Fairwood Greens Homeowners Ass'n v. Young

614 P.2d 219, 26 Wash. App. 758, 1980 Wash. App. LEXIS 2158
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 14, 1980
Docket7391-5-I
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 614 P.2d 219 (Fairwood Greens Homeowners Ass'n v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fairwood Greens Homeowners Ass'n v. Young, 614 P.2d 219, 26 Wash. App. 758, 1980 Wash. App. LEXIS 2158 (Wash. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

Swanson, J.

—Fairwood Greens Homeowners Association, Inc., commenced this action to enjoin W. E. Young and Virginia T. Young, his wife, from placing a motor home on their property in violation of a restrictive covenant. The trial court concluded that the covenant did not apply to a motor home and dismissed the action. This appeal followed

In 1968 the Youngs purchased a lot in Fairwood Greens, a residential development in south King County. Prior to signing the earnest money receipt and sales agreement, the Youngs were provided with a copy of the covenants, conditions, and restrictions applicable to all lots in Fairwood Greens. Because, at the time, the Youngs owned a 20-foot travel trailer, they were particularly interested in article 9, section 4, which provided in part,

Article IX. General Protective Covenants

Section 4. Business and Commercial Use of Property Prohibited. No trade, craft, business, profession, commercial or manufacturing enterprise or business or commercial activity of any kind shall be conducted or carried on upon any residential lot, or within any building located on [a] residential lot, nor shall any goods, equipment, vehicles (including buses, trucks and trailers of any description) or materials or supplies used in connection with any trade, service, or business, wherever the same may be conducted, or any vehicles in excess of 6,000 pounds gross weight (including buses, trucks and trailers of any description) used for private purposes, be kept, parked, stored, dismantled or repaired outside of any residential lot or on any street within the property nor shall anything be done on any residential lot which may [760]*760be or may become an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood.

(Italics ours.)

On the basis of their interpretation of this section—that "outside of any residential lot" meant it was permissible to park a vehicle on their lot—the Youngs negotiated with a builder to have a concrete slab installed next to their house so their trailer could be kept on their lot. Later they had a 6-foot-high fence built around the slab.

In late 1969 the Homeowners Association brought suit against another Fairwood resident, Thomas E. Toland. Fairwood Greens Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Toland, King County cause No. 717470 (1971). The Association sought to enjoin Toland from parking or storing his converted school bus on his lot. As a result of the action, and pursuant to a stipulated judgment, section 4 of article 9 was ordered reformed so that the phrase, "outside of any residential lot," was changed to "outside on any residential lot."

In 1977 the Youngs sold their travel trailer and purchased a 22-foot motor home with a gross weight of 10,500 pounds. In May of that year they were requested by letter to remove the motor home because it was in apparent violation of article 9. The Youngs failed to do so, and the Association brought suit to enjoin the Youngs' use of their property for parking a mobile home upon it and to remove the mobile home from their lot.

The primary issue at tried was whether article 9, section 4, as modified by the Toland decision, was binding upon the Youngs' use of their property in Fairwood Greens. However, the trial court did not reach this issue in deciding the case. Instead, the court ruled,

The restrictive covenant of Article IX, section 4 does not apply to motorhomes and it is not applicable to the defendants' motor home[,]

conclusion of law No. 3, and dismissed the complaint for injunctive relief. The trial judge explained the basis for his decision in this excerpt from his oral opinion,

[761]*761Since motor homes are not included in the definition of trucks, trailers, and buses, then I don't believe they are included in this restriction, and I am certainly not going to find that they are a nuisance. . . .
Therefore, I will find in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiffs based simply on the fact that the motor home is not a bus, as it was in the case of the previous decision, nor a trailer, nor a truck, and we will limit strictly the provisions of this article to words it uses.

The Homeowners Association assigns error to the trial court's interpretation of article 9, section 4 of the covenant and claims its plain language includes any vehicle in excess of 6,000 pounds in its restrictive provisions, thus including a motor home. The Association argues that the meaning of the phrase, "including buses, trucks and trailers of any description," does not limit the prohibited vehicles solely to those specifically mentioned in the restrictive covenant.

In interpreting restrictive covenants, the primary objective is to determine the intent of the parties, and clear and unambiguous language will be given its manifest meaning. Burton v. Douglas County, 65 Wn.2d 619, 399 P.2d 68 (1965); Gwinn v. Cleaver, 56 Wn.2d 612, 354 P.2d 913 (1960). Intent is a question of fact to be discovered by reference to the instrument in its entirety and the manifest meaning of the language used by the parties. Foster v. Nehls, 15 Wn. App. 749, 551 P.2d 768 (1976). Restrictions being in derogation of the common-law right to use land for all lawful purposes will not be extended by implication to include any use not clearly expressed, Burton v. Douglas County, supra, nor will they be aided or extended by judicial construction, Gwinn v. Cleaver, supra; Granger v. Boulls, 21 Wn.2d 597, 152 P.2d 325, 155 A.L.R. 523 (1944). Although a restrictive covenant is to be strictly construed, it must be considered in its entirety, and surrounding circumstances are to be taken into consideration when the meaning is doubtful. All doubts as to the intention of the owner or maker should be resolved against them. Matthews v. Parker, 163 Wash. 10, 299 P. 354 (1931). Public policy favors the free use of land, and doubts will be resolved in [762]*762favor of the unrestricted use of property. Gwinn v. Cleaver, supra. However, the strict rule of construction should not be applied in such a way as to defeat the plain and obvious purpose of the restriction. Rush v. Miller, 21 Wn. App. 156, 584 P.2d 960 (1978); 20 Am. Jur. 2d Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions § 187 (1965).

In this case, the plain and obvious purpose of article 9, section 4, as reformed by the Toland decision, is to prohibit at least four uses of residential lots within Fairwood Greens: (1) carrying on commercial activity, (2) parking or storing on a residential lot or a street within Fairwood Greens any vehicle used for commercial purposes, (3) parking or storing on a residential lot or street any vehicle used for private purposes having a gross weight in excess of 6,000 pounds, and (4) doing anything on any residential lot which may be or become a nuisance to the neighborhood. This conclusion is dictated by the plain language of article 9, section 4, which states in relevant part as follows, to wit:

No . . . commercial . . . activity . . . shall be conducted upon any residential lot. . .

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Fairwood Greens Homeowners Ass'n v. Young
614 P.2d 219 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
614 P.2d 219, 26 Wash. App. 758, 1980 Wash. App. LEXIS 2158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fairwood-greens-homeowners-assn-v-young-washctapp-1980.