What the recorded documents actually say about Bent Oak St. Andrews Village in Elkhart — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
13 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
READ THIS FIRST - THE CURRENT COVENANTS ARE ONLY PARTLY ON FILE. Two recorded instruments are involved. The 1984 Protective Restrictions for the Villages of Bent Oak Corporation, at Volume 164, Page 810, are complete on file: six pages, twenty-eight numbered paragraphs. In 1996 those were amended and restated in their entirety by a thirty-seven page instrument, number 96-030810, executed by Bent Oak Homeowners' Association, Inc. Only the first three pages of that thirty-seven page restatement are in the copy on file. So the newer instrument governs, and most of it cannot be read here.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR THE ANSWERS BELOW. Every answer marked as coming from the 1984 text is the best available reading, and any of them may have been changed by a paragraph sitting on one of the thirty-four missing pages. Two changes are already visible on the three pages that are present, and both are applied below: the architectural control committee became three people appointed by the association's board rather than five appointed by the developer, and a lot may now be used only as a single family owner occupied residence, which the 1984 text did not require. Treat the rest as unverified against the current instrument.
WHICH LOTS. The 1984 covenants covered four villages - Doral, St. Andrews, Oak Ridge and Augusta - as lots 1 through 161. The 1996 restatement covers only three, and puts St. Andrews Village at lots 111 through 161. Doral Village is not in it and has its own separate covenants recorded in 2002. Bent Oak Condominiums is a different association again, with its own by-laws.
WHAT TO DO. Before you rely on any answer here, have your title company or the Elkhart County Recorder pull the full thirty-seven page 1996 restatement, instrument 96-030810, together with the association's by-laws, and ask the association for its current dues and rules. This is the one neighborhood in this directory where that step is not optional. The recorded copies on file are scans of paper rather than digital text, so individual words can be misread in conversion, which is why each answer carries the document's own wording.
Fencing is allowed in two specific forms and nothing else. The only perimeter fence permitted is a split rail of not less than two rails and not more than three, no higher than four feet. A privacy fence is allowed around an immediate patio at no more than six feet. Either has to match the architectural standards set by the style of house on the lot and be approved by the architectural control committee, unless a variance has been approved. Separately, no screen planting over six feet is allowed between the building setback line and the front lot line, and on a lot bordering the golf course no screen planting may come within thirty feet of the golf course line or stand over three feet high. This paragraph comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages of the restatement that would confirm or change it are not on file.
A detached shed is allowed but needs approval first. Any structure placed in a detached position on a lot for pet shelter or to store lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or other personal property must be of quality construction, kept in an attractive and neat condition, blend with the house already built, and have prior approval from the architectural control committee. It also has to sit inside the front, rear and side setback lines unless the committee approves a deviation, and the committee may require plant or other screening around it. A separate paragraph bars any shack, barn or other outbuilding from being used as a residence. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
Recreational and commercial vehicles may not be kept in open areas, and the covenants name campers, trailers, trucks larger than three-quarter ton, boats, snowmobiles, bikes, golf carts and all-terrain vehicles. The clause reaches open areas off the lot as well as on it, which is broader than most vehicle rules and is worth knowing before you buy. The document never defines what an open area is, and it does not mention a garage in either direction, so a camper, boat or trailer kept inside a closed garage is not addressed by the wording at all. The text alone does not settle that. The association, or your title company, is the place to ask how the rule tends to be applied before you rely on it. This paragraph comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
The answer splits by type of pool. Above ground pools are not permitted at all, and neither are tennis courts. An in ground pool is allowed, but it may not be erected, built or installed until the plans and specifications for it have been approved in writing by the architectural control committee. No depth, siting, fencing or equipment standard is written into the document, so what the committee will accept is not something the recorded text answers. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
Approval comes first, and the current instrument widened what needs it. The 1984 text required committee approval before any building or structure was erected, placed, maintained or altered, or the natural grade or drainage of a lot changed, with two sets of plans showing floor plan, construction materials, outside colors, how the design sits with existing houses, and location against lot lines, topography and finish grade. The 1996 restatement, which is the governing instrument, goes further: no building, structure, improvement, addition, landscaping or other such work may be started, built or modified on a lot until the plans are approved in writing by the committee. That version of the committee is three people appointed by the association's board, its members need not be lot owners, its decision is described as entirely within its discretion, and its authority runs twenty-one years from the 1996 recording.
Antennas are limited by height rather than banned. No outside above ground television, AM, FM or short wave antenna, or antenna of any type, may be put up or kept on a lot or structure where it rises more than three feet above the roof line of that structure. On the face of that wording an antenna or dish that stays within three feet of the roof line is not caught. The same paragraph requires all utility service, including cable television, to run underground and out of sight. The document never uses the word satellite or dish, which is unsurprising for 1984. Federal rules on antenna installation can also bear on how a clause like this is enforced, which is a question for a lawyer rather than for this page. These lines come from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change them are not on file.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Landscaping is regulated in three places, and under the current instrument it also needs approval. Every lot has to have its side, front and rear planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within one hundred twenty days of the house being finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the committee approves otherwise. No screen planting over six feet is allowed between the building setback line and the front lot line, and on a lot bordering the golf course no screen planting may come within thirty feet of the golf course line or stand over three feet high. Firewood and other materials used for heating or recreation have to be covered and screened to the committee's requirements. The 1996 restatement then added landscaping to the list of work that may not be started or modified until the committee approves the plans in writing.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Household pets are allowed, other animals are not. No livestock, animals or poultry of any kind may be harbored, raised, bred or kept on a lot, except that dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any way. The document sets no number limit, no leash rule and no registration requirement. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file, and an association can also adopt pet rules outside the recorded covenants.
This is one of the two places where the current instrument visibly changed the rules, and it matters. The 1984 covenants said a lot could be used only as a single family residence and said nothing about who had to live there. The 1996 Amended and Restated covenants, which are the governing instrument, say no lot may be used for any purpose other than as a single family owner occupied residence, and the companion paragraph says no dwelling may be placed or remain on a lot other than one single family owner occupied dwelling. On the face of that wording, renting the house out is not a permitted use. Two cautions. Exceptions to the dwelling paragraph may be made if unanimously approved in writing by the architectural control committee and by the association's board, so there is a route to ask. And thirty-four of the restatement's thirty-seven pages are not in the copy on file, so whether a later paragraph softens this, grandfathers existing tenancies or spells out a procedure cannot be checked here. If renting matters to you, get the full recorded instrument before you buy.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →One sign is allowed and the size is capped. No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot except a single sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent. A builder's sign of any size is allowed during construction and the sales period, and the developer kept the right to put up whatever signs it wanted to promote and sell lots. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
There is no general parking rule, but there is a storage rule that reaches most of what people ask about. Recreational and commercial vehicles, named as campers, trailers, trucks larger than three-quarter ton, boats, snowmobiles, bikes, golf carts and all-terrain vehicles, may not be kept in open areas, on the lot or off it. Nothing in the document limits how many ordinary passenger cars may sit on a driveway, bans overnight street parking, or requires cars to be in the garage. Every house does have to have a full size attached garage holding at least two cars and no more than three, with at least four hundred square feet of floor space. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
The covenants do not write their own home-business rule. They point at the city instead: a lot may be used for no purpose other than a single family residence as outlined in the R1 zoning manual of the City of Elkhart, and a later paragraph says that zoning manual is the minimum standard, with these covenants intended in places to go above it. Under the 1996 restatement the same paragraph reads single family owner occupied residence. So whether a particular home occupation is allowed turns on Elkhart's R1 zoning rules rather than on anything spelled out here, and the architectural control committee and the association may have a view as well.
Nothing in either instrument uses the words short term rental, nightly rental or any platform name - the 1984 covenants predate all of it. What the governing 1996 instrument says is that a lot may be used for no purpose other than a single family owner occupied residence. A short stay let to paying guests is not owner occupancy, so on the face of that wording it is not a permitted use. The same two cautions apply as for longer rentals: exceptions to the companion dwelling paragraph can be made by unanimous written approval of the architectural control committee and the association's board, and thirty-four of the restatement's thirty-seven pages are not in the copy on file, so this page cannot tell you whether a later paragraph addresses it directly.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Trash has to be contained. No lot may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish, and trash, garbage or other waste material may only be kept in sanitary containers. Any storage or disposal equipment for that material has to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. The document does not say where a container may sit on collection day or how soon it has to come back in. This comes from the 1984 covenants, which the 1996 restatement replaced in full; the pages that would confirm or change it are not on file.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.