Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are limitations and rules placed on a group of homes by a builder, developer, neighborhood association and/or homeowner association. They are legally enforceable contracts often used to regulate the usage of buildings or neighborhoods governed by a homeowners’ association.
Cabrillo Estates is comprised of four tracts, all of which have been or are subject to CC&Rs. Tracts 306, 307 and 310 were all recorded in the mid-sixties to seventies while tract 1342 was not recorded until 1989. For tracts 306, 307 and 310, the CC&Rs were written with a twenty-five-year expiration horizon and all have expired. The Tract 1342 CC&Rs, on the other hand, are still in effect. They were written in 1989 with a fifty-nine-year horizon, so they will expire in 2048. However, the 1342 CC&Rs include the stipulation that they automatically renew for additional 10-year terms unless "an instrument in writing, signed by a majority of the then owners of the lots, has been recorded within the year preceding the beginning of each successive period of ten (10) years, agreeing to change said covenants and restrictions in whole or in part, or to terminate the same." In 1993, an amendment was made to the CC&Rs related to vegetation preservation.
Can we renew our CC&Rs?
Once CC&Rs have expired, they cannot be renewed, but new CC&Rs may be adopted. Essentially, the new CC&Rs would represent a voluntary contract among property owners who mutually agree to be bound by whatever conditions might be included. In 2010, a special CEPOA committee put a good deal of effort into developing a proposal for revised and updated version of CC&Rs for tracts 306, 307, and 310. The proposal was sent to all property owners as the first step of what was envisioned as a reiterative feedback-revision process. According to one committee member, "an anonymous party sent a threatening email and the Board aborted the entire process." At any rate, the efforts to adopt new CC&Rs are currently on hold. References