Illegal Restrictive Covenants Exist in Historic Deeds

Published on February 13, 2025

photo of article on this page as it appeared in the County Newsletter

PUBLIC HELP REQUESTED

Black History Month encourages reflection upon advances resulting in the elimination of discriminatory laws and unfair practices in our nation’s past.

An example of these discriminatory laws and practices are race-based Restrictive Covenants, which have been unenforceable since 1948 and illegal since 1968. Even so, there is no federally mandated process to systematically eliminate this offending language from property ownership documents.

Many states – Delaware included – passed laws that prevent the recording of property documents discriminating against people for race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, marital status, familial status, source of income, national origin, ancestry, or housing status. (9 Del C. 41 §9605(b)).

However, just because discriminatory restrictive covenants are illegal does not mean that they do not still exist within the deeds online database dating back to 1874 or our historical property records books dating back to 1646. In 2018, in concert with the NCC Recorder of Deeds, Delaware lawmakers provided a way to redact and strike discriminatory language from older deeds and other property records. (9 Del C. 41 §9628)

While these covenants are now illegal, they can be shocking and hurtful if discovered in deeds or HOA/Condominium paperwork.

With over 6,000,000 documented pages already recorded and 200 or more new multipage documents added a day, the Recorder of Deeds office does not have the staff to proactively seek out and eliminate illegal language.

Therefore, we invite the public to help us by bringing it to our attention. Find the form we designed for this purpose in the Community Relations page of our website. Please get in touch with the Recorder of Deeds at Eugenia.Thornton@kentcountyde.gov or call (302) 744-2321 to learn more or to volunteer to help with this project.

 

This article was publised in the Spring 2025 Kent County Community Newsletter

 

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