Discriminatory deed restrictions can now be removed in Ohio

For countless years, Ohioans and Americans would put in racist clauses like this until the 1968 Fair Housing Act outlawed them:

“[N]o part of said property or any portion thereof shall be… occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race, it being intended hereby to restrict the use of said property… by people of the Negro or Mongolian Race.” 

Such restrictions, used in concert with redlining to segregate neighborhoods, have no effect anymore. But they still remain in at least thousands of current Ohio property deeds as vestiges of a past era.

That could change soon. 

As part of the state budget bill that became law this month, licensed real estate attorneys now have the legal backing to remove discriminatory covenants from future deeds whenever a property is sold or transferred.

“I’m very pleased to see this outdated practice that hinders individuals of certain races coming to an end,” said Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, who sponsored the legislation alongside Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus. “Situations have occurred where discriminatory covenants in deeds on property transfers have been limiting for people based on race and other statuses – this is unacceptable.”

Prior to July, whether a lawyer could independently delete a discriminatory covenant in a deed of property transfer was a legal gray area, said Peg Ritenour, legal counsel for the Ohio Realtors Association, which requested the new change. Generally, most provisions are carried over from an old to new deed.