What the recorded documents actually say about Geyer's Riddles Lake in Lakeville — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
6 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 Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Riddle's Lake in St. Joseph County, Indiana, a six-page document of 28 numbered restrictions that closes with the line Amended February 1999, read together with the Code of By-Laws of the Riddle's Lake Homeowners Association, last amended the same month. The recorded plat is Geyer's Riddles Lake, while the covenants and the association both use the shorter name Riddle's Lake. A 1996 surveyor location report for a lot on Telegraph Court in this addition names the plat the longer way, and the seller disclosure for a home on that same street names the association the shorter way, which is how the two names were tied to one development.
By their own words these restrictions reach every lot in the addition, and paragraph 21 says assessments are levied equally on each lot in all sections of the recorded plat. Nothing below applies to some lots and not to others, and the documents set out no separate class of lot.
Two things are worth knowing before you rely on this page. First, every copy on file is an office copy. None carries a county recording stamp, an instrument number, or a signature or notary page, and the Exhibit A legal description that the opening paragraph refers to is not attached, so the documents never list which lot numbers the addition contains. The 28 restrictions themselves are complete and run unbroken from 1 to 28, and three separate copies supplied by three different sellers agree with one another. If you need the executed and recorded version, order it from the St. Joseph County Recorder or ask the title company to pull it.
Second, and it matters in a lake development: neither document says anything at all about the lake. There is no clause on docks, piers, boathouses, seawalls, shoreline or bank upkeep, watercraft, swimming, or who may use the water. There is no separate category of lake or waterfront lot, no second association, and no separate lake assessment anywhere in these papers. The association's stated job is park areas, street lighting and common areas. So whatever lake rights attach to a particular lot here would come from the recorded plat, from the deed, or from an instrument that is not among these documents. Ask the listing agent, the title company and the association about lake access and dock rights for the specific lot before you write an offer, rather than assuming the covenants settle it either way.
On money, the covenants name no dollar amount. A 2025 seller disclosure form in the file reports recurring dues of 175 dollars a year, due at the end of June. That is one seller's statement on one sale rather than a figure set by the covenants, so confirm the current amount with the association.
Fences are limited to two kinds. Around the perimeter of a lot the document allows only a split rail fence of two rails, no more than four feet high, matching what the developers used through the addition. Around an immediate patio it allows a privacy fence of no more than six feet. Either one has to match the architectural standards set by the style of the house and be approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee, which is the association's Board of Directors. The document also provides for a written variance from the fence requirement if the Committee grants one. Separately, on a corner lot no fence may obstruct sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway inside the triangle formed by the street lines and a line joining them 25 feet from the intersection.
A detached storage building is allowed but has to clear the Architectural Control Committee before construction starts. The standard it is judged against is quality construction, an attractive and neat appearance kept up over time, and a look that blends with the house already on the lot. The Committee may also require protective screening around the structure. The document sets no size, height or setback figure for a shed, so those are whatever the Committee applies. A separate paragraph bars using any outbuilding, barn, shack, tent or trailer as a residence.
The restriction is one sentence long: campers, trailers, trucks and boats may not be kept in open areas. The document never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage in either direction, so a camper or a boat kept inside a closed garage is a question this document does not answer. What is clear is that leaving one out in the open is barred. If you own a camper, a boat or a trailer, it is worth getting the association's current position in writing before you buy rather than reading this sentence either way. A separate paragraph also bars using a trailer as a residence, temporarily or permanently.
Above-ground pools are barred outright, in a single flat sentence. In-ground pools are not barred, and the document assumes they exist here: the detached-buildings paragraph expressly contemplates a structure for storing swimming pool apparatus. An in-ground pool is still a structure, and the Architectural Control Committee has authority over all structures erected in the subdivision, with no construction permitted without its approval, so plan on submitting it. The document sets no fence, setback or equipment standard of its own for a pool.
Altering a building needs the Architectural Control Committee's approval before the work starts, on the same footing as building a new one. The plans have to show the floor plan, the quality of construction, the materials, the outside colors, how the design sits with the houses already there, and the location against lot lines, topography and finish grade. Three complete sets of prints go in, two are kept and one comes back to the owner, and the Committee's decision, approval or disapproval, is given in writing. The Committee is the association's Board of Directors, and the document says its decision is entirely within its discretion. Anything that changes the outside of the house is worth running past the Board first.
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 →Three planting rules apply. In the front yard, between the building setback line and the front lot line, no screen planting may stand over 36 inches high. On a corner lot, no hedge or shrub that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway may remain inside the 25-foot triangle at the intersection, and no tree may remain within that distance either. And every lot's side yard has to be seeded or sodded within 120 days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first. Where the plat marks a protective screening area as a non-access easement, the planting there is retained and maintained by the lot owner at the owner's own expense.
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 →Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. Livestock and poultry are not, and no animal of any kind may be raised, bred or kept for a commercial purpose. The one ongoing condition is that a pet may not become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any manner. The document sets no limit on the number of pets, names no banned breed, and says nothing about leashes or waste, so none of those sits in the recorded restrictions. The association's Board may have adopted practices on those points that are not in these papers.
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 →One sign is allowed in public view on a lot, and only one kind: a for-sale or for-rent sign of not more than five square feet. A builder gets a wider allowance, a sign of any size, but only while the property is under construction and being sold. Everything else displayed to public view is caught by the opening words of the paragraph, which are broad. The developer also reserved the right to put up its own signs to promote the development and sell lots. The scanned copy garbles a word in the middle of this sentence; the five-square-foot figure is clear on the page image.
What these documents govern is the driveway, not the number of cars. A driveway has to be asphalt or concrete, never stone or cinder, at least twelve feet wide, with asphalt at least three inches thick or concrete at least four inches. A circular drive in front of a house may be as narrow as eight feet. Two other paragraphs touch vehicles: a private garage may hold no more than three cars, and campers, trailers, trucks and boats may not be kept in open areas, which is worth reading closely if a pickup is a daily driver. Nothing in these documents limits how many vehicles may sit in a driveway, and nothing addresses parking on the street.
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 →Trash, garbage and other waste have to be kept in sanitary containers, and no lot may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish. Any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of waste has to be kept clean and sanitary. The document sets no rule on where containers may sit, on screening them, or on when they may go out to the road. Separately, the association is given power to enforce the restrictions on accumulations of rubbish, weeds or trash, so this is one of the few things it is expressly empowered to act on.
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.