What the recorded documents actually say about Streamwood Villas in Granger — 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 First Amended Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of Streamwood Villas, recorded with the St. Joseph County Recorder on January 29, 2009 as instrument 0902587, together with the First Amendment to it recorded May 15, 2014 as instrument 1410986. The 2009 declaration replaced the original 1990 declaration, instrument 9100091, and the 2014 amendment is the newest recorded change on file here. Nothing newer was found.
The recorded name of this community is Streamwood Villas. Listings often shorten it to Streamwood, and the county plats are named Streamwood Section One and Streamwood Section Two. The declaration describes the ground it governs as Parcels I, II and III, which together take in the lots and out lots of the Plat of Streamwood, Section One recorded October 4, 1990, plus land brought in later by a replat of two lots in Section Two. The sworn statement on its own signature page says the community contains 27 homesites. The Streamwood plats are drawn wider than that, so if you are looking at a particular address, confirm through your title work or with the Association that the home is one of the homesites this declaration governs. No separate declaration for the rest of Streamwood Section Two is in this collection.
The recorded copies on file are scans of paper with no digital text, so they were read by character recognition and then checked against the scanned page images for the clauses that carry the answers below.
Two things are deliberately not in the recorded documents and are worth asking the Association for directly: the current dues amount, which the declaration never states, and the board's own rules and regulations, which the declaration authorises the board to adopt separately. The by-laws also now set the late fee on unpaid assessments, which the 2014 amendment moved out of the declaration.
Perimeter fencing is barred unless the Architectural Committee approves it in advance in writing. The ban is written broadly: it reaches hedges and other growing fences, chain link, split rail and, in the document's words, any other kinds of fences. So a fence here is an approval question, not a matter of picking a style and installing it.
A storage shed needs the Architectural Committee's prior written approval before it is put up or placed on a homesite. A separate sentence in the same paragraph bars tool sheds, barns, shacks, tents, detached garages and outbuildings of any type or nature unless the Committee has approved them in advance, with an exception only for a construction trailer while the house is being built.
Recreational vehicles may be on a homesite, but only briefly. The document allows mobile homes, house trailers, boats, boat trailers, motor homes, camping trailers, recreational vehicles and their trailers to be parked on a homesite for up to forty-eight hours, and no longer. It is written as a time limit rather than a place limit, and it names no garage or screened spot as an exception, so it does not say that keeping one inside the attached garage restarts or escapes the clock. Anyone who owns a camper or a boat and wants to keep it at the house should get the Association's position in writing before buying.
Above-ground pools are not permitted at all. Any other swimming pool, and a tennis court, may be built only after the Architectural Committee approves it in writing beforehand.
Exterior work runs through the Architectural Committee. No building or other structure may be put up, placed, maintained or altered, and the natural topography or drainage may not be changed, until the Committee has approved the construction plans and the landscaping plan. Any change to exterior colors on a house needs the Committee's prior approval. Plans have to show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, how the design sits with existing houses, the location against the lot lines, topography and finish grade elevations, and all landscaping detail. Two complete sets go in; the Committee keeps one and returns one, and its approval or disapproval is given in writing. The 2014 amendment adds a duty to keep the homesite and the exterior of the house in original condition, reasonable wear and tear excepted, and gives the Association a written-notice process if it is not.
The document bars outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas, and satellite dishes or earth receiving stations of any type over 24 inches in diameter, from being put up or kept on a homesite or on any structure. The limit it writes is a size limit, so a dish of 24 inches or less is not caught by that wording. All utility service, including cable television, has to be underground and out of sight. Federal rules on small antennas can also bear on how a clause like this is applied, which is worth raising with the Association before mounting anything.
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 a maintained community, and the landscaping rules are unusually tight. The Association maintains the landscaping and lawn of every homesite on a schedule it sets. An owner may not alter the land, remove a living tree, or remove or change the natural ground cover without the Committee's written consent. Owners may plant or keep flowers, trees, shrubs or other plants only in line with the landscaping plan the Committee approved for that homesite, or in the area marked on that plan as the Personal Patio Garden. Every homesite has to have an irrigation system put in by a designated contractor; the Association opens it in spring and closes it in fall and sets the watering interval, and the owner pays for the water. Owners maintain their own trees, including pruning and removing dead or unsightly ones, and if an owner does not act within sixty days of written notice the Association may do the work and charge it back as an additional common expense. A vegetable garden needs prior written approval, and so does an awning.
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 and cats are allowed and are to be kept in the house. No other animals, livestock or poultry may be raised, bred or kept on a homesite. No dog or cat may be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose, and none may be allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. Dog houses and kennels are barred outright, in two separate paragraphs, so there is no outdoor housing for a pet here. The document sets no number limit and no weight or breed limit.
Renting here is tightly controlled and a buyer counting on rental income should read this paragraph closely. The document says no dwelling may be leased except to a member of the owner's family, and even that lease needs the prior approval of the Association's officers. No such lease may run longer than one year, and it may not be renewed. A proposed lease to anyone who is not family requires the prior approval of the members, not just the board. The lease has to require the tenant to read and obey the declaration and the by-laws.
The document never mentions basketball goals or hoops, so there is no rule written specifically for them. What it does say is that no exterior structure of any kind may be put up or kept on a homesite without written approval from the Architectural Control Committee, and a separate paragraph bars exterior structures generally unless the Committee approved them in advance. A permanent pole-mounted goal is the kind of thing that wording can reach; a portable goal is not addressed either way. Ask the Committee before installing one rather than assuming.
One sign is allowed: a for-sale sign of not more than five square feet. A builder may also use a sign during the construction and sales period. Beyond those, no sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a homesite. A separate paragraph on home occupations bars any exterior sign or display showing the house is used for anything other than a residence.
Everyday car parking is not restricted by the document, but several things around it are. Snowmobiles, motorcycles and dune buggies may not be parked on a homesite for longer than forty-eight hours, the same limit the document puts on campers and boats. A homesite may not be used to store old lumber, cars, materials or debris. Every house has to have a full-size attached garage able to hold not less than two and not more than three cars, unless the Committee approves otherwise in writing in advance. Driveways must be at least ten feet wide and built of concrete at least four inches thick, unless the Committee approves an asphalt drive in writing, in which case the asphalt has to be at least three inches thick. Stone and cinder drives are not permitted, and a circular drive in front of the house may be a minimum of eight feet wide.
A home occupation is permitted, inside narrow limits. It has to be carried on entirely within the house and solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and it must be clearly incidental and secondary to using the house as a home without changing its character. No exterior sign or display may show the house is used for anything other than a residence. No commodity may be sold at the homesite. Nobody outside the immediate family living there may be employed in the business, and no mechanical or electrical equipment may be used. The document expressly puts a medical or dental practice, a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor and any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming outside the definition.
The document never uses the words short-term, vacation, nightly or by the night, so there is no clause aimed at that kind of letting. What governs is the general lease paragraph, and it reaches leases of any dwelling unit: a lease is allowed only to a member of the owner's family with the officers' prior approval, and a lease to anyone who is not family needs the prior approval of the members. On that wording there is no open path to renting the house out to the public, and anyone planning to should get the Association's position in writing 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 →Trash, garbage and other waste may be kept only in sanitary containers, and the containers stay indoors except for pickup. Containers may go out no earlier than twelve hours before the expected pickup time. No homesite may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish, and any equipment for storing or disposing of that material has to be kept clean and sanitary.
The document has a fires paragraph, and it reaches only the streets and roadways in the neighborhood, not a homesite. It says no fire shall be permitted to burn upon any street or roadway in the property. Nothing in the document names a grill, charcoal or gas, either way, so on the face of that wording a contained cooking grill on a homesite is not what the fires paragraph is aimed at. A separate nuisance paragraph does bar any noxious or offensive activity, which is where a persistent smoke complaint could land.
Drying laundry outdoors is barred. The document says hanging laundry, rugs or other items outside a dwelling unit on any homesite is not permitted, and it names no exception, no screened area and no approval route. It does not use the word clothesline; it bars the act of hanging laundry outside, which reaches a line, a rack and a railing alike.
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.