What the recorded documents actually say about The Triangle in South Bend — 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 is a Planned Unit Development and it is governed far more tightly than a conventional subdivision - if you like to change things around your house, read the whole page before you write an offer. Three rules decide whether it fits at all. FIRST, you must live here: the owner has to occupy the house more than six months a year as their primary residence, and renting it out is prohibited outright, short term or long term, including paid overnight lodging. SECOND, no more than TWO vehicles may be on the lot at once, counting the garage, the driveway and your one assigned on-street space together. THIRD, a swimming pool, a hot tub and any shed or detached building other than a conforming garage are simply not permitted. If you are LISTING here, note that a for-sale sign needs the Association's prior written approval of its design, colour, message and location, must come down within three days of closing, and a for-rent sign is never allowed. Houses are capped at 2,400 square feet as well as floored at 1,100.
Every fence needs the architectural review committee's prior approval, and then five limits apply: it may go only in the BACK YARD, never beside or in front of the house; it may not exceed FOUR FEET; it may not use chain link, wire mesh or any similar fabric; it may not be a privacy or solid screening fence; and it must be the same material and the same height all the way round. Shrubs are capped at four feet too, except small decorative, ornamental or flowering trees.
There is no shed here, and the covenant lists what it means: no detached building other than a conforming garage may be put on a lot - a barn, SHED, dog house, kennel, greenhouse, poultry coop or playhouse are all named and excluded. A dog run and a tent are prohibited too. The only detached structure contemplated is a garage that meets the covenant's own specification: same exterior material as the house, and between 400 and 600 square feet inside.
Not a flat ban, but the committee decides everything about it. No recreational vehicle or equipment may be parked on the property without the architectural review committee's PRIOR WRITTEN approval as to location, size, screening and other criteria - boats, boating equipment, jet-skis, wave runners, mobile homes, travel trailers and camping vehicles or equipment are the examples given. The Association is expressly not required to provide a storage area, and it may tow anything parked in violation at the owner's expense. Remember the two-vehicle cap applies as well.
Both a swimming pool and a HOT TUB are named in the list of structures that may never be put on a lot. This is not an approval question - the covenant states they are not permitted.
The committee's reach here is wider than anywhere else in this directory. Nothing may be erected, placed, PAINTED, altered or externally modified until plans and specifications - design, elevation, material, shape, height, colour and texture - plus a site plan showing every improvement and any grading change, are filed with and approved in writing. The covenant's definition of a Structure includes walls, roofs, decks, patios, stairs, windows, mailboxes, name plates, flag poles, lawn ornaments, TREES, HEDGES, SHRUBBERY, solar panels, satellite dishes, antennae, shutters, awnings, doors, pavement, walkways, driveways, garages and garage doors. Repainting a different colour needs written approval from both the committee and the Association. A house must match one of the Architectural House Styles in the guidelines, must be between 1,100 and 2,400 square feet inside - note that is a MAXIMUM as well as a minimum, which is rare - and must have a garage of 400 to 600 square feet in the same exterior material. Driveways are concrete or paving brick; unfinished, gravel AND ASPHALT drives are expressly prohibited. No exterior may stand unfinished more than six months after construction starts, and fire or storm damage may not sit unrepaired more than three months without written exception. Replacement roofs and exteriors match the original colour and texture unless the committee agrees otherwise.
Drafted deliberately around the federal rule, and the covenant says so. Exterior television and other antennae, satellite dishes included, are prohibited unless the architectural review committee approves them in writing, and the committee sets rules requiring they be placed as inconspicuously as possible. A satellite dish may not exceed EIGHTEEN INCHES in diameter. The declaration states its own intent plainly: the committee is to regulate dishes and antennae as strictly as the law allows, and where its rules conflict with federal law the non-conflicting parts still stand.
Solar panels are named in the covenant's definition of a Structure, so they may not be erected, placed, altered or externally modified until plans and specifications - design, elevation, material, shape, height, colour and texture, plus a site plan - are filed with and approved IN WRITING by the architectural review committee. Indiana law limits how far a covenant can restrict a solar energy system, so a flat refusal is worth a second conversation.
There is real money in this one, so read it before you budget. Before doing ANY landscaping other than perennial flowers in approved beds, the owner files a written landscape plan with the architectural review committee for approval. An UNDERGROUND IRRIGATION SYSTEM must be installed as part of building the house, covering at least the front yard and, on a corner lot, the side corner yard. Landscaping goes into those yards within SIX MONTHS of occupancy, must be formal in design, and must include a lawn and shrubs. Those yards are seeded or sodded right out to the street curb, except where flower beds or shrubs take their place. Shrubs may not exceed four feet, except small decorative, ornamental or flowering trees. Exterior lighting may not be aimed outside your own lot lines, and the dusk-to-dawn coach lights and garage lights from the original construction have to be kept working continuously from dusk to dawn, photocells and bulbs included.
Mailboxes and name plates are both named in the definition of a Structure, so replacing or changing one needs the architectural review committee's written approval first, judged on design, material, shape, height, colour and texture like anything else.
Pet dogs, cats and customary household pets are allowed indoors, none kept or bred commercially and none creating a nuisance - but NO MORE THAN TWO per home without the Association's prior approval. A pet goes outdoors only on a leash or other restraint and only while ATTENDED by its owner, and the covenant says expressly that tethering a pet does not count as attended. Solid waste is cleaned up immediately and disposed of properly. The Association may require a refundable security deposit against damage to the common areas before a pet comes onto the property. And a pet the Association judges to be causing a nuisance or unreasonable disturbance or noise must be PERMANENTLY REMOVED within ten days of written notice.
The rule to read before anything else here. The owner of a house must BE its occupant and must actually live in it more than SIX MONTHS in any given year, and the house must be the owner's PRIMARY RESIDENCE. Where the owner is a trust, an LLC or a corporation, the covenant names the person who has to do the living there - the settlor, the manager, or the president or chief executive. Then it closes the door explicitly: a house is for use solely by its occupant, and the declaration states that this phrase prohibits any short-term or long-term rental, including overnight lodging for which a fee is charged, of the house or any part of it. There is no approval path written in. Buying here to rent, or to keep as a second home you use a few months a year, does not work.
A basketball goal IS allowed, with one placement rule: it, and any other play equipment, may go only in the BACK YARD - the strip running the full width of the lot between the rear edge of the house and the rear lot line. Nothing in the front or the side.
The most restrictive sign rule in this directory, and the part that matters for a listing comes second. Day to day, the only signs allowed are customary home and address signs: one per lot, two square feet or less, not illuminated. FOR A SALE: no for-sale sign is permitted on a lot until every lot in the project has been sold by the developer to an initial buyer. After that, a for-sale sign needs the Association's PRIOR WRITTEN APPROVAL of its design, colour, message AND location, only one is allowed, and it has to come down within THREE DAYS of the lot being conveyed. And a sign indicating the property is available for RENT or LEASE is never permitted. Sort the approval out before the listing goes live.
Unusually tight, and it is a hard cap rather than a guideline. NO MORE THAN TWO vehicles total may be parked on a lot at a time - and the count includes the garage, the driveway AND the one on-street space assigned to that home in the plat. No more than two may sit in the driveway. Each owner gets one designated on-street space. The garage has to stay usable for at least two cars: converting a garage so vehicles can no longer park in it is prohibited, and living in a garage is prohibited. Commercial and industrial vehicles - moving vans, trucks, tractors, trailers, vans, wreckers, tow trucks, hearses and buses are the examples given - may not be parked regularly, habitually or overnight without the committee's prior written approval. The Association may TOW a vehicle parked in violation, at the owner's expense. And nobody may charge or accept money from anyone else to park on the property, which given the location is a rule with teeth.
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 →Named in the same sentence as the long-term ban: overnight lodging for a fee, of the house or any part of the house, is prohibited. Given how close this is to Notre Dame, that is the line a buyer imagining football-weekend income has to read. The declaration also forbids charging anyone to PARK on the property - see the parking answer.
Stated in two short sentences and both bite: no inoperable, junk, unregistered or unlicensed vehicle may be kept anywhere on the property, and no part of the property may be used for the repair of a vehicle. There is no garage exception written in.
Bins live in the garage. Trash is collected and stored in receptacles - the covenant says expressly that plastic bags alone will not do - and the receptacles may not remain in public view: they stay INSIDE THE OWNER'S GARAGE except on collection days. No accumulation or storage of litter, new or used building materials, or trash of any kind is permitted outside the house.
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 clothing, laundry or wash may be aired or dried anywhere on the property within public view.
Flag poles are named in the definition of a Structure, so one may not be erected or placed without the architectural review committee's prior written approval. Note separately that nothing may be displayed in a window, which would reach a flag hung there.
One of the few covenants anywhere that governs your windows from the inside. No decorations, adornments or items may be placed in any window - signs, placards, beverage containers and posters are the examples given. What IS allowed is listed: curtains, drapes, blinds, candles, lights and plants. Window boxes holding flowers or any other vegetation may not be attached to a house at all.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.