Discriminatory Restrictive Covenants (DRC) FAQ

A restrictive covenant is a provision on a Deed, Mortgage, or other recorded instrument that regulates the ownership or use of a parcel of real estate. Illegal now for decades, discriminatory restrictive covenants proliferated throughout the United States in the early twentieth century. Discriminatory restrictive covenants were intended to prevent the migration of minority groups into certain neighborhoods. Although they are now illegal and unenforceable, some properties may still include discriminatory covenants in their chains of title.

No, lawful uses of restrictive covenants include land use restrictions such as maintaining land for public parks or nature preserves, or permitting only single-family homes, or prohibiting industrial activities on the land. All information provided here is for general informational purposes only; therefore, you should contact your attorney to obtain legal advice.

Discriminatory restrictive covenants are provisions that prohibit the ownership, occupancy, or use of land based upon a prohibited basis, such as race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), family status, disability, or other protected classes.

Generally, yes.  Since the United States Supreme Court’s 1948 decision in the case Shelley v. Kraemer, restrictive covenants based on race have been unenforceable.

All information provided here is for general informational purposes only; therefore, you should contact your attorney to obtain legal advice.

Although deeds and mortgages today generally do not contain any illegal discriminatory restrictive covenants, a historical search of a property’s chain of title may uncover restrictive covenants recorded from the 1920s to the 1960s (or even earlier).

Every county or town’s recorder of deeds office is open to the public for research into the history of every parcel of land in that county. Many counties, including many of the most populous counties in the country, have made their records available online. However, online records may not be comprehensive, and may only cover the past few decades. There are “mapping” projects underway in parts of the country to search for discriminatory restrictive covenants. Some of these projects are: 

• Marin County, CA Restrictive Covenant Project
• Mapping Segregation in Washington, DC
• Digital Chicago project of Lake Forest College
• Mapping Racism Project, Prince George’s County, MD
• University of Minnesota Mapping Project 
• St. Louis County, MO Restrictive Covenant Project

All information provided here is for general informational purposes only; therefore, you should contact your attorney to obtain legal advice.

Readers of this page should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any legal matter. The information on this page does not constitute legal advice. Instead, all information, content, links, and materials on this page are for general informational purposes only.

To learn more about discriminatory restrictive covenants in your state, visit Freddie Mac's Single Family DRC Interactive Map which contains information as of January 2023.