If you received the above letter in the mail this past week, you may be under the impression that repealing the Historic District Designation for the Houston Heights areas means loss of all previous deed restrictions (bolded sentence on page 2 of the letter, see photo below).  This is not true. 



As I am not a real estate attorney, I consulted one to explain it to me. 

Rob Taylor is an attorney in the Heights.  His view is as follows:

In a public letter authored by Marlene Gafrick, dated October 29, 2010 she states that “Dissolution of a [historic] District means the loss of ALL current protections”.  This is simply not correct and very misleading.  While I am fairly certain that Mrs. Gafrick did not mean to mislead the homeowners/voters, this statement does exactly that and may have a profound effect on the outcome of the votes.  As a long time Texas Real Estate Attorney, I offer the following opinion. 
 
The dissolution and/or amendment she refers to, will only have an effect on the protections which were put in place by the Historic Preservation Ordinance.  It will not dissolve or amend any of the existing restrictions and covenants which were previously put into place by many of the Heights' residences individually.  According to Texas Property Code Section 208.005(c) “ The amendment or termination of a restrictive covenant is effective to each separately owned parcel of tracts subject to the common scheme of preservation of historic property if the owners of at least 75%...vote in favor of the amendment or termination of the restrictive covenant.”  

The dissolution will have no effect on the deed restrictions (Joint and Mutual Restrictive Covenants Agreement) which many individuals, and/or blocks, within the Houston Heights area, have previously put in place. Nor will it have any effect on the “protections” which are granted under these previous deed restrictions.

Rob Taylor
Attorney-at-Law
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Below are the historic district maps of Heights East and Heights West.  I have not done Heights South yet but you can see the full property list at http://goo.gl/QCEGc.  Where you see a property colored pink, that means these restrictions http://goo.gl/MB3CU,

JOINT AND MUTUAL RESTRICTIVE COVENANT AGREEMENT THE HOUSTON HEIGHTS, 

apply and would be in effect if the Historic Preservation Ordinance is repealed in this Heights East, West or South historic district. 

The pink areas on the maps are what I gathered from the Houston Heights Association website regarding deed restricted properties at http://www.houstonheights.org/deedrestrictedproperties.htm.  There are about a dozen more properties in the historic district that are mentioned as having these restrictions, but I couldn't find them on the map.  There is also the disclaimer below posted on the HHA website.  This "pink" map is not official, I colored it myself.  If you see that I have colored/not colored a property in error, please let me know.  A full street report can be found at http://goo.gl/QCEGc.



Affidavit referred to above http://goo.gl/neeS3.



If you would like to place these deed restrictions on your property in the event of a successful repeal of the Historic Preservation Ordinance, come by the office or print http://goo.gl/MB3CU, sign, notarize and return to the original to 1545 Heights Boulevard and we will file it at the courthouse for you. 

The Woodland Heights Historic District map below is also colored pink with the properties that have previous deed restrictions.  To see exactly which deed restrictions apply to your property, visit http://goo.gl/kB16C.  This "pink" map is not official;  I colored it myself.  If you see that I have colored/not colored a property in error, please let me know.

Only one chance to  opt out of the Historic District, many chances to opt in! http://goo.gl/lzT67
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