What the recorded documents actually say about Sandpiper Cove Condos 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
These answers come from the Third Amended and Restated Bylaws for Sandpiper Cove Condominium Association, Inc. and Sandpiper Cove Horizontal Property Regime, recorded with the St. Joseph County Recorder on July 26, 2011 as instrument 1118948. That document says on its own face that it supersedes and replaces all earlier bylaws, including the Second Amended and Restated Bylaws recorded August 30, 2004 as instrument 0443082, and it applies to all of Sandpiper Cove, the condominiums and the villas alike.
Sandpiper Cove is a condominium, and that changes what most of these answers mean. You buy the inside of a unit. The roofs, the exterior walls, the lawns, the patios, the drives and the private roadways are common area or limited common area held in common, so nearly everything a buyer thinks of as a yard or exterior project is the board's decision rather than yours. Several answers below say no, or say ask first, for that reason rather than because anyone singled the item out.
There is one gap worth knowing about. The regime was created by a Declaration of Horizontal Property Regime recorded October 18, 1989 as instrument 8927878, and that declaration has its own paragraph of covenants and restrictions and its own paragraph on leasing a condominium unit by an owner. The copy on file here stops a few pages in, so neither paragraph has been read. Anything the declaration restricts that the bylaws do not mention would not appear on this page. Ask the title company for the complete recorded declaration, and for any supplemental declarations recorded after March 2004; thirty-three of them had already been recorded by then.
Some of what governs daily life here is not recorded at all. The association publishes a policies and reminders booklet, last revised July 2015, covering rentals, satellite dishes, street parking, pets, exterior changes, the clubhouse and the pool. The recorded bylaws give the board power to make rules like these and make them binding on owners and their guests, but because they are board rules rather than a recorded covenant the board can change them by a vote. Every answer below that rests on that booklet says so. Ask the association for the current version before you rely on it.
No dues figure appears anywhere in the recorded documents. Assessments are monthly, split equally among the units, and set each year in a budget the owners adopt at the annual meeting on the first Tuesday of February. Ask the association or its managing agent for the current amount, the reserve balance, and any special assessment in progress.
The recorded copies on file are scans of paper with no digital text, so individual words can be misread. Every answer quotes the document's own wording so you can weigh it yourself, and the pages carrying the load were read a second time off the scanned images by eye. Confirm the full set of recorded documents for your own address through the title company before you rely on any of this.
At Sandpiper Cove the patio and the ground around your unit are limited common area, not land you own, so a fence is the board's call rather than yours. Altering or modifying any common area or limited common area takes specific written authorization from the board of directors, and doing it without that authorization is treated as a breach of the owner's obligations. A separate sentence in the same bylaws says an owner may not erect buildings or structures in those areas at all, so a run of new fencing is not something to count on. The association's own policy booklet, last revised July 2015, does list adding a patio fence as the kind of exterior change an owner can ask for in writing; if the board approves it, the owner signs a waiver agreeing to maintain it at their own cost. The bylaws also confirm the association maintains the patios and fences the builder originally installed.
There is nowhere at Sandpiper Cove to put a shed. You own the inside of your unit; the lawn, the patio and the ground around the building are common area or limited common area, and the bylaws say an owner may not erect buildings or structures in either one. That sentence carries no exception and no approval route of its own. A separate clause does let the board give specific written authorization to alter or modify those areas, so if an outbuilding matters to you, put the request to the board in writing before you buy rather than after.
The rule is broad, but it names a place where these vehicles are fine. Nothing other than a normal passenger automobile may be permitted, parked or stored anywhere on the property, and the list is long: boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, motorcycles, mini bikes and mopeds. The same sentence then says nothing in it prevents parking or storing such a vehicle completely enclosed within a garage. So the practical question is whether it fits inside your garage, not whether the association allows one on the property at all. Outside the garage, including a driveway or a guest space, the wording does not permit it, and the bylaws set no loading or unloading window.
A private pool is not something an owner can add here. The ground around every unit is common area or limited common area, and the bylaws say an owner may not erect buildings or structures in either. What Sandpiper Cove does have is a shared pool at the clubhouse, put in by the developer along with the community building. The association's policy booklet sets the pool rules: no lifeguard on duty, no diving, no glass containers, no food and no alcohol in the pool deck area, no pets, children under sixteen must be with an adult and an owner, and a guest must be accompanied by a member the whole time. Reserving the clubhouse for a private event does not reserve the pool.
Anything that changes the outside is a written-approval question, and the bylaws put a clock on the answer. Structural modifications or alterations to your unit, or to installations in or appurtenant to it, need a written request to the association first, through the managing agent or, if there is none, the president of the board. The association has 45 days to answer with an authorization or a denial, and if it does not answer within that time the bylaws treat the silence as no objection to the proposal. Altering a common area or limited common area is separate and stricter: that needs specific written authorization. Nothing may be affixed to or placed upon exterior walls, roofs or any exterior part of a building without the board's prior written consent, and a further clause bars anything that could affect the exterior appearance of a unit or of the property. The association's policy booklet asks for a letter describing the change; if it is approved, the owner signs a waiver taking on the upkeep at their own cost.
Dishes and antennas are named directly. Installing one on the exterior of the unit, or anything that protrudes through the walls or the roof, takes written authorization from the board. A second clause covers the same ground from the other side: no antenna or dish may be affixed to or placed upon exterior walls, roofs or any exterior part of a building without the board's prior written consent. The association's policy booklet, last revised July 2015, then says where a dish can go. Owners are permitted to own one, but it may not be installed on the roof or on any part of the condo or villa; it may be installed on a pole in the yard, kept clear of where the mowers work, and the installer is told to watch for the underground sprinkler system. Upkeep of the dish is the owner's, not the association's.
Solar is never mentioned anywhere in these documents. What reaches it is the general rule about the outside of the building: no attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon exterior walls, roofs or any exterior part of a building without the board's prior written consent. At a condominium the roof is common area the association owns, insures and maintains, so panels on it are the board's decision rather than an owner's. A separate clause bars installing machines on the exterior of a unit, or anything protruding through the walls or the roof, except as authorized in writing by the board. If solar matters to you, put it to the board in writing before you commit to a system.
There is a real allowance here, and it has edges. Normal planting of ornamental plants, bushes and foundation plantings in the limited common area around your unit is deemed already authorized by the board, so ordinary bed planting does not need a letter. Anything beyond that is an alteration of a limited common area and needs specific written authorization. The association maintains the grounds, and there is an underground sprinkler system to work around. One thing to raise before you dig: the association's policy booklet treats adding trees or shrubbery as an exterior change to be requested in writing, which reads more tightly than the bylaws sentence, so ask the board which of the two it is applying.
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 →Household pets are allowed, with conditions. Dogs, cats, rabbits, fish and other customary household pets may be kept in a unit, provided the pet is not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and does not create a nuisance or unreasonably disturb residents. No livestock or poultry of any kind. The documents set no limit on the number of pets and no breed or weight restriction. The board may make pet rules and may require a damage deposit in an amount it sets, refundable when the pet leaves the property for good, and an owner is fully liable for injury or damage a pet causes. A pet the board judges to be creating a nuisance or an unreasonable disturbance or noise must be permanently removed from the property within ten days of written notice. The association's policy booklet adds that all pets must be leashed when off the owner's property, may not run loose, and that owners clean up after them, with a fifty dollar fine behind it. No pets are allowed in the pool or the pool area.
Renting is possible, but it runs through the board. The association's policy booklet, last revised July 2015, requires board approval before an owner may rent a unit or a villa, and it defines leasing broadly as anyone residing in the unit without the owner present, whether or not money changes hands. A unit may not be rented for more than one year at a time, and renewals have to be approved. The owner supplies the board with the exact lease form for review, the board may require added provisions, every occupant and lease holder must be named on the lease, and the board reserves the right to run a credit and criminal check on a prospective renter. Renters do not get access to the clubhouse or the pool unless the owner is with them, and the owner stays responsible for the dues and for the tenant's compliance. Two cautions worth carrying into a purchase. This is a board policy rather than a recorded covenant, so a board vote can change it. And the recorded declaration that created the condominium has its own paragraph on leasing of a condominium unit by an owner, which is not in the copy on file here, so ask the title company for the full declaration before you plan on renting.
A basketball goal is never named. Two rules reach one. An owner may not place furniture, packages or objects of any kind in the common areas, and those areas are to be used for nothing but normal transit through them; at Sandpiper Cove the private roadways are common area. And anything bolted to the building is an attachment to an exterior wall, which needs the board's prior written consent, while a pole set into the ground would be a modification of limited common area needing specific written authorization. So a portable goal left standing on the drive is the kind of thing this wording pushes back on, and anything permanent is the board's decision. Ask the board what it currently allows.
This one matters if you ever plan to sell. No sign of any kind, including a for sale, for rent or for lease sign, and no window or advertising display, may be maintained or permitted on any part of the property or on any unit without the board's prior written consent. The developer and the board keep the right to place for sale or for lease signs themselves in connection with unsold or unoccupied units. A separate clause bars owners and residents from posting advertisements or posters of any kind on the property except as authorized by the board. If you are listing a unit here, get the board's written consent before a yard sign goes up.
Parking here is tight, and the rules say so plainly. The recorded bylaws allow nothing but normal passenger automobiles to be parked or stored anywhere on the property, with anything else permitted only completely enclosed within a garage. The association's policy booklet, last revised July 2015, adds that long term street parking is not permitted because the streets are too narrow, that owners should use their garages and driveways at all times, and that parking on the lawns or grass is not permitted at any time, with the resident liable for any damage caused. Clubhouse spaces are not reserved even for an owner holding an event there, nothing may sit at the south end of the clubhouse or in the four spaces closest to its entrance for more than twenty-four hours, and a car that appears abandoned may be towed. A fifty dollar fine backs these rules. Separately, no vehicle repair of any kind may be done on the property.
This is one of the flattest rules in the document. No industry, trade or other commercial activity may be conducted, practiced or permitted on the property, and the wording is written to reach educational and non-profit activity as well as business for profit. A separate clause says all units and property are to be used for residential purposes only. The bylaws draw no line for a quiet home office with no customers coming and going, so if you work from home in a way a neighbor would notice, raise it with the board before you buy.
Short stay letting is closed off here. The association's policy booklet, last revised July 2015, says a condominium unit or villa should not be rented for short term or weekend rentals, and the same paragraph requires the board to approve every lease and every lease length, with no unit rented for more than one year at a time. Board approval is required before any rental at all. Note what that rests on: a board policy rather than a recorded covenant, so a board vote could change it, and the phrasing is should not rather than shall not. The recorded declaration that created the condominium has its own paragraph on leasing that is not in the copy on file here. If income from short stays is part of why you are buying, get the current rental policy and the full recorded declaration in writing first.
The bylaws address repair itself, which is unusual in this county. No repair work on any vehicle, including a normal passenger automobile, may be conducted on the property. The sentence does not carve out a driveway or a garage and it draws no line between an oil change and a rebuild, so routine servicing is meant to happen somewhere else.
Containers may stay outside, with one condition attached. All garbage, trash and refuse goes in appropriate containers, and a container may be kept outside near the unit provided the lid is securely closed. If it is not, the container has to be kept in the unit's garage until the evening before scheduled pickup. The bylaws separately require the common areas and limited common areas to be kept free and clear of rubbish, debris and other unsightly materials.
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 →Line drying outdoors is out. Clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry and other things may not be hung out or exposed on any part of the common areas or limited common areas so as to be visible from outside the unit, and at a condominium that covers all the ground and all the air around your walls. A second clause separately bars hanging garments or rugs from the windows or from any facade or fence on the property. The rule is written around visibility from outside, so it does not reach a drying rack used indoors.
A flag is never named in these documents. The rule that reaches one is about the outside of the building: nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows or placed on the outside walls or roof, and no attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon exterior walls, roofs or any exterior part of a building without the board's prior written consent. A bracket screwed into siding or trim is exactly that. A free standing flagpole in the yard would be a structure in a limited common area, which the bylaws say an owner may not erect. Ask the board what it allows before you mount anything.
The documents speak to the outside of the window rather than to what sits on an inside sill. Owners and residents may not hang garments, rugs and the like from the windows or from any facade or fence on the property, and nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows without the board's prior written consent. A further clause requires the board's prior written consent for any window or advertising display anywhere on the property or on a unit, which is broad enough that a sign taped up facing out is worth asking about first. Ordinary curtains and blinds inside the unit are not mentioned either way.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.