2006 Minnesota Statutes

500.20 DEFEASIBLE ESTATES.
    Subdivision 1. Nominal conditions and limitations. When any covenants, conditions,
restrictions or extensions thereof annexed to a grant, devise or conveyance of land are, or shall
become, merely nominal, and of no actual and substantial benefit to the party or parties to whom
or in whose favor they are to be performed, they may be wholly disregarded; and a failure to
perform the same shall in no case operate as a basis of forfeiture of the lands subject thereto.
    Subd. 2.[Repealed, 1982 c 500 s 5]
    Subd. 2a. Restriction of duration of condition. Except for any right to reenter or to
repossess as provided in subdivision 3, all private covenants, conditions, or restrictions created by
which the title or use of real property is affected, cease to be valid and operative 30 years after the
date of the deed, or other instrument, or the date of the probate of the will, creating them, and
may be disregarded.
This subdivision does not apply to covenants, conditions, or restrictions:
(1) that were created before August 1, 1959, under which a person who owns or has an
interest in real property against which the covenants, conditions, or restrictions have been filed
claims a benefit of the covenant, condition, or restriction if the person records in the office of
the county recorder or files in the office of the registrar of titles in the county in which the real
estate affected is located, on or before March 30, 1989, a notice sworn to by the claimant or the
claimant's agent or attorney: setting forth the name of the claimant; describing the real estate
affected; describing the deed, instrument, or will creating the covenant, condition, or restriction;
and stating that the covenant, condition, or restriction is not nominal and may not be disregarded
under subdivision 1;
(2) that are created by the declaration, bylaws, floor plans, or condominium plat of a
condominium created before August 1, 1980, under chapter 515, or created on or after August
1, 1980, under chapter 515A or 515B, or by any amendments of the declaration, bylaws, floor
plans, or condominium plat;
(3) that are created by the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or proprietary leases of a
cooperative association formed under chapter 308A;
(4) that are created by a declaration or other instrument that authorizes and empowers a
corporation of which the qualification for being a stockholder or member is ownership of certain
parcels of real estate, to hold title to common real estate for the benefit of the parcels;
(5) that are created by a deed, declaration, reservation, or other instrument by which one
or more portions of a building, set of connecting or adjacent buildings, or complex or project of
related buildings and structures share support, structural components, ingress and egress, or
utility access with another portion or portions;
(6) that were created after July 31, 1959, under which a person who owns or has an interest
in real estate against which covenants, conditions, or restrictions have been filed claims a benefit
of the covenants, conditions, or restrictions if the person records in the office of the county
recorder or files in the office of the registrar of titles in the county in which the real estate
affected is located during the period commencing on the 28th anniversary of the date of the
deed or instrument, or the date of the probate of the will, creating them and ending on the 30th
anniversary, a notice as described in clause (1); or
(7) that are created by a declaration or bylaws of a common interest community created
under or governed by chapter 515B, or by any amendments thereto.
A notice filed in accordance with clause (1) or (6) delays application of this subdivision to
the covenants, conditions, or restrictions for a period ending on the later of seven years after the
date of filing of the notice, or until final judgment is entered in an action to determine the validity
of the covenants, conditions, or restrictions, provided in the case of an action the summons
and complaint must be served and a notice of lis pendens must be recorded in the office of the
county recorder or filed in the office of the registrar of titles in each county in which the real
estate affected is located within seven years after the date of recording or filing of the notice
under clause (1) or (6).
County recorders and registrars of titles shall accept for recording or filing a notice
conforming with this subdivision and charge a fee corresponding with the fee charged for filing a
notice of lis pendens of similar length. The notice may be discharged in the same manner as a
notice of lis pendens and when discharged, together with the information included with it, ceases
to constitute either actual or constructive notice.
    Subd. 3. Time to assert power of termination. Hereafter any right to reenter or to repossess
land on account of breach made in a condition subsequent shall be barred unless such right is
asserted by entry or action within six years after the happening of the breach upon which such
right is predicated.
History: (8075) RL s 3234; 1937 c 487 s 1; 1982 c 500 s 1; 1988 c 477 s 1; 1989 c 144 art 2
s 9; 1993 c 222 art 5 s 2; 1999 c 11 art 3 s 18; 2005 c 119 s 1