For much of the 20th century, homes across Westchester were sold with restrictive covenants: clauses written into the deed that barred the property from being sold to people of certain races, religions, or ethnic backgrounds. The Supreme Court made them unenforceable in 1948, and later fair-housing laws made them illegal. But the language never left the records. For decades, a homeowner pulling their own property history could still find a clause stating their family wouldn't have been allowed to buy.

That changed this month. Effective June 3, under New York Real Property Law Section 327-a, Westchester property owners can now formally redact an unlawful discriminatory covenant from their recorded deed. The Westchester County Clerk's office has posted the form in the land records section of its website.

Why it matters: this is both history and something you can actually do. If your home was built before the 1960s, especially in one of the county's older planned neighborhoods, there's a real chance the language is in your records. The process is administrative, not a court case: request the form, identify the language, and file to have it struck. The historical record is preserved; the active deed is cleaned.

The open question is how many people will use it. The law is new, the process is quiet, and most homeowners don't know the clause is there. The county has the form ready. The question is whether residents know to ask.

Listen to the full story on today's episode of The Westchester Brief.

Primary Day is today. Polls are open until 9 p.m. for the June 23 Democratic primary, which decides several Westchester races outright, including the 17th Congressional District, two County Board of Legislators seats, and town supervisor in Greenburgh and North Castle. Your ballot depends on where you live.

$122.5 million for new buses. The county's proposed capital budget sets aside $122.5 million to replace 94 aging hybrid buses in the Bee-Line system, one of the largest transit-fleet investments in years, aimed at cutting breakdowns and emissions.

Mount Vernon's 86-vote rescue. Mount Vernon voters approved a revised $275.5 million school budget on a June 16 revote, 1,161 to 1,075, after rejecting the original plan in May. The narrow margin spared the district a contingency budget.

Curious whether your own deed carries one of these covenants? The County Clerk's land records are searchable, and the new redaction form lives there too. If you look, hit reply and tell us what you found.

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