Setback Dimensions Drawn on Subdivision Map Not Reflected in Documents in Defendants’ Chain of Title/Setback Restrictions, Therefore, Did Not Run With the Land
The Second Department reversed Supreme Court, finding that the setback lines drawn on a subdivision map were not reflected on the documents in defendants’ chain of title and, therefore, did not run with the land:
“[T]he policy of the law is to favor free and unobstructed use of realty” … . “[A] purchaser takes with notice from the record only of incumbrances in his direct chain of title. In the absence of actual notice before or at the time of his purchase or of other exceptional circumstances, an owner of land is only bound by restrictions if they appear in some deed of record in the conveyance to himself or his direct predecessors in title” … . “A purchaser is not normally required to search outside the chain of title” … . Deed restrictions are strictly construed against those seeking to enforce them and will be enforced only where their existence has been established by clear and convincing proof … .In this case, the plaintiffs failed make a prima facie showing that the front and rear yard setback lines drawn on the subdivision map are deed restrictions that run with the land. Contrary to the plaintiffs’ contention, there is nothing in the defendants’ chain of title which indicates that these setback lines are deed restrictions that run with the land… . Butler v Mathisson, 2014 NY Slip Op 01289, 2nd Dept 2-26-14
