Washington law allows for the illegal language to be struck by bringing an action in Superior Court. It effectively removes reference to the offending document from your chain of title. Filing this document through King County Records and Licensing costs nothing. You can file a Restrictive Covenant Modification, have them removed, or do nothing to change the property record.
1, 2022, real estate transactions will require disclosure of restrictive covenants. Property owners have three choices if their property has an unlawful, restrictive covenant associated with it. Supreme Court rulings and state and federal law make these restrictions illegal to enforce. See the UW’s interactive map showing some of the subdivisions known to have deed provisions or restrictive covenants.
Research by the University of Washington’s Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project uncovered more than 500 deeds and covenants containing racial, religious or other discriminatory restrictions that apply to at least 20,000 properties.
