NW Real Estate Co. v. Serio case brief

 NW Real Estate Co. v. Serio (1929)

FACTS
-D incl. a covenant in a deed preventing its grantees from selling a property before a certain date w/o its consent. The grantees attempted to sell the property to Serio (P) before the required date, and D refused to consent.

1. Rule: Covenants restraining a grantee’s ability to sell property are in consistent with a grant of fee simple and are thus invalid.
2. Public Policy:
   1. Don’t want dead hand control
   2. Encourage free use of land
   3. Encourage sales of land
   4. Inefficiency or delay in sale of land