What the recorded documents actually say about Jefferson Knolls in Osceola — 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
THIS PAGE IS BUILT ON THE AUGUST 2018 AMENDMENT, and four answers changed with it - so an older copy of these covenants will mislead you on all four. Renting the house out was PROHIBITED in 2018: the owner must occupy it as their principal residence. The truck limit went UP from three-quarters of a ton to one ton, which lets an ordinary pickup stay. Recreational vehicles went from banned in open areas to a seven-day visibility clock. And the paragraph confining television dishes to the rear yard was DELETED, so the covenants no longer restrict them at all. Paragraphs the 2018 amendment did not touch still govern and were not in this file - ask the association for the complete restated set before relying on anything not listed above.
More generous than most of the county on height, with one catch about the front. A fence may be up to SIX FEET, provided it does not extend forward on the lot past the rear half of the main house. In the FRONT YARD, nothing but split rail is permitted. Hedges, shrubbery and trees are expressly not restricted by this paragraph. The architectural control committee may grant variances to any of the fence rules at its sole discretion, so a written ask is worth making.
A storage shed or other outbuilding is allowed, between ONE HUNDRED and ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY square feet - note that is a floor as well as a ceiling, so a very small shed does not qualify either. It goes on the rear half of the lot and has to match the decor of the house. The 2018 amendment added a step that the original covenant did not have: written plans must be submitted to and approved by the architectural control committee BEFORE the shed is installed or erected. No trailer, basement, tent, shack, garage, barn or other outbuilding may be used as a residence.
The 2018 amendment replaced a flat ban with a clock, and it is one of the more practical rules in this directory. A recreational vehicle - camper, trailer, truck or boat - may not be VISIBLE from any street within the subdivision for more than SEVEN CONSECUTIVE DAYS in any given month. So bringing it home to load, use and clean is fine; parking it there is not. The old wording barred keeping them in open areas at all.
Rewritten in 2018 and now one of the more carefully drafted pool rules here. Above-ground swimming pools may not be built, kept or installed on any lot - but the covenant says expressly that an inflatable wading pool, a kiddie pool, is NOT a swimming pool for this purpose. A below-ground pool, wading pool, hot tub, spa, jacuzzi or other water recreational facility may be installed with the architectural control committee's PRIOR approval, at its sole discretion, following a written request. The committee may weigh lot size and available room, and it may impose a fencing requirement STRICTER than what the county or state requires.
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 →Worth knowing what CHANGED here, and why. The covenants used to confine television dishes to the rear yard - and the 2018 amendment AMENDED AND DELETED that paragraph outright. The ballot put to owners says the reason in as many words: the language about satellite dishes was being removed particularly because of the FCC's federal preemption rules. So the recorded covenants no longer restrict where a dish goes. Ask the association whether it has since adopted a rule of its own, because the covenant is now silent rather than affirmatively permissive.
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 fence paragraph says expressly that it is not to be read as prohibiting the planting or maintenance of hedges, shrubbery or trees - so landscaping a boundary is open to you where a fence would be limited. Separately, no weeds, ashes or unsightly objects may be left on the property.
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, as long as none is kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes. Live poultry, hogs and cattle may not be housed on or about any lot.
Added by the 2018 amendment and worth reading before you buy here to rent. No lot or the home on it may be leased or rented for exclusive occupancy by one or more non-owner tenants - and the covenant defines what that means rather than leaving it open: a property is exclusively occupied by a non-owner tenant if the OWNER does not also occupy it as their own principal place of residence. The stated reason is that residents should share the same proprietary interest in the lots and common areas. In practice: you have to live here.
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 →The 2018 amendment raised the weight limit and then named what it was really aimed at. No truck larger than ONE TON - and the covenant lists semi-tractor trucks, semi-trucks and dually trucks specifically - may be parked or stored on any lot or any street in the subdivision UNLESS it is fully enclosed in a garage. The original said three-quarters of a ton, which caught ordinary pickups; one ton does not.
Lots are for private one-family residence purposes, and no noxious or offensive trade or activity may be carried on, nor anything done that becomes an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood. The covenants do not spell out a home-occupation allowance the way many Michiana subdivisions do, so ask the association before running anything visible from a house here.
The leasing prohibition is written around who occupies the home rather than the length of a stay, so a short-term rental runs into the same rule: the owner has to occupy the property as their principal residence.
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 ashes, weeds, nuisance or unsightly objects may be left on a property, and the premises may not be used in any way that endangers health or unreasonably disturbs a neighbour's quiet enjoyment.
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.