Limitations placed on developer’s power to alter covenants

The Restatement (Third), §  6.21 provides: “A developer may not exercise a power to amend or modify the declaration in a way that would materially change the character of the development or the burdens on the existing community members unless the declaration fairly apprises purchasers that the power could be used for the kind of change proposed.” In North Country Villas Homeowners Ass’n v. Kokenge, 163 P.3d 1247 (Kan. Ct. App. 2007), the court adopted this Restatement rule, holding that a developer’s power to “amend” the covenants limiting land to single-family or  duplex homes did not include the power to “revoke” them entirely by building four-unit housing.