What the recorded documents actually say about Walnut Trails in Elkhart — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
13 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, AND ONE THING WORTH KNOWING ABOUT HOW IT WAS FOUND. This is a condominium, not a platted subdivision. Two documents govern it. The first is the Declaration of Horizontal Property Ownership for Walnut Trails Condominiums, recorded in Elkhart County on August 4, 1993 as instrument 93 019812, with six supplements recorded between 1993 and 2003 that brought further buildings into the regime. The second is the Code of By-Laws of the Walnut Trails Horizontal Property Regime, adopted at the same time and attached to the declaration.
THE BY-LAWS ARE WHERE THE RULES ARE. The declaration itself contains almost no day-to-day restrictions. Its paragraph 17 says in terms that the covenants and restrictions on use and enjoyment of the units and the common and limited areas are set forth in the by-laws. Section 6.01 of those by-laws then lists them, in sixteen lettered paragraphs. That is where nearly every answer below comes from. The copy of the by-laws was not filed with this neighborhood's own paperwork; it was found attached to listings for individual streets within the same condominium, and it was confirmed to be the right document because its opening section says it was adopted simultaneously with the declaration creating this regime, and it carries the same declarant's signature.
WHAT IS NOT HERE. The by-laws expressly allow the Board of Managers to adopt further rules and regulations about the use of the common and limited areas, and to change them from time to time. Those board rules are a separate document, they are not on file, and they bind owners, tenants and guests just as the by-laws do. In a condominium that gap matters more than it would in a subdivision, so ask the association for the current rules before you rely on this page. No assessment figure appears in either recorded document either.
WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT. Ask the association or its managing agent for the current rules and regulations, the current monthly assessment and what it covers, and have your title company confirm the declaration and by-laws recorded against the unit, along with any supplement or amendment after 2003. The recorded copies are scans of paper rather than digital text, so individual words can be misread in conversion, which is why each answer carries the document's own wording.
The documents never set a fence standard, but they do decide who may put one up. The declaration treats a patio or balcony, together with any fence or gate enclosing it, as a limited area reserved for the exclusive use of the unit it is attached to - so fences around patios are contemplated as part of the building as built. Adding or altering one is a different matter: no owner may make any alteration or addition to, or which would affect, the common areas or limited areas without the prior written approval of the Board of Managers, and the by-laws separately bar additional buildings without the board's consent. No height, material or placement rule is written down, so what the board will approve is the answer, and the board's own rules and regulations are not on file here.
A shed is not something an owner can simply add. The by-laws say no additional buildings may be erected or located on the tract other than the buildings designated in the declaration, or in a supplement or amendment to it and shown on the filed plans, without the consent of the Board of Managers. In a condominium the ground outside the unit is common or limited area rather than the owner's land, and the declaration separately requires the board's prior written approval for any alteration or addition affecting those areas. So the board is the gate, and no size or material standard exists in the recorded documents.
The garage is the permitted place and the only one. The by-laws say no boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, mini bikes or mopeds may be permitted, parked or stored anywhere within the property except in the garages appurtenant to each unit. So a camper or boat inside your own garage is expressly contemplated, and anywhere else in the community - driveway, guest spaces, common areas - it is not. There is no loading window and no overnight allowance written into the clause.
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 outside of the building belongs to everyone, and changing it takes the board. No owner may make any alteration or addition to, or which would affect, the common areas or limited areas without the Board of Managers' prior written approval; no owner may alter anything inside their own unit that would affect the safety or structural integrity of the building; and no owner may change the color of any common or limited area without the board's prior written approval. The by-laws add that nothing may be done in a unit that would impair the structural integrity of a building, structurally change it, or affect the exterior appearance of any unit. Nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows or placed on the outside walls, and no sign, awning, canopy, shutter, radio or television antenna or other attachment may be affixed to the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a building without the board's prior consent. Any work also needs whatever permits the city, county and state require.
An antenna is grouped with everything else that gets attached to the building and needs the board's consent first. The by-laws bar any sign, awning, canopy, shutter, radio or television antenna or other attachment from being affixed to or placed on the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a building without the prior consent of the Board of Managers. The documents date from 1993 and never use the words satellite or dish, so no size limit or placement standard exists in the recorded text - the board's own rules would be where any exists. Federal rules on antenna installation 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 →Owners do not plant here on their own initiative. The by-laws say no owner may plant trees, landscape or do any gardening in any of the common areas or limited areas except with express permission from the board - and in this condominium the ground around the buildings, including the area around a patio, is common or limited area rather than the owner's land. The association maintains the common and limited areas that are not reserved for a single unit's exclusive use, as a common expense. The common areas also have 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 →Household pets are allowed within limits, and the board can add more. No animals, livestock or poultry may be raised, bred or kept in a unit, in the common areas, garages or limited areas, or on the property, except that pet dogs, cats or 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. An owner is fully liable for any injury or damage their pet causes, including to the common or limited areas. The board may make further pet rules, including requiring a security deposit against damage to the common areas, refundable when the pet is permanently removed less any repair cost. A pet the board judges to be causing a nuisance or unreasonable disturbance or noise has to be permanently removed from the property within ten days of written notice. No number limit appears in the by-laws themselves.
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 →Signs need the board's written consent, including the one a seller wants. The by-laws say no for sale, for rent or for lease sign, no other sign, and no other window or advertising display may be maintained or permitted on any part of the property or any unit without the prior written consent of the board. The declarant and the board kept the right to place for sale or for lease signs themselves in connection with unsold or unoccupied units. If you are planning to list a unit here, sort the sign out with the board before it goes up.
Two rules bear on it. Anything other than an ordinary vehicle - boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, mini bikes and mopeds - may not be parked or stored anywhere in the community except inside the garage belonging to the unit. And no inoperative vehicle may be parked on the driveways or the common areas. Beyond that, the by-laws do not cap how many cars a unit may have or set guest parking rules, though the declaration treats the driveway and sidewalk serving a unit as a limited area for that unit's exclusive use, and the board may adopt parking rules of its own that are not on file here.
Running a business from a unit is barred, and the wording is wide. The by-laws say no industry, trade, or other commercial or religious activity, educational or otherwise, designed for profit, altruism or otherwise, may be conducted, practised or permitted on the property. A companion paragraph says all units are used exclusively for residential purposes, that no unit may be partitioned or subdivided, that there may be no more than six residents in a unit, and that garages may not be used as living space. The declaration itself repeats that each unit is limited to residential use. No approval route is offered. Whether quiet remote work with no clients and no signage is what this paragraph is aimed at is not something the text settles, and the board is the body that interprets the by-laws.
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 one of the few documents in the directory that addresses repair directly rather than through a junk-vehicle clause. The by-laws say no repairs to any motor vehicle may be performed in the common areas, and in the same paragraph that no inoperative vehicle may be parked on the driveways or common areas. What that leaves is your own garage: the by-laws do not bar work done inside it, and the same paragraph treats the garage as the permitted place for boats, campers and trailers. Note that the driveway serving a unit is a limited area rather than the owner's own land, and that the board may adopt further rules about the use of the common and limited areas.
Trash stays inside until the night before collection. All garbage, trash and refuse has to be stored in appropriate containers inside the unit or its garage, and kept there until no earlier than sundown of the evening before scheduled collection. It then goes out in sealed disposable plastic bags, or other containers the board has approved, at the locations the board designates. The common areas also have to be kept free and clear of rubbish, debris and other unsightly materials.
This is one of the few documents in the directory that names a grill, and it is emphatic about one place in particular. The by-laws prohibit storing bicycles, barbecue grills or other items - lawn furniture excepted - on a balcony, and then state in capital letters that the use of a barbecue or gas grill or any other cooking device upon a balcony is strictly prohibited. That is a balcony rule. The by-laws say nothing about grilling elsewhere on the property, and the common areas are subject to whatever rules the board adopts from time to time, which are not on file here - so if your unit has a balcony the answer is clear, and if you were planning to grill on a patio or in the common area, ask the association.
Drying in the open is ruled out by what can be seen. The by-laws say no clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry or other things may be hung out or exposed on, or so as to be visible from, any part of the common areas. In a condominium where the ground around the buildings is common area, that reaches essentially anywhere outdoors. The documents do not use the word clothesline and say nothing about drying inside a unit or a garage.
Flags are not named, but what a flag is mounted to is. Nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows or placed on the outside walls of any building, and no sign, awning, canopy, shutter, radio or television antenna or other attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed on the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a building without the prior consent of the board. A wall-mounted bracket is an attachment on that wording, so it is a question for the board. Federal and Indiana law on displaying the United States flag can also bear on how a clause like this is enforced, which is a question for a lawyer rather than for this page.
There is a direct rule, and it hands the decision to the board. Each owner acknowledges that covering the interior surface of the windows and glass doors of a unit - whether by draperies, shades or other items visible from outside - is subject to the rules and regulations of the board. So what you may hang inside your own window is governed, but by the board's rules rather than by a colour or material standard written into the by-laws, and those rules are not on file here. Separately, nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows, and no window or advertising display is permitted without the board's prior written consent.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.