the neighbor’s property.

 

If the neighbor objects, you still might be allowed to place the fence where you want to on the grounds of adverse possession. But the authorities might rule that you need to install a gate in the fence so that the neighbors can still cut through your yard. Invariably, attorneys are needed to negotiate alterations to deed restrictions.

 

 Covenants are technically deed restrictions held by homeowner or community associations and resemble zoning restrictions. These associations may include condominium and cooperative forms of ownership.

 

Covenants can prescribe standards for the size and appearance of homes, permissible property uses and even who may live in your home. Many “adult communities” prohibit children from living within them. Covenants also often restrict the days and hours during which construction work may proceed.

 

Administration and enforcement of covenants is usually in the hands of a board of directors. Their powers are broad within the authority granted by the deed, although they cannot be exercised in an arbitrary manner. If your remodeling project might require exceptions to covenants, you’ll want to bring the matter to the board before construction starts.