What the recorded documents actually say about Oakwood Villas in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
7 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH OAKWOOD VILLAGE. They are different subdivisions with different associations and genuinely different rules - Village allows a camper or boat on the property or the street for up to 72 hours, and Villas bans exterior storage outright - and documents for both came down on the same listings. This page is the Oakwood VILLAS declaration only. Two rules here decide whether the neighbourhood fits: there is effectively NO fencing, including hedges used as a fence, and dogs and cats may not be housed or regularly kept outside the home, so there is no yard arrangement for a pet. In exchange the Association mows, landscapes and clears snow from your sidewalk and driveway - but insures nothing, and does not touch your furnace, water line, sewer line or driveway surface.
About as close to an outright ban as a covenant gets, and it reaches further than people expect. NO perimeter fencing of any type is permitted on a lot - and the covenant names what it means: hedges and other growing fences, chain link fences, split rail fences, or any other kind. The only ways round it are advance written approval from the committee, or fencing the developer itself built. Permanent fences and pens for pets are not permitted either; the only exception is something put up and taken down again within the same day for temporary use.
No structure of a temporary character, cellar, shack, garage, barn, TOOL SHED, STORAGE SHED or other outbuilding of any type may be used on a lot at any time - the only exception is for building and maintaining the house itself. Storage happens inside the home or the attached garage.
No recreational vehicle, boat, trailer or motor home may be placed for storage or repair on the exterior of any lot - and the same paragraph covers tractor-semitrailers, trucks and ordinary automobiles placed for storage or repair. There is no screened-pad or time-limit option written in.
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 →In a villa community the exterior is the shared asset, and the covenant treats it that way. Each owner pays for the customary repair, improvement, maintenance and decoration of the outside of their own home - but no owner may paint, decorate or make ANY change in the appearance of any part of the exterior that varies it from the plans the architectural committee approved, without the prior written approval of BOTH the board of directors and the Architectural and Landscape Control Committee. No house may be built and no landscaping installed until that committee approves the plans in writing. Awnings need committee approval too. Minimum floor area is 1,200 square feet for a ranch and 1,400 for a one-and-a-half storey, bi-level or tri-level, and every home has a full-size attached garage for two to three cars.
A dish is allowed, with a size and a sight line attached. No outside above-ground television, AM, FM or short-wave radio antenna, television satellite dish or earth receiving station may be put up - EXCEPT a satellite dish of no more than TWENTY-FIVE INCHES in diameter, which may not be visible from the street in front of the home, and whose location the committee approves. All utility service runs underground and out of sight.
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 →This is the reason to live here. The Association arranges mowing, landscaping and the removal of snow from the sidewalks AND the driveway, under a management agreement and guidelines the Association adopts. Know precisely where that stops: the Association does NOT maintain the interior or exterior of any structure, the water supply line, the air conditioning or heating system, the sewer lines, or any cracking or breaking of concrete or asphalt surfaces - those stay the owner's, and the owner replaces 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 →Ordinary household pets are allowed, none kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes and none permitted to become a neighbourhood nuisance, hazard or threat to public health and safety. The rule people miss: DOGS AND CATS MAY NOT BE HOUSED OR REGULARLY KEPT OUTSIDE the home. Combined with the fence paragraph, which bars pens and permanent fencing, there is no outdoor arrangement for a pet here.
No lease of LESS THAN ONE YEAR may be entered into without the Association's prior written approval. A twelve-month-or-longer tenancy is open to you; anything shorter needs the Association to sign off 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 →One sign of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale, plus a builder's signs during the construction and sales period.
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 →A short stay is a lease of less than one year, so it needs the Association's prior written approval - which for a villa community of this kind is not a formality. Treat a weekend or seasonal rental as unavailable unless the board tells you otherwise in writing.
Named directly: no automobile, truck, tractor-semitrailer, recreational vehicle, boat, trailer or motor home may be placed for STORAGE OR REPAIR on the exterior of any lot. No commercial or industrial mechanical or electrical equipment either.
No lot is used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Trash, garbage and other waste go in appropriate residential containers, kept clean and sanitary, and stored INSIDE except on collection days.
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 permanent structure for hanging laundry, rugs or other items outside the home is permitted.
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.