Restrictive covenants are restrictions on the use of land detailed in the body of recorded legal documents. In the past – primarily between 1910 and 1960 – these were sometimes used to restrict the sale, lease, or transfer of property to specific groups based on race, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability and other groups.
These restrictive covenants against protected classes are now illegal and no longer enforceable after various court rulings and legislation, beginning in 1948.
Because restrictive covenants affecting protected classes are no longer enforceable, you can choose to do nothing, or you can take action based on your property’s land type through Hennepin County.
How to denounce the restrictive covenant on your abstract property
1. Obtain the following information from the document containing the restrictive covenant affecting protected classes:
Document number
Date of recording
Names of owners
Legal description
2. Complete the Discharge of Restrictive Covenant Affecting Protected Classes form – the state will provide a standardized form in the near future
3. Have the form notarized
4. Record the document with Hennepin County
Recording fee – $46
Link to County Website – Scroll to “Restrictive Covenants Affecting Protected Class.”
More information about the history of racial covenants in Minneapolis may be found at Mapping Prejudice.
