Neponsit Property Owners' Association v. Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank
Court of Appeals of New York
15 N.E. 2d 793 (N.Y. 1938)
Deeds in a residential subdivision required each purchaser and successor to pay an annual fee to the Neponsit Property Owners' Association (POA) (plaintiff) for maintaining common areas, backed by a lien the association could foreclose. Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank (defendant) bought a subdivision property at a judicial sale subject to this covenant but refused to pay the fee, and the POA sued to foreclose the lien; the trial and appellate courts ruled for the POA, and Emigrant obtained leave to appeal on certified questions.
Whether a deed covenant requiring payment of money touches and concerns the land, and whether privity of estate can exist between individual property owners and a property owners' association enforcing that covenant.