Opinion ID: 2302905
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Covenants to Pay Road Maintenance Fee

Text: [¶ 16] The Lot Owners argue that they are not obligated to pay PSRW an annual road maintenance fee because the purported covenant providing for such a fee expired in December 1980 and any subsequent attempts by Pine Springs or PSRW to extend or revive it were invalid. [¶ 17] The construction of a deed and the interpretation of a covenant are questions of law we review de novo. See Silsby v. Belch, 2008 ME 104, ¶ 7, 952 A.2d 218. The relevant language will be given its ordinary meaning and this meaning governs unless there is ambiguity present. Id. [¶ 18] The Lot Owners' deeds are expressly made subject to the conditions and restrictions contained in the 1968 minutes. In addition, the Campbells' predecessors in title and the Goudreaus' predecessor in title also received deeds that were subject to the restrictions and conditions contained in the 1968 minutes. See Restatement (Third) Property: Servitudes § 5.1 cmt. a. (2000) (explaining that a covenant that creates a benefit or burden that runs with the land passes rights or liabilities to successors to land held by the original parties). [¶ 19] Unlike other restrictions and conditions contained in the 1968 minutes, the obligation to pay an annual maintenance fee to Pine Springs or its successors has a sunset provision: [T]his charge shall run with and bind the land herein conveyed ... until December 31, 1980, unless earlier terminated by written release of the grantor, its successors and assigns. Construing this provision according to its plain and unambiguous language, we conclude that the obligation to pay an annual maintenance fee to Pine Springs expired on December 31, 1980. Nothing in the plain language of the deeds or the 1968 minutes contemplates extension of the charge beyond that date. Tellingly, the language of the sunset provision provides for termination by written release prior to December 31, 1980, but is silent as to its amendment or extension beyond that date. [¶ 20] Further, nothing in the express language of the 1968 minutes or the Lot Owners' deeds contemplated that the obligation would be amended, renewed, or extended. Absent such language, neither Pine Springs nor its successors can unilaterally revive that obligation and impose it on the Lot Owners. See 9 Richard R. Powell, Powell on Real Property § 60.08 (Michael A. Wolf & James H. Backman, eds., LexisNexis 2012) (Once the first lot is sold, the grantor's right to unilaterally amend the covenants continues only if either the grantor specifically reserves that right or if the benefit of the covenants is personal to the grantor.). As a result, the court erred by concluding that the covenant pertaining to the payment of road maintenance fees in the 1968 minutes remained in effect beyond December 31, 1980. [¶ 21] PSRW maintains that the Lake Association minutes and the 1997 Extension and Amendment document establish that the obligation to pay some amount of money for road maintenance remained in force and is binding on the Lot Owners. We disagree. [¶ 22] The Taylors acquired their lots in 1980 by deeded conveyances from Pine Springs that were made subject to the restrictions and conditions contained in the 1968 minutes. As we have explained, the obligation to pay an annual road maintenance fee to Pine Springs expired on December 31, 1980. Pine Springs could not unilaterally revive that obligation or unilaterally impose a new obligation on the Taylors to pay a road maintenance fee. [¶ 23] The Goudreaus' predecessor in title, the Toveys, acquired title to their lot in the subdivision from Pine Springs on February 23, 1988. The Lake Association minutes were not recorded until April 5, 1988. Accordingly, as we explained above, Pine Springs could not unilaterally bind the Toveys to any obligation contained in the Lake Association minutes because they were recorded after the Toveys had already acquired title to their lot in a deeded conveyance from Pine Springs, and the only conditions or restrictions the Toveys' deed referenced were those contained in the 1968 minutes. [¶ 24] Although the Goudreaus' deed from the Toveys provided that it was subject to the 1988 Lake Association minutes, our review of the record establishes that the Goudreaus are not bound by the Lake Association minutes to pay a road maintenance fee to PSRW. The Lake Association was dissolved on October 14, 1997, more than two months before the Goudreaus acquired title to their lot from the Toveys on December 30, 1997, rendering the obligation in the 1988 Lake Association minutes to pay a maintenance fee to the Lake Association a nullity because that entity no longer existed. [2] [¶ 25] Similarly, the Campbells were not obligated to pay an annual road maintenance fee by virtue of the deeded conveyances involving their predecessors in title. Those conveyances made express reference only to the restrictions contained in the 1968 minutes and none of those conveyances occurred between April 5, 1988, when the Lake Association minutes were recorded, and October 14, 1997, when the Lake Association dissolved. [¶ 26] Finally, neither the Campbells nor the Goudreaus are bound by the Extension and Amendment document recorded on December 18, 1997. The express terms of that document provide that it applies only to properties hereafter sold by Pine Springs Development Corporation. The Campbells and Goudreaus took title to their respective lots by conveyances after December 18, 1997, from sellers other than Pine Springs, and their respective deeds make no reference to the 1997 document. Accordingly, they are not bound by any of the restrictions or obligations in the 1997 Extension and Amendment document.