Legal Definitions - positive covenant

A positive covenant is a legal promise or agreement, typically found in property deeds or contracts, that requires one party to perform a specific action or spend money. Unlike a restrictive covenant, which prevents someone from doing something, a positive covenant imposes an obligation to actively do something, such as maintaining a structure, paying a fee, or providing a service.

Here are some examples to illustrate how positive covenants work:

• Imagine a homeowner in a planned community whose property deed includes a positive covenant requiring them to regularly paint the exterior of their house every five years. This covenant is in place to ensure the consistent aesthetic appeal of the neighborhood.

  This is a positive covenant because it obligates the homeowner to perform an action (painting) and potentially spend money to fulfill that obligation, rather than simply refraining from an activity.

• Consider two commercial property owners who share a private access road leading to their respective businesses. Their property deeds contain a positive covenant stating that they must jointly contribute to the cost of resurfacing and maintaining the road every ten years.

  This illustrates a positive covenant because it creates an ongoing obligation for both owners to spend money and take action (arrange for maintenance) to uphold the agreement for the shared infrastructure.

• A property developer sells plots of land in a new residential subdivision. The sales contracts include a positive covenant where the developer promises to build and maintain a community park and playground for the residents for the first 15 years after the development is completed.

  This is a positive covenant because it obligates the developer to perform actions (build and maintain facilities) and incur costs to provide amenities for the property owners, ensuring a certain standard of living within the community.