What happens when you break deed restrictions?

Here in rural kentucky, we don't have much in the ways of Homeowner's Associations or whathaveyou, however, and a friend and I got in the discussion of this plot of land that came for sale beside my home a few years ago. It was a hay field (still is) and was deed restricted, saying "NO HOG LOTS, NO JUNKYARDS, ANY MOBILE HOMES MUST BE GREATER THAN 1400 SQ. FT."

Say, if I were to buy the place, and put a hog lot and a junkyard on the property, with a tiny little trailer with a crooked antenna on the roof, who would come down on you? Who's the one enforcing these rules?

I ask because I would really like to start a junkyard, but it's so damn hard to find a decent plot of land that isn't protected against this stuff.

Assuming you have a mortgage probably the bank, followed by the EPA.

Zoning ?

iceracer wrote: Zoning ?

What is that? Seriously.

Unless you live in a city with a code enforcement office/officer, they don't exist. I live in Pike County, aka farthest you can go east in KY, and I can pretty much put up anything I wish. FLAT land here is at a premium, so it is pretty much a free for all on what you can do on the land that is available.

The courts are pretty liberal in who can enforce. Not only the parties to the deed but also Third Party Beneficiaries. In other words, whoever might benefit from the deed. It is also possible that no one will care and try to enforce it.

Also your neighbors or anyone you make mad can get it enforced.

While anyone can sue you whenever they please, if anyone ever sues you in this case, you will loose.

Who would sue you? Anyone whose property value might be effected by proximity to a junkyard, or anyone who might be a competitor.

If the EPA catches on, expect fines in the neighborhood of $20,000 PER DAY. They have the jurisdiction at the Federal level for issues related to water runoff. There is pretty much no way you can have a junkyard without hazmats washing onto neighboring properties or into water supplies every time it rains.

You can't build a business on land restricted against such use. It is a timebomb that will blow up in your face.

A lot of the answer is "it depends".

It depends on what restrictions are written into the deed. It depends on what restrictions are on the use of the land at the local, county, state and national level. It depends on what is written into the mortgage (strange things can show up there sometimes). It depends on what permits were required, that you did not pull. Including those you never heard of, from agencies you didn't even know existed.

To a degree it depends on your neighbors. As mentioned, they can sue for anything. As well call anonymous complaints. Between claiming noise, property loss, environmental problems, drug manufacturing (on your part), tax evasion (to get the IRS to hassle you), etc.

I'm not sure, because my father used to sell and appraise real estate and we talked about a situation like this. I was planning on buying some acres in rural Pa. and the issue of deed restrictions came up. Like your "hypothetical", folks have a way of "accidentally" starting junkyards on their rural properties in Pa.

1 of 2 things CAN happen in addition to the above scenarios that other posters have outlined:

1.) it COULD make your property unsaleable. No one looking to buy your property would want to deal with any legal possibilities that could crop up.

2.) this is kind of a stretch, but you could set a sort of precedent in that your land...while illegal, could become a legal junkyard / hog farm / whatever, BECAUSE none of your neighbors protested or sought any legal action against you. But that is really not likely as most deed restrictions are pretty reasonable.

There was a guy who owned a plot of land that he was keeping construction equipment on. The lady who next to the plot didn't like it. She was one if those people who complained about everything. Her street was basically one lane and every time the police drove down it she would call dispatch and ask why they were there.

Being a royal pain in the ass, she got him for using the land that was zoned as farm land improperly. Its a pig farm now. A very smelly pig farm.

I would take the occasional beeping backhoe over pig E36 M3 anytime.

Any place around here that is zoned commercial is too small for a junkyard, where cars stay long periods of time, not a scraper that just crushes the damn thing. Plenty of those around here now.

If you want a junkyard, it might be easier to find an existing one for sale than jump through all the hoops and hurdles of getting a new one going. You might check with a business broker to see if there is one near you that is for sale.

You need to look at the most current deed. Someone sellig the preorty to you can also put restrictions on the property, but you SHOULD be made aware of that. Many times the restrictions only last X number of years. I look at a lot of deeds and it was common years ago to put restrictions on property against mobile homes, junk yards, honky tonks, night clubs adult book stores etc.

The EPA rarely gets involved in junk yards unless its a real cluster ____. The states and counties usually have oversight of them. Each state can be different.

Correct. The EPA rarely gets involved.

...but they CAN. They DO have jurisdiction.

You REALLY don't want to go there.

If I was going to try to do a low budget off-the-radar- "auto parts recycling" business, the entire operation would be inside a building.

Even that doesn't stop snooping eyes. I recently had a GBI helicopter hover over my shop with a infrared camera looking for marijuana growers.

Having lived most of my life in rural KY, I just have to ask don't half the people have junkyards in their backyard anyway?

it seems like my neighbors across the street do.. and their property is only 40 by 60 feet (it's a very small, grandfathered lot with a very small 2 1/2 room house on it)

They got rid of a dead k car and a jeep cherokee.. and picked up a dead housetrailer that they are revamping, a golf cart, and more artsy knicknacks than I can shake a fist at.

This includes rope light they hung on the eaves last last night