What the recorded documents actually say about Copperfield in South Bend — 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
These answers come from the documents that govern Copperfield Villa Association, Inc., the condominium formerly called the Copperfield II Horizontal Property Regime. There are three of them, all public records in St. Joseph County. The Amended and Restated Condominium Declaration, instrument 1725044, recorded September 14, 2017, replaced the original Declaration of Horizontal Property Ownership of December 20, 1991. The Code of Bylaws, instrument 1725043, recorded the same day, replaced the 1991 bylaws and carries Article VI, which is where almost every use restriction on this page comes from. An Amendment to Bylaws recorded in 2019 changed one line of Article VI, widening the vehicle exception from personal vans to personal and work vans.
Two consequences of that history are worth knowing before you rely on anything here. First, the 2017 restatement dropped several rules the 1991 bylaws contained, including a paragraph that had required board consent for a satellite dish, an antenna, a basketball backboard, an awning or anything hung outside a window. Second, a recorded 2008 bylaw amendment set a 25 pound full-grown weight limit on dogs and a 36 inch edging clearance for new plantings, and neither survives into the 2017 code. Where this page says so, it says so; but whether the association still enforces a dropped rule is a question only the association can answer, and the answer is worth getting in writing.
Because this is a condominium, the ground and the outside of the buildings are common and limited areas rather than your own land. Several answers below therefore come from one clause, the one requiring the board's prior written approval for any alteration or addition to a common or limited area, any change in how it looks, and any exterior alteration to a unit. Where that clause is doing the work rather than a rule naming the thing you asked about, the answer says so.
Coverage. These documents govern the units in this regime, 56 of them by the fractional interest the declaration assigns. A separate and older condominium, Copperfield Condominiums, was created on the adjoining ground by the same developer in January 1990 under its own Declaration of Horizontal Property Ownership, and it has its own association and its own amendments. If your unit belongs to that regime, this page is not your document. Your deed and your title company can say which regime your unit is in, and both declarations are public records at the St. Joseph County Recorder.
This is a condominium, and the recorded documents never use the word fence. What governs instead is the alterations rule: an owner may not make any alteration or addition to the common areas or the limited areas, or change how they look, without the board's prior written approval, and may not make any exterior alteration to the unit without the board approving the plans in writing. A fence would sit in a limited or common area, so it falls squarely inside that. The declaration adds that if the board does nothing for thirty days after plans are submitted, that counts as approval. Older bylaws for this regime, replaced in 2017, separately barred attaching things to exterior walls without board consent.
No additional buildings may be put up anywhere on the tract other than the buildings already shown in the declaration and on the recorded plans, unless the board consents or the plans are amended. A freestanding shed is an additional building, so the starting point is no, and the only route is board consent. The land it would stand on is common or limited area rather than the owner's own ground, which is why the decision belongs to the board.
The bylaws prohibit boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, motor homes, aircraft, mini homes and any other similar or unconventional vehicle from being permitted, parked or stored anywhere within the common area or the limited area. Trucks are caught by the same sentence, with one carve-out: personal and work vans and pick-up trucks are excepted. A 2019 recorded amendment is what added the word work to that exception. In a condominium the common and limited areas are everywhere outside the unit itself, including the driveways, so the document leaves no place on the property to keep a camper or a boat, and it names no approval route.
No pool is named anywhere in the recorded documents, and none is listed among the common areas. A pool put in by an owner would be an addition to a limited or common area and a change to how it looks, so the alterations rule applies and it would need the board's prior written approval. The bylaws separately bar any additional building on the tract without board consent.
Nothing on the outside changes without the board. An owner may not alter or add to the common areas or limited areas or change their appearance without the board's prior written approval, and may not make any exterior alteration to the unit without the board approving the plans in writing. If the board does not act within thirty days of getting the plans, the declaration treats that as approval. Two related rules sit alongside: nothing may be done in a unit that impairs the structural integrity of a building or would structurally change it, and the board walks the property once a year, in the first two weeks of July, to inspect the common areas, limited areas and villa exteriors for compliance. Christmas lights have to be down by March 1.
The documents in force do not mention a satellite dish or an antenna by name. The set they replaced did: the 1991 bylaws for this regime expressly required board consent before any radio or television antenna or satellite dish was affixed to an exterior wall or roof, and the 2017 code of bylaws that took their place does not repeat that sentence. What still applies is the general alterations rule, under which mounting a dish on the outside of a unit is an exterior alteration needing the board's written approval, and anything bolted to a common or limited area changes its appearance and needs approval too. Ask the board what it allows and where, and get the answer in writing.
Solar is not mentioned in any of the recorded documents. Panels on the roof or on the outside of a unit would be an exterior alteration, and panels anywhere outside the unit would be an addition to a common or limited area, so on the wording of the alterations rule both need the board's prior written approval. The roofs and exteriors are also maintained and insured by the association, which is a practical reason the board would want a say.
The association mows and maintains all the lawns as a common expense, so routine yard work is not the owner's job here. What the owner may not do is plant a tree without the board's approval. Sprinkler systems are the owner's responsibility. Beyond that, any planting bed or other change that alters a limited or common area or how it looks needs the board's prior written approval under the alterations rule. A 2008 bylaw amendment had set a 36 inch minimum edging clearance for new shrubs, trees and flower beds; the 2017 code of bylaws that replaced the bylaws does not carry that rule, so ask the board whether it still applies.
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 may be kept in the unit. Raising, breeding or keeping animals, livestock or poultry of any kind is otherwise prohibited, in the unit and in the common and limited areas alike, and no pet may be kept for a commercial purpose or allowed to create a nuisance. The owner is fully liable for any damage a pet does to the common or limited areas, to another unit, or to another owner's property. Outside the unit a pet must be on a leash and the owner has to pick up after it, and the bylaws note that animal control can be called if a pet becomes a problem. A pet the board judges to be a nuisance or an unreasonable disturbance has to be permanently removed from the property within ten days of written notice. On dog runs the bylaws read awkwardly: the sentence says no dog runs will be permitted in the limited areas, but subject to approval by the board. One more thing a buyer with a large dog should chase down: a recorded 2008 bylaw amendment barred residents from owning or bringing onto the property any dog weighing more than 25 pounds full grown. The 2017 code of bylaws, which replaced the bylaws, does not repeat that limit. Ask the association in writing whether the weight limit is still enforced before you count on it either way.
An owner may lease a unit, and the lease is subject to whatever conditions and restrictions the board sets from time to time. That means the rules on renting are not fixed in the recorded documents and can change; ask the board for the current ones in writing. Two limits are placed on the board itself: it may not require an owner to use a rental agent it picks, and it may not require a unit to be leased for a prescribed period of time. The bylaws separately bar for rent and for lease signs on the property without the board's prior consent, so advertising a vacancy on site needs permission.
The documents in force do not name a basketball hoop. The 1991 bylaws for this regime did, barring a basketball backboard from being affixed to a building without board consent, and the 2017 code of bylaws that replaced them drops that sentence. What remains is the alterations rule: a hoop fixed to a unit is an exterior alteration and a hoop set into a driveway or lawn is an addition to a limited or common area, and either needs the board's prior written approval. A portable hoop that is not attached to anything is not addressed either way.
Signs need the board's permission. The bylaws name political signs, for rent signs and for lease signs, and then sweep in any other window or advertising display, and say none of them may be maintained or permitted on any part of the property or any unit without the board's prior consent. That is a consent requirement rather than a flat ban, and it is written broadly enough to reach a sign in a window as well as one in the yard. No size, number or duration limit is written down, so what the board will allow is a question for the board.
Ordinary cars are not restricted, and the association clears snow from the driveways and sidewalks. What is restricted is the type of vehicle: buses, mobile homes, motor homes, aircraft, mini homes, boats, campers, trailers of any kind and any other similar or unconventional vehicle may not be permitted, parked or stored anywhere in the common area or the limited area. Trucks are prohibited by the same sentence except for personal and work vans and pick-up trucks, an exception a recorded 2019 amendment widened by adding work vans. The documents set no guest parking rule, no overnight rule and no assigned-space rule, so ask the board how parking is handled day to day.
Each unit is to be used exclusively for residential purposes. On top of that the bylaws prohibit any industry, trade or other commercial or religious activity, educational or otherwise, designed for profit or otherwise, from being conducted, practiced or permitted on the property or in any unit unless the board approves it. So the door is not closed, but it is a board decision rather than an owner's. Anything with a sign runs into a second rule, because advertising displays also need the board's prior consent.
Short-term or nightly renting is not named in the documents. Leasing generally is allowed subject to conditions the board sets from time to time, and one thing the board is expressly barred from doing is requiring an owner to lease a unit for a prescribed period of time, which is the usual way a minimum stay gets imposed. Read together, that leaves the board able to set conditions on leasing but not, on the face of this wording, a minimum lease term. This is the kind of question where the board's current written rules matter more than the recorded documents, so ask for them.
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 →The bylaws require the common areas to be kept free and clear of rubbish, debris and other unsightly materials. That is the only trash rule in the recorded documents: there is no collection day, no container standard and no screening requirement written down. Because the ground outside the unit is common or limited area, where a container may sit is effectively the board's to decide through its rules and regulations, which it may adopt and amend by a majority vote.
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 →Window displays are covered by the sign rule, which reaches any window or advertising display and requires the board's prior consent before one is maintained on any part of the property or any unit. Seasonal decoration has its own line: all Christmas lights must be removed by March 1. The 1991 bylaws for this regime went further and barred anything from being hung or displayed on the outside of the windows without board consent; the 2017 code of bylaws that replaced them does not repeat that sentence, so what is left is the consent requirement for a window display.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.