Federoff v. Pioneer Title & Trust Co.
At a Glance
| Parties | Owners within a restricted area sued a developer and others to enforce recorded land-use covenants against a denser subdivision plan. |
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Summary
Federoff is a major Arizona case on recorded restrictions, notice, and enforceability against later purchasers. The dispute involved restrictive covenants created by adjoining landowners and later challenged by developers whose deeds apparently did not repeat the restrictions. The Arizona Supreme Court held that the covenants were still enforceable. It classified them as mutual covenants running with the land and said that, in this setting, the failure to restate the restrictions in every later deed did not automatically make them personal or extinguish them. What mattered was that the original recorded agreement showed intent to bind successors and that later owners had constructive or actual notice of the restrictions. The court distinguished the common-grantor cases that require closer attention to deed language and held those authorities did not control here. Federoff remains important whenever HOA lawyers confront old recorded restrictions, title-report notice, or developer arguments that omitted deed language wiped the slate clean.
Holding
Recorded mutual restrictive covenants between adjoining landowners can remain enforceable against later owners with notice even if later deeds omit reference to the covenants.
Reasoning
The court relied on Arizona’s three-category framework for restrictive covenants and placed the case in the class involving mutual covenants between adjoining landowners. In that setting, the key questions were whether the original parties created enforceable land-related promises, intended them to bind successors, and whether later purchasers had notice.
The court rejected the developers’ attempt to import rules from common-grantor and common-scheme cases where the first deed and later deed language play a different role. Here, the restrictions were properly recorded, touched and concerned the land, and were known or chargeable to the later owners through title materials and record notice.
Why This Matters for HOAs
Federoff matters whenever a community is dealing with old restrictions and a buyer or developer claims the covenant disappeared because it was omitted from a later deed. In Arizona, omission alone is not always enough.
For HOA counsel, the case underscores the importance of title review and record notice. For owners, it confirms that older recorded covenants can still be very much alive if the original instrument and later notice support enforcement.
