What the recorded documents actually say about High Pointe Estates in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
10 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
THIS INSTRUMENT REPLACES THE PRIOR RECORDED RESTRICTIONS (documents 8833381 and 9122456), and the covenant sets out its own tie-breakers: where the two sets are inconsistent this one wins, but where the PLAT is more restrictive than the covenant, the plat controls. So check the plat for your section as well. There is also a 22-acre forest reserve next to Section 1 that no owner may enter without the developer's written permission. Minimum house sizes run 2,200 square feet for a single storey up to 2,500 for the other types, and garages have to be side-load unless the terrain makes that impractical.
The only perimeter fencing allowed is split rail, two rails high and no more than four feet, or a privacy fence up to six feet running along the edge of a patio. A privacy fence has to match the architectural standard set by the style of the house and be approved by the committee in writing, unless the committee grants a written variance. On a corner lot nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may block the sight triangle.
A detached storage or pet-shelter structure may be permitted if the committee approves it before construction. It has to be quality construction, kept in an attractive and neat condition, and blend with the established home, and the committee may require screening around it. No trailer, modular or manufactured home, prebuilt home, basement or underground home, tent, shack, garage, barn or outbuilding may be lived in.
Recreational and commercial vehicles - campers, trailers, trucks and boats - may not be kept in open areas anywhere in the subdivision, on a lot or off it. Snowmobiles are prohibited outright, and the covenant says a user is subject to injunction.
An in-ground pool and a tennis court are both permitted if properly screened and approved in writing by the committee. Above-ground pools are not permitted.
Nothing may be built, placed, maintained or altered, and the natural topography or drainage may not be changed, until the architectural control committee approves the plans in writing. One quirk that runs in the owner's favour: approval is PRESUMED if the committee fails to disapprove within sixty days of the plans going in. A lot carries one single-family house - single storey, one-and-a-half, two, two-and-a-half, bi-level or tri-level only - and a one-and-a-half, bi-level or tri-level is allowed only on terrain the committee approves. Every house needs a full-size attached garage for two to three cars, and it has to be SIDE-LOAD unless the lot's terrain makes that impractical and the committee waives it.
Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short-wave radio antennas of any type are barred, and the covenant says expressly that this includes any type of satellite dish antenna. All utility service runs underground, with an allowance only for equipment that genuinely has to be above ground to work. Federal rules on over-the-air reception devices limit how far a private covenant can restrict a dish under one meter on property in your own exclusive use and control, so ask the association rather than assuming the blanket ban binds.
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 screen planting over thirty-six inches is allowed between the building setback line and the front lot line, and the grading of a lot used as a drainage swale may not be changed in a way that alters storm runoff. After the developer sells a lot, no weeds, underbrush or other unsightly growth may be left to grow on it, and no structure may be allowed to deteriorate or become unsightly.
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 may be kept in reasonable numbers as pets for the people living there - the covenant uses that wording rather than naming a number - as long as none is kept, bred or maintained commercially and none becomes a neighbourhood nuisance or hazard. Livestock and poultry may not be kept.
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 →No sign may be displayed to public view except one of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent, plus a builder's sign during construction and for six months afterwards. The developer keeps the right to put up its own.
Driveways must be at least twelve feet wide and built of asphalt at least three inches thick or concrete at least four; stone and cinder are not allowed and a circular drive may be as narrow as eight feet. Fireplace chimneys have to be masonry. One unusual rule: no owner may knowingly let anyone drive any vehicle in the subdivision - minibikes, motor scooters, go-carts and cars are all named - unless that person holds a valid Indiana driver's licence, whether or not a licence would be needed for that vehicle elsewhere.
More modern than most covenants of its era, and worth reading if you work from home. The occupation stays entirely inside the house, stays clearly secondary to living there, and may not use mechanical or electrical equipment OTHER THAN a telephone, a personal computer or a personal copier - which the covenant names specifically. No sign visible from outside, nothing sold on the premises, nobody employed from outside the immediate family, and no goods delivered to the house for resale or redelivery. A barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlour, tea room, fortune-telling parlour, animal hospital or animal care such as dog trimming is named and excluded.
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 any incinerator or storage equipment kept clean and sanitary. No lot may be used to store rubbish of any kind, or anything that makes the lot look unclean or untidy. Oil and fuel storage tanks have to go inside the house, basement or attached garage - and a new one may not be put in the ground at all, though it may sit in a basement if it is not buried and stays readily accessible.
No fire may be allowed to burn on any easement, street or roadway in the subdivision - slightly broader than the usual street-only wording, since it reaches the easements too. A fire on your own lot is not addressed.
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.