What are deed restrictions on Texas land, and where do you check them?

• A deed restriction is a rule about how land can be used, recorded and usually passed from owner to owner.
• Texas law calls them restrictive covenants: covenants, conditions or restrictions in a recorded instrument.
• They can sit in the deed itself, in a subdivision document, or in a property owners' association's documents.
• They show up as exceptions in the title commitment, and each one has its own document in the county records.
• The Texas contract gives you a deadline to object if one conflicts with what you plan to do. Miss it and things get harder.

Every tract has its own, and some have none. These are the ones most often found on Texas land and in subdivisions:

• Type of home. Site-built only, or manufactured or mobile homes allowed, or not.
• Minimum home size, and sometimes exterior materials.
• How many homes can go on the land, and whether it can be split.
• Setbacks from the road and property lines.
• Animals: which ones, how many, or none beyond household pets.
• Business use: whether a shop, a client-facing office, heavy equipment or parked commercial vehicles are allowed.
• Fences, outbuildings, trailers and RVs.
• A property owners' association, with its own dues and rules.

For a business owner this is critical: the land can be perfect, but if the restrictions don't allow your shop or your work vehicles, the plan doesn't work.

1. In the title commitment. The title company delivers it before closing. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) explains that it lists potential issues, exclusions and exceptions, and that items listed there can become exceptions in Schedule B of your policy. Recorded restrictions usually appear there, with a recording reference.
2. In the county property records. Use that reference to pull the full document. Texas law requires a property owners' association to file its documents in the real property records of each county where the property is located.
3. In the seller's deed and older deeds. Sometimes restrictions were written into an old deed from when the land was first divided.
4. In the association's documents, if there is one: rules, dues, building approvals.
5. With the city or county. Government rules such as zoning or permits are a separate layer from private restrictions. Ask about them separately.

If you want to review a property before you offer, book 30 minutes to talk about your situation.

Here's what happens next when you find a restriction that doesn't work for you:

• Read the whole thing. What looks like a ban sometimes has exceptions or refers to something else.
• Object on time. The TREC resale contract lets you object in writing to exceptions that prohibit a use or activity you specify in the contract, within a deadline. That's why it pays to write your intended use into the contract from the start: shop, livestock, a second dwelling, whatever it is.
• Ask whether it can be changed. Some restrictions have an amendment process or an expiration. It depends on the document.
• Look at another tract. Often the simplest answer. Land without that rule may cost you less time and fewer headaches.

A real estate attorney confirms what each document means and who can enforce it. This isn't legal advice; it's the checklist of what to review.

You don't have to wait for the title commitment to start asking. Before you sign, these questions can save you weeks:

1. To the seller: do you have a copy of the restrictions? Is there an owners' association? Has anyone ever complained about a structure, a fence or animals?
2. To the title company, as soon as the file opens: what recorded restrictions apply to this land, and where is each document?
3. To the association, if there is one: which rules apply to what I want to build? Do I need approval before construction?
4. To the city or county: what permits do I need for the house, the shop, the driveway, the septic system?
5. To your lender, if you're financing: does anything about the land use or the type of home change the loan?

Here's what that means for you: the sooner these get asked, the more options you have when a restriction turns up that doesn't fit. Ask inside your deadlines and you decide. Ask after closing and the restriction decides.

Keep the answers in writing, too. An email from the association or the title company is far more useful later than a conversation nobody remembers the same way.

• "Outside city limits there are no rules." Plenty of people used to believe that. Land outside city limits can carry recorded private restrictions just like a subdivision.
• Trusting the listing or the seller. "Animals allowed" in a listing doesn't replace the recorded document.
• Reading the title commitment after the objection deadline. Read it the day it arrives.
• Leaving your intended use out of the contract. If it doesn't say what you plan to do, objecting to a restriction that blocks it is harder.
• Mixing up restrictions and easements. An easement gives someone else a right over a strip; a restriction puts rules on you. Review both.

Picture a business owner looking for land on the edge of Dallas-Fort Worth for a home and a shop to store equipment. They find a tract they love and write into the contract that they intend to use it for a residence and a shop with work vehicles.

When the title commitment arrives, it lists a recorded restriction. Reading the full document, it bars commercial activity and commercial vehicles parked in view. Because it surfaced inside the deadline and the intended use was written into the contract, they can object and decide calmly: negotiate, look for a workaround, or walk away as the contract allows.

This is an example, not a real client. In the land purchases Veronica Yeary handles across Dallas-Fort Worth, restrictions are read in full, not just the one line in the commitment.

• Schedule B of the title commitment, line by line, for restrictions.
• The full document behind each restriction, from the county records.
• Any property owners' association: its rules, dues and building approvals.
• Your intended use written into the contract: home, shop, livestock, second dwelling, business.
• City or county rules, which are separate from private restrictions.
• Easements and the survey, so you see the whole picture before closing.

The title company confirms what's recorded, and your attorney what it means. My part is making sure all of it gets requested and read in time.

What are deed restrictions in Texas?

They're recorded rules on how land can be used, such as the type of home, size, animals or business use. Texas law calls them restrictive covenants. They usually stay with the land when it sells.

How do I find the deed restrictions on a property?

Start with Schedule B of the title commitment. Use the recording reference to pull the full document from the county property records. If there's an owners' association, get its documents too.

Can land outside city limits have deed restrictions?

Yes. Private restrictions can be recorded even when land sits outside city limits. That's why you check every time, wherever the land is.

Can I object to a restriction before closing?

The TREC contract lets you object in writing to exceptions that prohibit a use or activity you specify in the contract, within a deadline. That's why you write your intended use in from the start. Your contract and your attorney confirm your case.

Are deed restrictions the same as zoning?

No. Deed restrictions are private and come from recorded documents. Zoning and permits are government rules from the city or county. Check both separately.

If you have land in mind and want to know what rules come with it before you commit, let's talk for 30 minutes about your situation, not houses: veronicayeary.com/en/book.

Call or text 469-441-8890 · veronica@veronicayeary.com

Veronica Yeary, Realtor®, CRS, ABR, SRS and CIPS. All City Real Estate DFW. Here's what happens next: you send me the property, and we read the paperwork together.