Home Building Success 101 – Covenants and Building Codes

Question

What is the legal relationship between covenants and building codes?

Answer

Most planned communities have legal covenants-more formally known as “codes, covenants, and restrictions.” In most cases, covenants are considered a civil contract and are not enforced or monitored by the city or town. A community’s covenants may be more restrictive than the jurisdiction as a whole, but they cannot allow something that the city town, or state codes prohibit.