Southampton Civic Club Inc.

Southampton Deed Restrictions & Plan Review Information

Our property values depend in large part upon our diligent enforcement of the Southampton Place deed restrictions. Diligent enforcement of our deed restrictions depends on each of us. The deed restrictions vary from street to street and, on some streets, from block to block. A summary of the Southampton Place deed restrictions can be found below.

Submit plans.  If you are considering a new construction or remodeling project, submit two sets of plans along with a survey to Mr. Ed Kagi, 1923 Wroxton,  713-521-3723, or to the Southampton office.  If appropriate, you will be given an "approval letter" to deliver to City Hall when you seek a building permit.  The letter will greatly expedite the permitting process for you. If there is a potential violation, we will, of course, voice our concerns to you and, hopefully, work things out well before you begin construction. Being in the middle of a project, and having the City, the Civic Club, or one of your neighbors raise an objection, is an unpleasantry we all want to avoid.

Our goal is to assist everyone in complying with the deed restrictions, so that the entire neighborhood benefits from whatever improvements our neighbors choose to make. Tolerating violations, at whatever stage they may be discovered, risks eventual forfeiture of our deed restrictions. Because our city does not have zoning, these restrictions are the only protection our neighborhood enjoys. If you have any questions or concerns, please bring them to our attention by calling 713-523-7422 or send us an email.

The pace of redevelopment in recent years, which includes a trend to construction of larger, taller, and more complex structures, has given rise to questions whose answers are not always obvious on the face of Southampton’s 1923 restrictions. Consequently, evaluation of proposed construction in some cases has required significant research and analysis. Among other things, we have evaluated the general plan and scheme of the subdivision; the text of the 1923 restrictive covenants; historic practice interpreting both the general plan and specific restrictive covenants; trial and appeals court decisions; and statutes passed by the legislature since 1923. The pace of change continues to pose unanticipated questions. However, based on issues presented to date, the following is our current working restrictions summary:

Setback Lines

• On Rice Boulevard “no portion of the building,” which includes porches, balconies and any other permanent part of the building, “shall be within forty (40) feet of the front line of the property, nor within twenty (20) feet of property lines on the side street or adjacent lots” on Rice Boulevard. No exceptions have been recognized for porches or other constructed elements that are part of the building, other than overhanging roof eaves.
• On Sunset Boulevard, no portion of the building shall be within 30 feet of the front property line, within 7 1/2 feet of side property lines, or within 15 feet of side street property lines. No exceptions have been recognized for porches or other constructed elements that are part of the building, other than portes-cochères.
• No portion of dwellings on Bolsover, Dunstan, Tangley, Quenby, Robinhood, and Albans are to be built within 25 feet of front property lines, 6 feet of side property lines, and 10 feet of side street lines.
• No portion of the dwellings on Wroxton and Bissonnet are to be built within 25 feet of front property lines, within 5 feet of side property lines, or within 10 feet of side street property lines on corner lots.
• Garages of houses on corner lots must meet the same minimum setback from the side street as the dwelling. However, detached garages not located on side streets have not been treated as being part of the “dwelling,” and therefore have not been considered subject to side setbacks. On the other hand, garages that are attached or integrated into the main house are considered part of the dwelling and must conform to the same side setbacks as the rest of the dwelling. Attached roofed spaces used for parking automobiles, whether configured with or without doors, are considered attached garages, and are therefore subject to the same setback as the dwelling. “Portes-cochères,” where allowed, are one lane wide and cover a short segment of a driveway that leads to a rear garage or parking area. They are not designed for automobile parking; rather, a porte-cochère is designed to allow an all-weather covered entry to the house from the driveway.

Other Restrictions

• Houses on corner lots are required to locate their front entrance upon the east-west street and not on the side (north-south) street.
• Dwellings throughout Southampton Place are restricted to two stories, which has always included bona fide "2-½ story” residences that include some living space at the attic level. A house will be considered conforming to this 2-½ story standard so long as
  1. Rooms located in the attic are contained within a roof structure of normal pitch and are lit by dormer or gable windows or skylights;
  2. The roof structure intersects with the cornice at or below the level of the second story ceilings;
  3. The highest ridge line of the roof (not counting chimneys, antennas, vent stacks, etc.) does not exceed 35 feet above finished grade.
  Houses with flat roofs over the second story by definition have no functional attic space within which a “half story” can be constructed. However, so long as the overall design is of a character comparable to that of a conventional half-story, small covered structures above the second story that contain no living space, such as skylights, lanterns, mechanical equipment enclosures, or stairway access ways to the roof, may be permissible.
• Bona fide eaves of houses are not included in setback calculations. The size of eaves depends on the architectural style of the house, but eaves extending more than 18 inches are questionable. Additionally, on streets platted for standard lots (all streets other than Rice and Sunset) small open front porches and the bases of chimneys of moderate dimension also have not been considered as being limited by the setbacks.
• The deed restrictions exclude the use of any lot or any part thereof for business or commercial purposes. This restriction does not preclude the reasonable use of a home office or studio to engage in literary, scholarly, artistic, professional, or similar activities, including work utilizing Internet and telephone connections. These are considered an aspect of residential use. On the other hand, activities such as those in which clients, customers, or employees physically come to the residence would be inconsistent with residential use and therefore would constitute a prohibited business use.
• Duplexes and apartment houses are not permitted, nor may a single-family dwelling be used as a rooming house or for any other form of multiple housing. Garage apartments may not be rented to tenants, but bona fide domestic help or members of a resident’s immediate family may occupy a garage apartment.
• Lots may not be subdivided in such a way as would result, after subdivision, in any lot being smaller in width or depth than the standard lot on the street in question.

Alley Easements

All lots have a 3-foot easement across the rear property line, which should be kept absolutely clear of fences, storage sheds, trash holders, woody vegetative growth, and other obstructions. Garbage and other heavy trucks are 8 ft. wide at hubcap level and 10 or more feet wide with mirrors. Consequently, they have a very difficult time navigating our narrow alleys. The results of any given encroachment is not always obvious, but aggregate encroachment can be very harmful to immediate neighbors and alley users.

• For example, even a simple concrete or railroad tie curb placed at the edge of the 3-foot easement can deflect truck movement toward the opposite side of the alley—which in turn may lead to rut formation on the opposite easement, and, in some cases, property damage to siding, eaves, gates, and other residential improvements. Damage to garbage collection trucks and tires has been reported, as has damage to utility poles and other facilities.
• More serious consequences can result from obstructions, as illustrated by a natural gas eruption that occurred in September 2006 when a heavy truck hit an alley gas meter, rupturing the underground gas supply line. Although the gas roared unchecked for over an hour, it did not ignite and a potential natural gas fire or explosion disaster was averted. This serves as a warning that the risks of easement obstruction are not limited to inconvenience and loss of access.
• Should parallel encroachment occur on both sides of an alley, it could entirely preclude alley access by medium and large trucks. Action by a few owners enclosing easements and blocking truck passage thus can violate the property rights of adjacent property owners, who are by law entitled to unobstructed alley access by service, utility, and garbage collection vehicles.

City of Houston Development and Building Code Requirements

The City of Houston enforces additional requirements not contained in the Southampton deed restrictions, including additional alley setbacks necessary to allow practical garage access; a mandatory setback of 10 feet from property lines along all streets; extra setbacks for garages facing side streets; and side-lot setbacks for detached garages. Additionally, any proposed partition or combination of existing lots must be approved through a re-platting process.