What the recorded documents actually say about The Berkshires in Granger — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
3 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
WHAT THIS PAGE RESTS ON. The answers below come from the recorded Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions for The Berkshires Villas, executed June 24, 1990 and recorded in St. Joseph County on July 5, 1990 as Instrument No. 9017728, read together with the two later recorded amendments that are still in force. The declaration runs to fifty numbered paragraphs and all fifty were read, in order, with no gap in the numbering.
THE NAME. The MLS calls this neighborhood Berkshires The. The recorded document calls itself The Berkshires Villas and says in its own definitions that the property is platted under the name The Berkshires. Same place, two ways of writing it.
TWO AMENDMENTS ARE APPLIED BELOW AND THEY CHANGE REAL ANSWERS. The First Amendment, Instrument No. 9435819, recorded September 1994, changed the tree rule and the chimney rule and excused the developer from assessments on lots it still owned. The second, Instrument No. 9854075, dated November 18, 1997, is the one to know about: it opened the door to satellite dishes of one meter or less, which the 1990 declaration had banned outright. Anyone reading only the 1990 document would get that answer wrong. Three earlier single-page amendments were expressly wiped out and replaced by the 1994 First Amendment, so nothing in them is the rule any more.
WHAT IT DOES NOT SETTLE. The declaration empowers the board to adopt its own rules and regulations, and no copy of any such rules is on file here, so day-to-day rules may exist that this page cannot see. No assessment figure appears in the recorded documents. The minimum house size paragraph promises a list of square footages by house type and the recorded page is simply blank where that list should be, so there is no minimum on the copy on file. Anything recorded after November 1997 would not appear here. The copy on file is a scan of typed paper read by optical character recognition, which can misread individual words, so each answer carries the document's own wording for you to judge.
WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT. Ask the association for its current rules and regulations, the current monthly assessment and the capital charge on a sale, and what the association does and does not maintain on your particular home. If you own a camper, a boat or a trailer, settle that one in writing first. Have your title company confirm the declaration and both amendments recorded against the lot, and pull anything recorded since.
Perimeter fencing is barred unless the Architectural Control Committee approves it in advance in writing, or the association itself decides a fence is needed. The paragraph is written broadly: it names hedges and other growing fences, chain link and split rail among the types it covers, and then sweeps in any other kind of fence. A separate paragraph on protective screening allows a screen fence inside a non-access easement area if one is shown on the recorded plat. So a fence here starts as a no and becomes a written question for the committee, whose decision the declaration says is final and entirely within its discretion.
The temporary structures paragraph names a tool shed and a storage shed specifically, along with a trailer, tent, shack, barn and any other outbuilding of any type, and says none may be used on a homesite at any time, temporarily or permanently. Nothing in the declaration sets up an approval route for one, the way the fence paragraph does. Separately, no building or other structure may be erected on a homesite until the committee has approved construction plans, so even a structure someone argued fell outside that list would still need written approval first.
This paragraph has two halves that pull in different directions, so it is worth reading closely. It opens by saying recreational vehicles of any kind other than four-wheel personal vans are prohibited from being stored on the property. It then says no recreational or commercial vehicles may be kept in open areas, whether those open areas are on or off an owner's homesite, and it lists campers, trailers, trucks, commercial vans, boats, semis, motorcycles, motorbikes, mobile homes and ATVs. It closes by saying any such vehicle must be stored in a garage or removed from the property. The document never defines what an open area is, and apart from that closing sentence it never discusses a garage either way. Garages here are required to hold at least two cars and no more than three. If you own a camper, a boat or a trailer, this is one to settle with the association in writing before you buy.
Above-ground pools are not permitted, and neither are tennis courts. Any other swimming pool may be built only after prior written approval from the Architectural Control Committee. The maintenance paragraph says the same thing from the other side: installing a swimming pool is one of the changes an owner may make only after prior written approval from both the board of directors and the committee. No depth, size, fencing or placement standard is set out, so those would come from the committee and from county rules rather than from this document.
Exterior change is tightly held here. An owner may not paint, decorate or change the appearance of any part of the outside of the dwelling in a way that varies from the plans the committee approved for it, without prior written approval from both the board of directors and the committee. Sidewalks, driveways, paint colour, roof colour, additions and swimming pools are each named as needing that prior written approval. Any new building or structure, and any change to the natural topography or drainage, needs approved construction plans first, submitted in two complete sets showing floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colours, how the design sits with existing homes, location against lot lines, grade elevations and landscaping details. Owners also have to paint or stain the outside at least every five years, in a colour and quality the association approves in advance. If the association notifies an owner of needed exterior work that is the owner's to do and it is not done within thirty days, the association may do it and charge the cost back as an additional common expense.
Read the 1990 declaration alone and this looks like a flat no: it bars outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas and satellite dishes of any type on any homesite or structure. A recorded amendment dated November 18, 1997 changed that. From that date the restriction is not to be read as prohibiting an antenna or satellite dish one meter or less in diameter placed where it is not visible from the street the villa faces. The amendment goes further and says even that placement limit may be waived on application to the Architectural Control Committee, if the committee finds the limit would impair reception of an acceptable signal. A dish larger than one meter is still caught by the original wording. Federal rules on over-the-air reception devices can also bear on how a clause like this is enforced, which is a question for a lawyer rather than for this page.
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 association maintains the landscaping and lawn of every homesite on a schedule it sets, which is the central fact about yards here. An owner may plant, install or maintain flowers, trees, shrubbery or other plant material only in accordance with the landscaping plan approved by the Architectural Control Committee. The association may run the irrigation system on each homesite and decides how often it runs, while the water for it is supplied by the owner and the owner maintains and repairs the system on their own lot. Trees are split by height. An owner is responsible for maintaining any tree on their homesite over fifteen feet, including pruning and removing dead or unsightly ones. Under the 1994 recorded amendment the association prunes trees under fifteen feet, but any tree that dies, whatever its height, is the owner's to replace or remove at their own expense. If the association writes to an owner about a tree that is theirs to maintain and nothing is done within sixty days, the association may do the work and charge it back. A new home's yard is to be planted with grass seed, sod, hydroseed or ground cover within one hundred and twenty days of completion or occupancy.
Mailboxes, their posts and the colours of both must be approved in advance of installation by the Architectural Control Committee. The declaration also says all mailboxes and posts will be the same design and colour and that no individual designs or colours are permitted, so the practical answer is that you match what is already there. Ask the association for the current approved design before replacing one.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are permitted. Animals, livestock or poultry of any kind may not be raised, bred or kept otherwise. Two conditions attach to the household pets that are allowed: they may not be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose, and they may not be allowed to become a neighbourhood nuisance or hazard. The declaration sets no number limit, no weight or breed limit and no leash rule. Separately, the home occupation paragraph rules out running an animal hospital or any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming from the home. The board is empowered to adopt its own rules, so ask the association whether anything further has been adopted since.
Renting out a home here is allowed but gated twice. No lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the prior approval of the association, and no such lease may run longer than one year. The declaration does not say what the association weighs in deciding, whether approval can be withheld, or whether a lease may be renewed at the end of its year. If you are buying this as a rental, those are the questions to put to the association in writing before you commit.
A basketball goal is permitted on conditions, and they are specific. It has to be on a single post, manufactured expressly for basketball, and placed next to the driveway turnaround. No goal or backboard may be installed on or attached to the garage or the dwelling. The backboard may not exceed standard regulation basketball size and has to be made of a clear material, with plexiglass, plastic and tempered glass named as examples. Nothing in the paragraph requires committee approval for a goal that meets all of that.
One sign is allowed: a sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent. No other sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a homesite. The developer reserved a much wider right for itself during construction and sales, which is a developer provision rather than something an owner can use. The paragraph says nothing about political, security, contractor or holiday signs, and Indiana law on certain sign types can bear on how a clause like this is enforced, which is a question for a lawyer rather than for this page.
Several paragraphs bear on this. Driveways may not be stone or cinder, and no stone or cinder parking area or lot is permitted at all; a driveway has to be at least twelve feet wide and built of asphalt at least three inches thick or concrete at least four inches thick, with a circular drive in front allowed at a minimum of eight feet. Every dwelling has to have a full-size attached garage able to hold at least two cars and no more than three. The vehicle paragraph then keeps recreational and commercial vehicles, and any inoperative vehicle, out of open areas and says such vehicles must be in a garage or off the property. What the declaration never addresses is ordinary day-to-day parking: it sets no overnight street parking rule, no guest parking rule and no limit on how many cars may sit in a driveway. The board may adopt its own rules, so ask the association whether any have been.
A homesite may be used only as a single-family residence, except that a home occupation may be permitted if it meets every one of a short list of conditions: it is conducted entirely inside the dwelling; it is carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there; it is clearly incidental and secondary to using the home as a home and does not change its character; and there is no sign or display showing from the outside, no commodity sold on the homesite, nobody employed other than an immediate family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The paragraph then names uses that can never qualify: a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlour, tea room, fortune-telling parlour, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming.
The documents never use the words short term, nightly, vacation or transient rental, so there is no paragraph aimed at this directly. What does reach it is the leasing paragraph, which puts no floor on how short a lease can be: no lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the prior approval of the association, and no lease may run longer than one year. The one-year figure is a ceiling, not a minimum, so on the face of the wording a short stay is not ruled out by length, but it would still be a lease the association has to approve first. Put it to the association in writing before counting on that income.
The declaration does not regulate repairing or servicing a vehicle as an activity, and it never uses the words repair, dismantle or service in that sense. What it does regulate is where a vehicle in that condition may sit: no inoperative vehicle, no vehicle in disrepair and no vehicle being restored may be parked in the open areas, and any such vehicle must be stored in a garage or removed from the property. Read plainly, that puts a restoration project inside a closed garage or off the property rather than banning the work itself. The term open areas is never defined.
Trash, garbage and other waste may not be kept except in sanitary containers, and no homesite may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of waste has to be kept clean and sanitary. The declaration says nothing about where containers are stored between collections, whether they must be screened from view, or when they may be put at the curb, so those would be association rules or county practice rather than covenant.
No grill or barbecue is named anywhere in these documents. What the declaration has is a fires paragraph, and it is broad: no fire is permitted to burn on any street, roadway, homesite or other open area once construction is complete. There is no exception in it for cooking and no qualifying word such as open or trash, so a charcoal fire burning on a homesite is caught by that wording as written. A gas appliance may be a different question, since the paragraph does not distinguish the two and nothing here settles it. Given how commonly people grill, this is one to ask the association how it is actually enforced rather than assume either way.
The word clothesline is never used. The temporary structures paragraph ends with a sentence that reaches the same ground from the other side: no hanging of laundry, rugs or other items outside the dwelling unit is permitted. Drying laundry outdoors is what that sentence describes, so a clothesline or a drying rack in the yard is caught by it. The same sentence also requires committee approval for 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 →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.