A covenant is a formal promise or agreement to do or not do something. Covenants are found in legal documents like contracts and often deal with major issues like payment terms, confidentiality, non-compete agreements etc. A clause is a section or provision within a legal document that covers a specific issue.
An example of a contractual covenant is a non-compete agreement . Examples of common covenants in property law include agreements not to build a fence or agreements to maintain a shared driveway.
Some covenants require certain action to be taken (e.g., owners of a home must trim their trees) while others restrict action (e.g., owners of a home are not allowed to build a fence).
Related Content. An agreement or promise to do or provide something, or to refrain from doing or providing something, which is meant to be binding on the party giving the covenant (who may be referred to as the "covenantor").
Negative covenants are actions you can't take, while positive covenants are actions you must take. For example, a negative covenant in real estate could prevent you from raising chickens on your property. On the other hand, a positive covenant could require you to mow your lawn.
Is a 12-month restrictive covenant enforceable? Each case turns on its own facts, but a court is generally reluctant to enforce restrictive covenants longer than 12 months. Market practice dictates a period of between 3 and 6 months is appropriate for more junior employees.
There may be terms in your contract that says you can't work for a competitor or have contact with customers for a period of time after you leave the company. These are called 'restrictive covenants'. Your company could take you to court if you breach the restrictive covenants in your contract.
Georgia common law was generally hostile to restrictive covenants but was more permissive of anti-raiding restrictions such as employee non-solicitation provisions. Georgia's passage of the Restrictive Covenants Act (RCA) in 2011 made enforcement of valid restrictive covenants easier than it had been before.
My limited understanding is, restrictive covenants are only enforceable by a home owners association created among them. A local government isn't going to swoop in and enforce, or defend, a covenant that you created on your property. The local government is only concerned with land use ordinance's and state laws.
In the United States, employers generally use four types of restrictive covenants: (1) covenants not to compete for a certain period of time following the employee's termination from employment (or following a business transaction such as a sale, merger, etc.); (2) covenants not to solicit customers or clients for a ...