What Are Deed Restrictions? Check Them in Texas | La Tierra
Aerial view of unrestricted 2 to 10 acre tracts at Pecan Peak Ranch in Granbury, Texas land with no deed restrictions

What Are Deed Restrictions? How to Check Them Before You Buy Land in Texas

Private recorded rules that run with the land and are enforced by neighbors, not the county: what deed restrictions are and how to check them in the deed records, Schedule B, and the plat before you buy.

Deed restrictions are private rules recorded with a tract of land that limit what the owner can do with it, such as banning manufactured homes, livestock, or commercial use. In Texas they run with the land and bind every future owner, and neighbors or a property owners' association enforce them, not the county.

Before you buy land in Texas, check them in three places: the county clerk's deed records, Schedule B of the title commitment, and the recorded plat. The sections below define deed restrictions, explain who enforces them, list the common ones, walk through how to check a parcel, and cover easements and landlocked land. La Tierra Realty is an Austin-based land company that sells surveyed, unrestricted 1 to 25 acre tracts in Central and North Texas with owner financing through Stonebridge Purchasing (NMLS #2349261).

What Are Deed Restrictions?

Deed restrictions, called restrictive covenants in Texas law, are limits on the use of land that a prior owner or developer recorded in the county deed records, usually in a subdivision declaration or plat. Texas Property Code Section 202.001 (2025 statutes) defines a restrictive covenant as "any covenant, condition, or restriction contained in a dedicatory instrument, whether mandatory, prohibitive, permissive, or administrative."

Three features set them apart:

  • They run with the land. The restriction attaches to the parcel, not the person. Buying the tract means accepting the rules, whether or not they appear in your own deed.
  • They are private. A developer, an earlier owner, or a group of owners created them. No government body wrote them or votes on them.
  • They are recorded. They live in the county clerk's real property records, which is why a title search finds them and why a buyer is presumed to know about them.

Deed restrictions are common in platted subdivisions and rare on older rural tracts that were never subdivided, which is why a 5-acre ranchette lot can carry twenty pages of rules while a 10-acre tract cut from a family farm carries none.

Who Enforces Deed Restrictions in Texas?

Deed restrictions in Texas are enforced by the people who benefit from them: a property owners' association if one exists, or any other lot owner in the same subdivision. Counties and cities do not enforce private deed restrictions. Under Texas Property Code Section 202.004, a court can award civil damages of up to $200 per day while a violation continues.

Enforcement usually starts with a letter, then a lawsuit for an injunction, then damages and attorney's fees. Texas Property Code Section 5.006 (2025) lets a prevailing party in a restrictive-covenant suit recover reasonable attorney's fees, which raises the stakes for a buyer who ignores the rules. Property Code Section 202.003 (2025) also directs courts to construe restrictions liberally to carry out their purpose.

Restrictions with no active association are still enforceable by any neighbor, and restrictions nobody has enforced for years may be weakened by waiver, but proving that in court is expensive. Do not buy a restricted lot planning to argue the rules are dead.

Common Deed Restrictions on Texas Land

The deed restrictions Texas land buyers run into most often govern what kind of home you can place, how big it must be, whether animals and business are allowed, and how the lot can be divided. The table below shows the usual categories and what each one means for a 2- to 15-acre tract.

RestrictionWhat it saysWhat it blocks
Dwelling type"Site-built homes only" or "no mobile or manufactured homes"Manufactured homes, some barndominiums, tiny homes on wheels
Minimum square footage1,200 to 2,500 sq ft of heated living areaSmall cabins, tiny homes, many starter builds
Livestock and animalsLimits on horses, cattle, goats, chickens, or "no swine"Hobby farms, 4-H projects, ag exemption plans
RV and campingNo living in an RV; RVs stored out of sightLiving on the land while you build
Commercial use"Residential purposes only"Home-based shops, contractors' yards, short-term rentals
SubdividingNo lot may be divided below a set sizeSelling off part of the tract later
Setbacks and materialsBuilding lines, masonry percentages, roof pitchMetal buildings, placement near the road
Fences, vehicles, junkFence types, no inoperable vehicles, no visible storageWorking equipment, project cars, cattle panels

A restriction that reads "residential purposes only" plus "no mobile homes" is the single most common combination on Texas ranchette lots, and it rules out the plan many buyers have in mind. La Tierra's guide to putting a mobile home on land in Texas explains what to look for if that is your plan.

How Do You Check Deed Restrictions Before You Buy Land in Texas?

To check deed restrictions on Texas land, search the county clerk's real property records for the subdivision's declaration and plat, read Schedule B of the title commitment the seller delivers under the contract, and ask the seller for every recorded document that affects the lot.

  • Step 1: County clerk deed records. Search the county's online real property records by subdivision name, prior owner, or legal description for a "Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions," "Restrictions," or "Dedication." Download the full document and every amendment.
  • Step 2: Schedule B of the title commitment. In Texas, the title company issues a commitment (Form T-7) before closing. Schedule B lists every recorded exception the policy will not cover, including restrictive covenants and easements, with the volume and page or instrument number. Under the TREC Unimproved Property Contract, the seller must deliver the commitment and copies of the exception documents within a set number of days.
  • Step 3: The recorded plat. Plats often carry restrictions in their notes, building lines, and easement strips that never appear in a separate declaration.
  • Step 4: Ask in writing. Texas Property Code Section 5.008 (2025) requires a seller's disclosure notice only for residential property with one dwelling unit, so on vacant land the seller has no standard form to hand you. Ask the seller directly whether any restrictions or association exist and get the answer in the contract file.
  • Step 5: Confirm with the county. Unincorporated land in Texas is not zoned, but the county's subdivision rules under Local Government Code Chapter 232 (2025) and its on-site sewage rules still apply. The county development office can confirm whether the lot is legally platted.

La Tierra Realty provides the survey, plat, and title work on every tract and states on each listing whether the tract carries restrictions. For the rest of the pre-purchase checklist, see La Tierra's guide to raw land mistakes in Texas.

Easements, Landlocked Land, and Legal Access

An easement is a recorded right for someone else to use part of your land, and legal access means your tract touches a public road or has a recorded easement to one. Both show up on Schedule B alongside deed restrictions. A tract with no legal access is landlocked, and in Texas that is a serious problem: as the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Texas Agriculture Law blog put it in 2018, "Title companies are usually unwilling to insure title to a property that lacks access."

Common easements on rural tracts include utility, pipeline, drainage, and neighbor-access easements, and each one limits where you can build. A 30-foot pipeline easement through the middle of a 5-acre lot can remove the best home site.

If a tract is landlocked, Texas law offers two narrow fixes. According to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's 2018 explainer, an easement by necessity requires proving three things: the landlocked tract and the neighboring tract were once under one owner, the access is strictly necessary rather than convenient, and the necessity existed when the tracts were split. Alternatively, per the Texas Transportation Code, Section 251.053 (2025), a landlocked owner may petition the county commissioners court to open a public road, but the court may decline. The safer path is to buy only land with deeded road frontage or a recorded access easement, which every La Tierra tract has.

Deed Restrictions vs. HOA vs. Zoning

Deed restrictions, homeowners' associations, and zoning are three different layers of control. Deed restrictions are private rules on the land. An HOA is the private organization that enforces them and collects dues. Zoning is public law, and in Texas it applies only inside city limits, not on unincorporated county land.

LayerWho creates itWho enforces itApplies to rural Texas land?
Deed restrictionsDeveloper or prior owners, by recorded declarationAny benefited owner or the association; up to $200/day damages (Property Code 202.004)Only if recorded on that subdivision or tract
HOA / property owners' associationThe declaration; governed by Property Code Chapter 209The association's board, with dues, fines, and liensOnly where a declaration created one
ZoningCity council by ordinanceCity code enforcementNo; Texas counties generally cannot zone unincorporated land
County rulesCommissioners court under state lawCounty development and health departmentsYes: platting, septic, floodplain, road access

Associations are far more common than most land buyers expect. The Foundation for Community Association Research's 2025 Statistical Review, published in April 2026, counted 373,000 community associations in the United States housing 78.1 million residents, including about 23,500 associations and 6.4 million residents in Texas. Many ranchette subdivisions outside Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth are among them.

Why Does Unrestricted Land Matter in Texas?

Unrestricted land in Texas is land with no recorded deed restrictions and no association, which leaves the owner free to place a manufactured home, build a barndominium, keep livestock, live in an RV during construction, run a home business, or split the tract later, subject only to county and state rules.

Demand for that kind of land is strong. The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M reported in its second-quarter 2026 rural land report that the Austin-Waco-Hill Country region hit a record $8,040 per acre, up 8.63 percent year over year, with recreational-property demand a leading driver.

Most La Tierra Realty tracts carry no deed restrictions and no HOA. Examples include Pecan Peak Ranch in Granbury (2 to 10 acres from $110,000), Vista Grande in Grandview (2 to 16 acres from $100,000), and Mineral Springs Ranches near Luling (1 to 25 acres from $80,000). Each listing states the restriction status, the survey is included, and owner financing through Stonebridge Purchasing (NMLS #2349261) is available; ask about current terms. La Tierra's full guide to unrestricted land in Texas covers what county rules still apply, and every current tract is on the available properties page.

Buy Land With the Rules Already Checked

La Tierra Realty tracts come with the survey, plat, and title work in hand, and most carry no deed restrictions and no HOA. Ask for the recorded documents on any tract before you decide. Call (512) 980-1719. Atención en español.

Browse Unrestricted Land Get the Free Buyer's Checklist

Sources: Texas Property Code, Sections 5.006, 5.008, 202.001, 202.003, 202.004 and Chapter 209 (2025 statutes); Texas Transportation Code, Section 251.053 (2025); Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 232 (2025); Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog, "How Can I Access Landlocked Property in Texas?" (2018); Texas Real Estate Commission, Unimproved Property Contract (2026); Foundation for Community Association Research, 2025 Statistical Review (April 2026); Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, Texas Rural Land Markets Second Quarter 2026 (2026).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do deed restrictions expire in Texas?

Some do. Many Texas restrictive covenants carry a stated term, often 20 to 40 years, with automatic renewal unless a majority of owners vote to end them. Others have no end date. The expiration language is in the recorded declaration itself, so read the full document rather than the summary on a listing or a title commitment.

Can deed restrictions be removed or changed?

Yes, but not by one owner alone. Changing recorded restrictions in Texas generally requires the vote or written consent of a set percentage of lot owners under the declaration's own amendment clause, or under Property Code Chapters 201, 209, or 211 for subdivisions in certain counties. Court challenges are possible but slow and expensive.

Does unrestricted land in Texas mean I can do anything?

No. Unrestricted means no private deed restrictions, but county rules still apply: septic permits, floodplain rules, subdivision platting under Local Government Code Chapter 232, and any city extraterritorial rules. State law on wells, burning, and fences applies too. Unrestricted removes the private rulebook, not the public one.

Is a seller required to tell me about deed restrictions on vacant land in Texas?

Not through the standard disclosure. Property Code Section 5.008 requires a seller's disclosure only for residential property with one dwelling unit, so vacant land is outside it. Restrictions still surface in the title commitment's Schedule B, which the seller must deliver under the TREC contract, and in the recorded deed records. Ask directly and get the documents.

What is the difference between an easement and a deed restriction?

A deed restriction limits what the owner may do on the land, such as banning manufactured homes. An easement gives someone else a right to use part of the land, such as a utility line or a neighbor's driveway. Both are recorded in county deed records and both appear on Schedule B of a title commitment, but they solve different problems.

This article is general information for Texas land buyers and is not legal advice. Deed restrictions, easements, plat notes, and county rules vary by tract and change over time — read the recorded documents for the specific parcel, confirm with the county and the title company, and consult a Texas real estate attorney for questions about enforceability before you buy.

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