How Can Restrictive Covenants and Easements Trigger Litigation for Maryland Property Owners?

Restrictive covenants and easements trigger litigation when one owner’s plans collide with someone else’s right to limit or use the same land. In Maryland, the collision takes familiar forms: an HOA that rejects a new garage, a neighbor who keeps driving across a back corner, a buyer who finds an access lane only after the deed is signed.

The pattern repeats in Owings Mills subdivisions and on rural acreage outside Reisterstown. A restriction or a right sits quietly for years, sometimes in the land records and sometimes only in long habit. Then someone wants to build, sell, subdivide, or hang a gate. Nguyen Roche’s real estate litigation attorneys represent Maryland property owners, buyers, and community associations in disputes over who may use land and how.

What Is the Difference Between a Restrictive Covenant and an Easement in Maryland?

A restrictive covenant limits how land may be used, such as a ban on commercial activity or a height cap on fences, while an easement gives someone else a right to use part of the land. Both usually run with the property, binding every later owner, and both can spark lawsuits when neighbors disagree.

The burdened land is the servient estate, and the benefited land is the dominant estate. An easement appurtenant attaches to a parcel, while an easement in gross belongs to a person or company, which is how most utility lines cross residential lots. Covenants tend to arrive in bundles. An HOA declaration, often called the CC&Rs, can hold dozens of restrictions on rentals, parking, and outbuildings.

Feature	Restrictive Covenant	Easement
What it does	Limits what the owner may do	Lets someone else do something on the land
Typical example	No commercial vehicles parked in driveways	Shared driveway serving a rear lot
Where it usually appears	Deeds and HOA declarations	Deeds, recorded plats, and utility grants
Usual court question	Does the restriction apply, and is it still valid?	Does the right exist, and how far does it reach?

 

How Do Maryland Courts Enforce a Restrictive Covenant?

Maryland courts read a restrictive covenant like a contract. Clear language is enforced as written, but ambiguous terms are generally resolved against the party trying to enforce the restriction. The Appellate Court of Maryland applied these rules in The Howard Research & Development Corporation v. IMH Columbia, LLC (2025), a Columbia Town Center dispute that ended in a damages verdict.

Clear wording cuts both ways. In the Columbia opinion, the court read the covenant holder’s consent right narrowly: it applied only when a change required more common parking on the holder’s property. Because the owner kept all new parking on its own lot, refusing to approve the plan was itself a breach.

Who holds that veto matters just as much. Enforcement typically comes from:

• A homeowners association acting under its recorded declaration
• The original developer or a successor that kept architectural approval rights
• Neighboring lot owners, where the restrictions were part of a common scheme of development
• A local government that conveyed land subject to use restrictions

Most of these fights start small: a detached garage, a tall fence, a home business, a short-term rental. In HOA communities across Howard County and Baltimore County, a denied request is often the first document in a covenant lawsuit.

Which Covenant Restrictions Will Maryland Law Not Enforce?

Some covenants cannot be enforced as written. Maryland Real Property § 2-119 bars covenants and HOA rules that impose unreasonable limits on rooftop or exterior-wall solar collectors, and Real Property § 3-112 lets owners record a modification striking covenant language that restricts ownership based on race, religious belief, or national origin.

Solar Panels and HOA Rules

Associations keep some say over solar panels, but not through rules that significantly raise a system’s cost or cut its efficiency. Forcing panels onto a shaded roof slope could cross that line.

The solar access statute goes a step further, letting an owner negotiate a recorded solar easement with a neighbor that describes the protected sunlight in measurable terms. Properties listed in, or eligible for, the Maryland Register of Historic Properties fall outside the rule.

Removing Discriminatory Deed Language

Racially restrictive covenants lost their legal force generations ago, but the words never left many older deeds in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Maryland’s covenant modification statute clears them from the record:

1. Prepare a complete copy of the original instrument with only the discriminatory language struck through.
2. Attach the intake sheet from the Administrative Office of the Courts, signed by the record owner.
3. Submit both to the clerk of the circuit court, who forwards them to the county attorney for review.
4. Once the county attorney confirms that only unlawful language was removed, the clerk records the modification.

HOA declarations fall outside this process and follow their own amendment rules.

Can an Old Restrictive Covenant Become Unenforceable?

An old covenant can lose its force through waiver or changed circumstances. Under City of Bowie v. MIE Properties, Inc. (2007), a court may decline enforcement when a radical change in the neighborhood means the restriction can no longer serve its original purpose, though the passage of time alone is not enough.

Waiver comes in two forms. Waiver by acquiescence asks whether the party enforcing the covenant tolerated this particular owner’s violation. Waiver by abandonment asks whether so many other owners broke the rule that it no longer means anything. Under that decision, the owner raising either defense carries the burden of proof and must show the enforcing party knew about the violations.

Owners building either defense usually gather:

• Photographs and permit records showing similar structures or uses throughout the subdivision
• Prior approvals the association granted other owners for the same type of project
• Rezoning, road widening, or commercial growth that reshaped the surrounding area
• Proof that the original developer or association no longer exists to enforce the restriction

How Is an Easement Created in Maryland?

Maryland easements arise in four main ways: an express written grant, implication from the way a parcel was used before it was divided, strict necessity for a landlocked lot, or prescription through long-term adverse use. A written easement must satisfy the statute of frauds in Real Property § 5-104 to be enforceable.

Signing and recording do different jobs, so Maryland’s statute of frauds is only the first hurdle. Recording the grant in the county land records is what protects it against a later buyer. Older deeds in rural Baltimore County sometimes describe a right of way only as “the existing lane,” a gap that surfaces the moment the land changes hands.

Implied easements tend to blindside sellers. When an owner runs a sewer line or driveway across one part of a tract to serve another, then sells without addressing it, a court may find the buyer took the land subject to that use. Implied and prescriptive rights rarely appear in a title search, so many owners learn about them only when a dispute begins.

When Does a Neighbor’s Long-Term Use Become a Prescriptive Easement?

A neighbor can gain a prescriptive easement in Maryland by using another person’s land adversely, exclusively, and without interruption for twenty years, as set out in Banks v. Pusey (2006). Courts presume unexplained long-term use was under a claim of right, so the owner must then prove it was permissive. Silence or failure to object counts as acquiescence, not permission.

Daily use isn’t required, only use regular enough to put a reasonable owner on notice, so even a seasonal path to the water can qualify. Maryland’s adverse possession statute expressly leaves this common-law doctrine of prescription intact.

Wooded land is different: courts presume that use of wild, unenclosed land is permissive. The public can earn the same kind of right. In a 2024 Queen Anne’s County case, the court recognized a public prescriptive easement over a private community’s road intersection after decades of unchallenged public travel and county maintenance.

A little paperwork keeps a neighborly favor from hardening into a right:

• Put the permission in a short written license that both owners sign
• Post signs stating that passage is permitted and may be revoked
• Close the route briefly at intervals and document each closure
• Keep emails or letters in which the neighbor asked for permission

What Is an Easement by Necessity, and When Does a Landlocked Parcel Get One?

Under Stansbury v. MDR Development, L.L.C. (2006), Maryland recognizes an easement by necessity when a parcel once under common ownership is split by a conveyance that leaves one piece with no legal access. The necessity must be strict; mere inconvenience or a longer route does not create a right of way.

A parcel that reaches a public road only through steep or wooded frontage may still have legal access, and the 2012 Downey decision confirmed that being landlocked does not automatically produce a right of way. The claimant must trace both parcels back to a single owner and show that the conveyance dividing them is what cut off access. For rear parcels in northern Baltimore County and similar rural areas, that tracing work runs through old deeds, plats, and tax maps.

What Easement Conflicts Most Often End Up in Court?

Most easement litigation in Maryland involves scope rather than existence. Typical fights include blocked driveways, gates or fences across a right of way, a benefited owner using the easement more heavily than the grant allows, and disagreement over who pays to maintain or repair a shared access road.

Overburdening is the claim that turns quiet driveways into lawsuits. A right of way granted for one house may not stretch to serve a six-lot subdivision later built behind it, and the burdened owner can ask a court to hold the use to its original scope.

More often than not, the deed language settles the question:

• Width and location: a metes-and-bounds description fixes the route, while a vague one invites a fight over where the easement actually runs
• Permitted uses: “ingress and egress” generally covers travel, not parking, storage, or new utility lines
• Cost-sharing terms: a maintenance clause can split paving, snow removal, and drainage costs by lot or by level of use
• Vegetation rights: the wording of a utility grant governs whether trees along the line may be trimmed or removed

In older Pikesville and Catonsville neighborhoods, shared driveways tend to raise these questions right after a sale.

What Can a Maryland Court Order in a Covenant or Easement Case?

A Maryland circuit court can issue an injunction, award damages, or enter a declaratory judgment in covenant and easement cases. When ownership or a recorded interest is clouded, Real Property § 14-108 allows a person in peaceable possession to file a quiet title action in the county where the property sits.

Few complaints ask for just one thing. A case filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County in Towson, or in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, might combine:

• An injunction ordering a neighbor to remove a gate or stop an unapproved addition
• A declaratory judgment fixing an easement’s location and scope, or a covenant’s validity
• Money damages for losses caused by a breach, such as delay costs on a blocked project
• Quiet title relief clearing a disputed claim so the property can be sold or financed

The quiet title statute requires naming every record interest holder and hostile claimant as a defendant, so early title work shapes the case. Delay carries its own risk: deadlines differ by claim type, and an owner who waits too long to seek an injunction can lose it to the defense of laches. Covenant and easement claims often travel with other real estate litigation issues, such as a boundary-line disagreement or a partition action between co-owners.

What Should a Buyer Check for Covenants and Easements Before Closing?

Before closing, a Maryland buyer should review the title commitment, the recorded plat, any HOA declaration, and a current boundary survey. Those documents reveal recorded covenants and easements, while a site visit and survey can expose unrecorded use, such as a neighbor’s worn path, that could later ripen into a prescriptive claim.

During the contract period, that review comes down to five steps:

1. Pull the recorded document behind every exception in the title commitment.
2. Search MDLandRec for the declaration, plat, and amendments.
3. Ask the surveyor to mark paths, driveways, and utility lines crossing the lot.
4. Ask neighbors how long any visible path has been in use.
5. Request the HOA’s rules, open violation notices, and approval history.

Buyers planning a pool or accessory structure should test those plans against the covenants before the contingency period ends, and commercial buyers should build the same review into their real estate due-diligence timeline.

Talk With a Maryland Real Estate Litigation Attorney About a Covenant or Easement Dispute

A violation letter from the HOA, a gate across a shared lane, or a neighbor claiming rights built on years of use can hold up a sale or a project for months. Nguyen Roche represents property owners, buyers, and associations in restrictive covenant and easement disputes throughout Maryland, from negotiation through trial.

Our attorneys dig into the deeds, plats, and land records behind your dispute and explain your options. We meet clients by appointment at our Owings Mills and Baltimore offices. Call (443) 238-0160 or use our online contact form to schedule a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I put a fence or gate across an easement on my property?

Possibly. Unless the grant says otherwise, the burdened owner generally keeps the right to use the land in ways that do not unreasonably interfere with the holder’s use. A locked gate or a fence that narrows a driveway usually crosses that line.

Can homeowners vote to change or remove a restrictive covenant?

Often, provided the declaration includes an amendment procedure. Many declarations require approval from a supermajority of lot owners, and an amendment generally takes effect only once it is recorded. Covenants in an individual deed usually require agreement from whoever can enforce them.

Can a neighbor and I end an easement by agreement?

Yes. A holder can give up the right voluntarily, and the cleanest method is a written release signed by the holder and recorded in the county land records. A lender on the benefited property may also need to consent.

Can an easement be lost if the holder stops using it?

Not usually. Nonuse alone generally does not end an easement. Abandonment typically requires proof that the holder intended to give up the right, such as removing a bridge or culvert that provided access. A long gap in use can still serve as evidence when combined with other conduct.

Does title insurance cover an easement that was not disclosed?

That turns on the policy language. Standard owner’s policies often exclude matters an accurate survey or inspection would have revealed, and recorded easements usually appear as listed exceptions. Extended survey coverage is worth asking about before closing.