ABA Family Legal Guide

Home Ownership

Property Rights and Restrictions

Your Property Rights

What are my rights as a homeowner?

Generally, what you do with the home you own is up to you. You have a right to maintain or neglect, preserve or remodel, keep, sell, or give away, and enjoy your home as you see fit.

However, these rights are not absolute. They are limited by federal, state, and local laws, because the people who live around you also have rights. For example, under the federal Fair Housing Act, you may not discriminate when renting your property. Under local ordinances, your home must conform to zoning and building codes. The zoning code may prevent you from adding a three-story addition. If your garage is falling down and creating a hazard, your neighbors could invoke the building inspector, or even sue you themselves, to force you to repair it or raze it.

So be mindful of such matters as zoning, building codes, easements, water rights, and local ordinances on noise, or you could find yourself in trouble.