Check the deed: You can obtain a copy of the deed from your county recorder's office or through a title company. Look for any language in the deed that restricts the use of the property, such as limitations on building height, use of certain materials, or restrictions on certain activities.
Look for homeowner association (HOA) documents: If the property is part of a planned community or governed by a homeowners association, there may be additional restrictions outlined in the HOA's governing documents, such as bylaws, covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs).
Look in the property deed and/or your seller's real estate disclosures to figure out if there are any subdivision covenants and restrictions. You can also visit the county Clerk's office to get a copy of the Declarations of Covenants Conditions and Restrictions for the neighborhood.
The easiest way to find out about deed restrictions for residential property is to call the HOA. But what if there is no HOA? For land, you can call/visit the county clerk's office. Deed restrictions are public knowledge, so you should be able to access the information you need there.
Go the Civic Club or ASSOCIATION OF AREA OR SUBDIVISION. I help write the first Restrictions in Woodland Trails West, complied all the residents and restrictions in a Directory Form Book, typed and paid for printing myself. Got a page about me and it had the Civic Club Thank you letter printed on that page. But some COUNTIES IN TEXAS HAVE ONLY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO GET INFO!
Look up the subdivision online and generally it will tell you if there are Deed Restrictions. Some subdivisions post their restrictions on their website, and if not you can reach out to the contact on the site. If you are unsuccessful you can contact any Title Agency and they can gather that information for you.
Easiest way to find deed restrictions if listing agent is not responding or being vague on listing is to look them up online in the county records. If unable to locate online or having a problem contact one of your local title companies for assistance.
Having been in the title industry for 20 years, the short answer is review Schedule B of your title commitment. Title companies will not point them out, you have to look for them and you have to request a copy. Unfortunately it is not the norm for the majority of title companies to automatically provide a copy of the deed restrictions aka CCR's
Most deed restrictions come up during title search by the title company. “The title company will alert you of any deed restrictions in the chain of title,”
Deed restrictions are public information. You can pull them up in the county records. Also, you can build a relationship with a title company that we pull the restrictions for you.
If the property/land is located in a subdivision, check sales for neighboring properties. Some of them may have information about HOA in the listing or SD. If the title is already open, call the Title Company. They might already have information about the properties from previous transaction and will be able to assist you with information. In some cases you might come across restrictions that were placed by previous owners/sellers. These ones are most probably in the records of the county clerk. However, if you have a buyer, and unresponsiveness of the agent threatens with loss of the sale, contact the listing agent's broker and seek their help. Don't be shy, In the end, your main goal is to put the seller and buyer in the same boat. Unfortunately, in these pandemic conditions you cannot be sure as to why the listing agent is not responding, especially if the TREC prescribed timeline passed. Hope this helps. Good luck.
There is not always an easy way as all HOAs by laws are management differently. Some are easily accessed on the website for that particular neighborhood and are readily available to the public for download while others are held and an HOA management company that requires a fee in order to get any information on the HOA, bylaws, and regulations. Sometimes if you have a relationship with a title company in the area of the the neighborhood that you are needing the information for they would have already closed a home and requested bylaw/deed/regulatory information and they could just email you a copy as it would normally by the same for all of the homes in that particular subdivision unless some special rules apply to certain homes.
Worked with a client in Montgomery, TX I reached out to the listing agent and the she provided me the HOA board member who provided necessary documents for any restrictions within that community.