Gibson v. Holden

Citations

• 115 Ill. 199
• 3 N.E. 282

Syllabus

<p>1. Party WAliE—agreement to pay half the cost—whether a covenant running with the land. A and B, the owners of adjoining lots, made a written agreement that A, in the erection of a building on his lot, might place one-half of the wall upon the lot of B, suitable for a party wall, which should continue such forever, to be kept, maintained, repaired and rebuilt at the equal joint expense of both. The agreement also provided that A should, in the first place, build and pay for the wall, and that before B should use the same, or any part thereof, he should pay A the cost of one-half of the wall, and that the provisions of the agreement should be taken as covenants running with the land, and binding upon the executors, heirs, devisees and assigns of the parties, and all persons having, at any time, any interest or estate in said lots: Held, that the agreement of B to pay A one-half of the cost of the wall was not a covenant running with the lot of A, but was personal to A, and that he, and not his assignee, was entitled to receive the sum due from B for his part of the cost, and that the wall, when completed, became the property of each, although A had the right to retain possession of the whole as a security for the payment of the sum due him.</p> <p>2. Land covered by a party wall remains the several property of the owner of each half, but the title of each owner is qualified by the easement to which the other is entitled, of supporting his building by means of the half of the wall belonging to the other; and this is all that either can convey.</p> <p>3. Covenant—running with the land. Where a covenant is not of such a nature that the law permits it to be attached to the estate as a covenant running with the land, it can not be made such by agreement of the parties.</p> <p>4. Whether a covenant will or will not run with the land, does not so much depend on whether it is to be performed on the land itself, as on whether it tends, directly or necessarily, to enhance i