restrictive covenant

American  

noun

1. a covenant with a clause that restricts the action of any party to it, especially an agreement among property owners not to sell to members of particular minority groups.

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restrictive covenant British  

noun

1. law a covenant imposing a restriction on the use of land for the purpose of preserving the enjoyment or value of adjoining land

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Etymology

Origin of restrictive covenant

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

County has hired a company for about $8 million to redact racially restrictive covenant language from millions of county records.

From Los Angeles Times

As a historian, Redford said she fears that removing the restrictive covenant language from land records won’t likely cause history to repeat itself in terms of such blatant racial restrictions, but it does raise concerns about whether people will grasp how those policies also separated people by class.

From Los Angeles Times

In a stroke of legal brilliance, he argued that the racially restrictive covenant must be ruled invalid because it violated the rights of the white property owner to sell his or her property as he or she sees fit.

From Los Angeles Times

Goodloe, who is Black, uncovered his 1939 home’s original restrictive covenant earlier this year when he looked up the deed.

From Washington Post

Since 2019, property owners have been able to file a “restrictive covenant modification” through the county recorder’s office, which effectively adds a document to the record amounting to a formal disavowal of the language and notice that the discriminatory provisions are void and unenforceable.

From Seattle Times