LAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS: Courts” Covenants narrowly interpreted

By Lawrence M. Wells, John S. Campbell, Montgomery & Andrews, P.A.

Albuquerque – A ruling by the New Mexico Court of Appeals this spring over homeowners’ rights to keep chickens as pets, despite a community covenant restriction against keeping poultry, has ramifications for property owners, including those in business condominium associations and other business developments.The appellate court in March reversed a 2014 trial court decision that Eldorado residents who kept chickens as pets in their backyards violated the community’s covenants against raising poultry. It did so on the grounds that the covenant language was ambiguous enough to be interpreted in more than one way, and should be interpreted expansively. Read more: