What the recorded documents actually say about Carrington Place in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
7 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
These answers come from the covenants that govern the original Carrington Place: the Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Carrington Place, revised in August 2007, adopted by the Carrington Place Homeowners Association in January 2008 and recorded with the St. Joseph County Recorder as instrument 0803122. That restatement replaced an earlier 2001 version, instrument 2001.42800, which is also in this collection and is out of date. One later recorded change has been applied here: a First Amendment, recorded in August 2009 as instrument 2009.26948, which replaced the homeowners association paragraph in full and left everything else in force.
Who this covers. The recorded declaration covers the seventeen lots of Carrington Place, lots one through seventeen, on the plat recorded June 14, 2001.
Who it does not cover, and this is the important one. A separate subdivision next door, Carrington Place East, has its own recorded declaration, its own plat from June 2002, and twenty-six lots of its own, numbered eighteen through forty-three. Same developer, similar language, different document, and several rules genuinely differ: Carrington Place East bans perimeter fencing outright and allows a six-foot privacy fence around a patio or pool with written approval, bans satellite dish antennas outright instead of allowing them with approval, routes sign approval through the developer rather than the architectural committee, and forbids splitting a lot to build a second home. Its declaration is on file in this collection and it was not used for the answers on this page. If the home you are looking at sits on a lot numbered eighteen or higher, or the address is on the east side of the development, these answers are a close guide but not your document. Ask the listing agent or a title company which plat the lot is on.
How it was read. The copy on file is a scan of the Recorder's paper record with no digital text, so it was read by optical character recognition, and every paragraph that carries an answer below was also checked against the scanned page image. Three paragraphs, on fencing, on pools and tennis courts, and on recreational vehicles, are underlined in the original and came through the machine reading badly; those were read off the page image by eye. The declaration runs as a complete numbered series from one through thirty-six with no gap, so where this page says a topic is not addressed, that is the document being silent rather than a page being missing.
As always, the declaration that runs with a particular lot is a public record at the St. Joseph County Recorder, and a title company can normally name it from the legal description. Anything recorded after August 2009 would not be reflected here.
Fencing is addressed directly and the standard is narrow. The only fencing allowed is fencing of the same design and quality as the fencing already in the neighborhood, and any fence has to be approved by the Architectural Committee before it goes in. The recorded text sets no height, no material list and no setback of its own, so the practical answer is whatever matches what is already there. Ask the association what the current fencing standard is, and get the approval in hand before you order anything.
A detached storage building or pet shelter is allowed, and the covenants deal with it head on. It has to be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat appearance, blend with the established home, and be submitted to the Carrington Place Architectural Control Committee for approval before construction begins. The committee may require protective screening around it. Separately, no trailer, tent, shack, barn or outbuilding may be used as a residence on any lot at any time, temporarily or permanently.
The covenants bar recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks and boats, from being kept in open areas in the subdivision, and they reach open areas whether those are on your lot or off it. What the document does not do is define what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage in either direction. So a camper or boat parked outside, in a driveway or on the lawn, is what the clause plainly catches. One kept fully inside a closed garage is not addressed by the words on the page, and the document neither permits it nor forbids it. If that is your situation, get the association to tell you in writing how it reads this paragraph before you buy the vehicle or the house.
Above ground pools are not permitted. An inground pool is permitted, and so is a tennis court, but only with the prior approval of the Carrington Place Architectural Control Committee. The recorded text gives no size, fencing or placement standard of its own, so those terms come from the committee at the time it reviews your plans.
Approval is required before work starts, and the reach is broad. No building or other structure may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on any lot, and the natural topography or drainage of a lot may not be altered, until the plans have been approved by the Carrington Place Architectural Control Committee. The plans have to show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, how the external design sits with the existing homes, and the location against lot lines, topography and finish grade. Two complete sets go in; the committee keeps one and returns one. Approval or disapproval is in writing, and no deviation from the approved plans is allowed without the committee agreeing in writing first. The committee is three people serving three-year terms, and its decisions are described as entirely within its discretion.
The two are treated differently. A satellite dish is allowed with the approval of the Architectural Committee. Outside above-ground radio antennas are not: the paragraph prohibits AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type on any lot or structure in the subdivision, with the satellite dish exception carved out of that ban. The same paragraph requires utility service, including cable television, to run underground and not be visible. No dish size or placement limit is stated, so the committee sets those when it reviews the request. Federal rules on antennas and dishes can limit how far a covenant like this may be enforced, so raise it with the association and with a lawyer if it matters to you.
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 →Several paragraphs bear on landscaping. Tree removal is controlled: no live tree over four inches across, measured a foot above the ground, and no flowering tree such as dogwood or redbud, no broad leaf evergreen, and no live vegetation on a slope steeper than twenty percent may be cut without the prior approval of the Carrington Place Architectural Control Committee. Separately, no live tree of any size within ten feet of a lot line may be cut without that same approval. Screen planting between the front building setback line and the front lot line is capped at thirty-six inches high. Yards have to be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within one hundred twenty days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the committee approves something else. Changing the grading of a drainage swale in a way that alters storm runoff is not allowed, and altering the natural topography or drainage of a lot needs approval. Under the 2009 amendment the association may also assess for mowing the lawn of each lot on a schedule it sets.
A mailbox is required on every lot, has to be kept in good condition and repair, and has to conform to the current design criteria. The recorded text does not print the design itself or name who holds it, so the actual specification has to come from the association or the Architectural Control Committee.
Household pets are allowed. 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. Animals, livestock and poultry of any other kind may not be raised, bred or kept on a lot. There is no cap on the number of pets and no breed or weight limit in the recorded text. If you want an outdoor pet shelter, that is a detached structure and needs Architectural Control Committee approval before it is built.
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 →Every sign needs approval first. The Architectural Control Committee must approve any sign to be posted, and the paragraph names for rent signs, for sale signs, political signs and any other posting. No size, count or time limit is written into the recorded text, and no exception is carved out for a sale sign, so plan on asking before anything goes in the yard. Indiana law gives political signs some protection during an election period, so ask the association how it handles those.
Parking is restricted rather than banned. No vehicle may be parked on the grass or landscaped part of any lot at any time, and no vehicle may be parked on a regular, recurrent or permanent basis on any right-of-way, which is the street side. Every home has to have a full-size attached garage holding at least two cars and no more than three. Recreational and commercial vehicles, including campers, trailers, trucks and boats, are handled by a separate paragraph that bars keeping them in open areas in the subdivision, on or off the lot. The documents set no overnight-guest rule and no permit system.
A home occupation is allowed inside narrow limits. The work has to be conducted entirely within the residence and carried on only by a member of the immediate family living there. It has to stay clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the home as a home. There may be no sign or display visible from outside, no commodity sold on the premises, no employee other than a family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The paragraph then names uses that can never qualify: a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming.
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 →Trash, garbage and other waste have to be kept in sanitary containers, and no lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. The recorded text sets no screening requirement and no rule about when cans may go to the curb. The association is separately given the power to enforce the restrictions on accumulations of rubbish, weeds and trash.
The covenants never mention a grill, a barbecue or cooking of any kind. The one fire paragraph is narrow: it bars a fire from burning on any street or roadway in the subdivision. On the face of that wording a contained grill on your own patio is not what it reaches, since it is about streets and roadways rather than lots. That is a reading of a sentence that was not written with grilling in mind, so if you are planning a built-in outdoor kitchen or a fire pit, confirm it with the association, and check the South Bend open-burning ordinance as well.
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.