What the recorded documents actually say about Country Village in Georgetown in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
14 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 BEFORE YOU RELY ON ANY ANSWER HERE. The copy of this declaration attached to listings is not the recorded instrument - it is a transcription made in July 2014 by optical character recognition from a paper copy given to an owner in 2001, and it carries its own warning on the first page: it is not guaranteed to be free from errors, no warranty is given as to its accuracy or completeness, and it in no way supersedes the actual legal documents in effect. Everything below is therefore a careful paraphrase of a copy, not a quotation from the record. It is a sound guide to what kind of place this is and what its rules cover; it is not the document to rely on for a specific decision. Get the recorded declaration from the association or the St. Joseph County Recorder before you act on any single rule. The development was also built in stages with further phases annexed over time, so confirm which phase your home is in.
Privacy fences already here are maintained by the association as part of the exterior. Putting up anything new is a Board question: no additional building or structure may be erected or located on the property beyond those in the declaration and plans without the Board of Directors' consent, and nothing may be done that affects the exterior appearance of a home.
No additional buildings may be erected or located anywhere on the property beyond the ones the declaration and the recorded plans provide for, without the consent of the Board of Directors. Storage here is meant to be inside the home or garage - the trash rule assumes as much.
The list is long and it is a flat ban: no boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, motorcycles, mini bikes, mopeds, or any vehicle of any description other than a normal passenger automobile may be permitted, parked or stored anywhere within the property. The single exception is a vehicle completely enclosed inside a garage.
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 →Nothing may be done in or to a home that affects its exterior appearance, and nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of a window or placed on an exterior wall. No sign, awning, canopy, shutter, radio or television antenna, or any other attachment may be affixed to an exterior wall, a roof or any other part of a building without the Board's prior consent. The declaration also carries its own architectural control article setting out the purposes, conditions and procedure for approval. Remember the association is already maintaining most of the exterior, which is why its consent governs so much of it.
No radio or television antenna, and no other attachment of any kind, may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls, the roof or any other part of a building without the Board's prior consent. The declaration predates satellite dishes and does not name one, so this is the clause a dish would be judged against - ask the Board before you book an installation.
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 →No owner may plant trees, landscape or garden in any common area or limited common area without the Board's express permission - and bear in mind your lawn is maintained by the association as though it were common area. The association waters, fertilizes, mows and replants the grass, and cares for, fertilizes, trims, removes and replaces the trees the developer planted. Shrubs, any tree you plant yourself, flowers and other plants are yours to look after. Nothing - furniture, packages or objects of any kind - may be left on a front porch, drive, patio or lawn without the Board's consent.
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 →Pet dogs, cats and customary household pets are allowed in a home, provided none is kept, bred or maintained for a commercial purpose and none becomes a nuisance. Two things here are stricter than most: the Board may require a security deposit before a pet comes onto the property, refunded when the pet leaves permanently less any damage it did to the common areas - and a pet the Board judges to be causing a nuisance or unreasonable noise must be permanently removed within THREE days of written notice. The owner is fully liable for any injury or damage a pet causes.
The declaration does not restrict renting your home - but it does restrict advertising it. No for rent or for lease sign, and no window or advertising display of any kind, may be shown anywhere on the property without the Board's prior written consent. Homes are to be used exclusively for residential purposes and may not be partitioned or subdivided.
No basketball hoop is named. Two clauses govern it: nothing may be placed on a front porch, drive, patio or lawn without the Board's consent, and children's play areas are restricted to the parts of the common areas the Board designates. So a hoop on the driveway is a Board question rather than an owner's choice.
This one matters when you sell. No for sale, for rent or for lease sign, no other sign, and no window or advertising display may be maintained or permitted on any part of the property or any home without the Board's prior written consent. The developer and the Board kept the right to place such signs on unsold or unoccupied homes. Plan the marketing of a home here around needing that consent.
Only normal passenger automobiles may be parked or stored anywhere on the property; anything else belongs completely inside a garage. And no repair work may be done on any vehicle anywhere on the property - that includes ordinary passenger cars, so an oil change in the driveway is out.
An outright ban and a broad one: no industry, trade or other commercial activity, educational or otherwise, may be conducted, practiced or permitted on the property. Homes are to be used exclusively for residential purposes, and no exterior sign or advertising display is allowed without the Board's written consent in any case.
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 →No repair work may be done on the property on any vehicle, and the declaration says plainly that this includes passenger automobiles.
Garbage, trash and refuse are stored in appropriate containers inside the home or its garage, and stay there until no earlier than sundown on the evening before collection. They go out in sealed disposable plastic bags or other containers the Board approves, at the collection points the Board designates. The common areas are to be kept free and clear of rubbish, debris and other unsightly material.
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 →No clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry or other things may be hung out or exposed on any common area, or anywhere they can be SEEN from one - which in a community laid out like this one reaches most back patios.
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 →Nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of a window or placed on an exterior wall, and no window display or advertising of any kind is permitted without the Board's prior written consent.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.