brierwood articles

The fifteenth paragraph says the covenants run with the land and bind everyone claiming under them for 25 years from January 1, 1969. After that they extend automatically for successive periods of ten years, unless a document signed by a majority of the then owners of the affected lots, agreeing to change them in whole or part, has been recorded. The scanned text is partly hard to read at that point.

Counting from 1969, the first 25 years ended at the start of 1994. The ten-year periods since then run to 2004, 2014, 2024 and 2034, so on a plain reading the present period ends on January 1, 2034, with another automatic ten years after that unless a majority of owners record a change.

Enforcement does not depend on any association. The sixteenth paragraph says that if anyone violates or tries to violate a covenant, any other owner of real estate in the development may bring a legal or equitable proceeding to stop it or to recover damages. That is a common arrangement for deed restrictions in communities without an HOA.

The seventeenth paragraph adds a right for the developer. If a structure is built in violation of the restrictions and isn't corrected within 30 days of notice, the developer or its agents may enter the lot and abate or remove it at the owner's expense, and the entry is not a trespass. It also says that failing to enforce a restriction is not a waiver: a long delay does not give up the right to act later on that breach or a different one.

The eighteenth paragraph says that if any covenant is found invalid, the rest remain in full force. Taken together, these provisions explain why a document from 1969 still matters to lots sold today.

This is a plain-language summary of a recorded document from 1969, not legal advice. The recorded text controls, it may have been amended or supplemented, and who holds the developer's rights today is a question for a title company or an attorney. Registered members can read the scanned declaration on the Documents page.