What the recorded documents actually say about The Willows at Mayflower Road in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
5 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
BUILT ON THE FIRST AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION (instrument 0734973, 2007), so an older copy of these covenants will not match. Three rules shape what you can do here and all three are stricter than the county norm. Every LEASE needs the association's prior approval and may not run longer than one year, which makes this a difficult place to hold as a rental. There is no perimeter fencing by default and the ban expressly reaches HEDGES and other growing fences, so even landscaping that screens a boundary needs approval. And a boat, camper, trailer or disabled vehicle may sit on a lot for no more than 48 hours. Note too that the declaration limits who may build: the declarant, or a contractor the developer has approved.
The default is NO perimeter fencing of any type - and the covenant is explicit that this includes hedges and other growing fences, chain link and split rail, not just built fences. Anything at all needs the architectural control committee's advance written approval. Where a fence is approved, it has to have WOOD POSTS AND RAILS, in a natural colour, and galvanized steel is named and excluded. Approval comes before installation, not after. On a corner lot nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may block the sight triangle.
A detached storage building or pet shelter for lawn tools, toys, pool equipment, other personal property or pets must be quality construction, kept attractive and neat, blend with the house, and go to the architectural control committee for approval before construction or installation begins. The committee can require protective screening around it. No trailer, modular, manufactured or prebuilt home, basement, tent, shack or temporary structure may be moved onto or built on a lot and lived in - a construction trailer while the house is going up is the exception.
A 48-hour clock rather than a flat ban, which is more workable than most of the county - but it is short. Mobile homes, house trailers, boats, boat trailers, motor homes, campers, camping trailers, recreational vehicles, trailers, snowmobiles, cars, disabled vehicles, commercial vehicles and seldom-used vehicles may not be parked on a lot for longer than FORTY-EIGHT HOURS. Long enough to load up for a trip; not long enough to store anything. Snowmobiles, motorcycles and dune buggies are named separately and carry the same 48-hour limit.
Any swimming pool may be built only after prior WRITTEN approval from the architectural control committee, and it must have appropriate screening AND fencing. The covenant does not distinguish above-ground from in-ground, which most nearby covenants do by banning above-ground outright - so the committee's answer is the whole rule here.
Note who is allowed to build, not just what: nothing may be erected, placed, altered or re-graded on a homesite other than by Bayman and Rusk Builders, Inc., or by a contractor the homesite owner employs WHO HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE DEVELOPER - and then only once the construction plans are approved. A lot carries one single-family house of up to two and a half storeys with a private garage for no more than three cars; an exception needs the committee's UNANIMOUS written approval. Construction must start within two years of taking title and finish within twelve months of breaking ground, or the structure comes down.
A blanket ban as written: no outside above-ground television, AM, FM or short-wave radio antenna of any type, satellite dish antennas expressly included, may be put up or kept on any lot or structure. All utility service including cable runs underground and out of sight. Federal rules on over-the-air reception devices limit how far a private covenant can restrict a dish of one meter or less on property in your own exclusive use and control, so ask the association rather than assuming the ban binds as written.
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 yard is planted with grass seed or sod within 120 days of the house being finished or occupied, whichever is earlier. Nothing permanent may be built on the platted easements except as the declaration allows or the committee authorises, and the grading of a drainage swale may not be changed. Note that hedges and other growing fences count as perimeter fencing here and need approval.
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 →Narrower than most: DOGS AND CATS are the pets the covenant permits - it does not carry the usual 'or other household pets' catch-all - and neither may be kept, bred or maintained commercially or permitted to become a neighbourhood nuisance or hazard. Livestock and poultry may not be kept. A detached pet shelter is allowed with committee approval.
Read this before buying here as a rental. No lease of any home may be entered into without the ASSOCIATION'S PRIOR APPROVAL, and no lease may run longer than ONE YEAR. That means every renewal is a fresh approval, and the association has a say each time - so a long-term tenancy is not something you can count on in advance. Ask the board how it has actually handled lease requests before you write an offer.
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 sign of any size during the construction and sales period.
Driveways must run complete and all the way to the curb and be CONCRETE at least four inches thick - asphalt is not among the permitted materials here, and stone and cinder are barred outright. A circular drive in front of the house must be at least nine feet wide. On parking: nothing on the long vehicle list, including snowmobiles, MOTORCYCLES and dune buggies, may sit on a lot for more than forty-eight hours.
Every lot is restricted to use as a single-family residence, with a home occupation the one exception - the covenant sets out the usual conditions: conducted within the house by a member of the immediate family living there, clearly secondary to living there, with no exterior sign or display and nothing sold on the premises.
Not addressed by name, but every lease needs the association's prior approval and may not exceed one year, so a short-term rental would still have to clear the board first. Ask before assuming it is possible.
Disabled vehicles and seldom-used vehicles are named in the 48-hour list, so a project car may not sit on the lot beyond two days. Separately, no lot may be used for the storage of old lumber, CARS, materials or debris.
No lot is used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish, and trash, garbage and other waste go in sanitary containers. Oil and fuel storage tanks go underground or are concealed inside the house, the basement or the attached garage, and must meet the requirements of both the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the federal EPA.
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 →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.