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Wellington Lakes at Knollwood

What the recorded documents actually say about Wellington Lakes at Knollwood in Granger — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.

11 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.

Before you rely on this page

THIS PAGE IS BUILT ON THE OCTOBER 2025 RESTATEMENT, which replaced the 1995 covenants after owners of 64 of the 81 voting lots consented. It is one of the most current covenant sets in the county and it is materially stricter than what an older copy would tell you - the rental rules in particular were rewritten. Two things to check before you buy. First, lots 1 through 9 and 66 through 83 are VILLA LOTS and are also bound by the separate Wellington Lakes Villas at Knollwood covenants, which control wherever the two conflict, and they carry smaller minimum house sizes with two-storey homes not permitted. Second, lake lots and park lots carry extra rules the other lots do not: a forty-foot setback from the water for detached structures, a thirty-foot limit on tall screen planting, a second dusk-to-dawn yard light at the rear, and responsibility for the shoreline strip.

What you can build and change

Conditional

Fences

Every fence goes to the architectural control committee in writing before it is installed. Perimeter and side-yard fences must be an open design you can see through, split rail or similar. Chain link and welded wire are prohibited as perimeter fencing, with one exception: either may be run on the INSIDE of a split rail fence purely to contain a pet, no taller than the split rail, securely fastened, in a dark or neutral colour. Barbed wire, razor wire, electrified fence, lattice used as perimeter fence and solid stockade or fully opaque styles are all out - a stockade cedar privacy fence can be permitted only by written variance along Gumwood Road, matched to the existing fence, kept in the rear yard and off the landscaping berm. A pool has to be enclosed by a fence at least four feet high with self-closing, self-latching gates that can be locked, or covered by a safety cover meeting ASTM F1346, and the barrier itself goes to the committee first.

Paragraph 6 - Perimeter Fencing, in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Sheds & outbuildings

One or more detached storage buildings or pet shelters are allowed for lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or pets, but each has to be quality construction, kept attractive and neat, blend with the house, and be approved by the committee before any construction starts. The committee may require protective screening around it. On a lake lot nothing of the kind may stand within forty feet of the current water line, and on a park lot within forty feet of the parkside area. Boat houses are not permitted at all. Separately, no trailer, modular, manufactured or prebuilt home, tent, shack, barn or temporary structure may be moved onto or built on a lot and lived in, even temporarily.

Paragraphs 12 and 14 - Prohibited Structures and Detached Buildings
✗ Not allowed

RVs, boats & trailers

Campers, trailers, trucks and boats may not be kept in the open anywhere in the subdivision - and the covenant closes the usual workaround by saying that applies whether the open area is on your own lot or off it. They may be stored inside a fully enclosed garage on the lot, provided they are not visible from the street or the neighbouring lots. On the VILLA LOTS the separate Villas declaration goes further: snowmobiles are prohibited outright and users are subject to prosecution, and the ban reaches all-terrain vehicles and any other recreational or commercial vehicle of any type.

Paragraph 28 - Recreational and Commercial Vehicles
Conditional

Swimming pools & hot tubs

Above-ground pools are not permitted, and neither are tennis courts. An in-ground pool is allowed with committee approval and has to be enclosed by a four-foot fence with self-closing, self-latching lockable gates or covered by an ASTM F1346 safety cover, approved before installation. On a lake lot or a park lot, a pool shed or similar detached structure may not sit within forty feet of the water line or the parkside area.

Paragraphs 12 and 13 with Paragraph 6(c), in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Exterior changes & additions

Nothing gets built, placed, altered or re-graded until the architectural control committee approves the plans in writing - floor plan, quality of construction, materials, exterior colours, how the design sits with the houses already there, and placement against the lot lines, topography and finish grade. Two complete sets go in. The committee is three people appointed by the board, its decisions have to be made in good faith and be reasonable rather than arbitrary, and nothing may be built that departs from the approved plans. Worth knowing the flip side: interior alterations that do not affect structural integrity or utility connections are expressly outside the committee's review. Anything begun is finished within a year or removed.

Paragraphs 2, 4 and 24, with Paragraph 7 in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Satellite dishes & antennas

The 2025 restatement rewrote this around the federal rule and it now reads the modern way. Nothing in the covenants is to be enforced in a way inconsistent with the FCC's Over-the-Air Reception Devices rule, and antennas or dishes within that rule's scope may be installed to the extent the law protects them, placed as unobtrusively as practical without hurting reception or adding real cost. Beyond that: no above-ground television antenna, no satellite dish larger than one meter, and no AM, FM or short-wave antenna of any type unless the committee is satisfied it is properly hidden from view. All utility service, including cable, runs underground.

Paragraph 32 - Utilities and Television Antennas, in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Solar panels

Allowed, with a real process behind it. Solar energy systems may be installed on submission of detailed site plans - layout, boundaries, colour, screening, installer and vendor information and specifications. The committee has to approve or deny in writing within thirty days of a complete application, and if it does not answer in that window the application is deemed approved. A denial can be appealed: fourteen days to ask for reconsideration, a written decision within thirty days, and a further appeal to the full membership at a noticed meeting. If the committee or its guidelines would prohibit or unreasonably restrict a system, the owner can go to the members for consent under Indiana law, and once the consents are in the committee and board have to approve it, subject only to conditions that do not significantly raise the cost or cut the performance.

Paragraph 7(a) - Solar Energy Systems, in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Landscaping, trees & gardens

Yards are planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within 120 days of the house being finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the committee approves otherwise. Screen plantings on the recorded non-access easements are maintained by the lot owner at their own expense. No screen planting over thirty-six inches high is permitted between the building setback line and the front lot line on any lot - and on a lake lot or park lot, none over thirty-six inches within thirty feet of the water line or the parkside area. On a corner lot nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may block the sight triangle.

Paragraphs 9, 23 and 24 - Protective Screening, Sight Distance and Completion Date
Not stated

Mailboxes

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 →

How you can live here

Conditional

Pets

Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed, none kept, bred or maintained commercially and none permitted to become a neighbourhood nuisance or hazard. The 2025 restatement is unusually specific about what that means, and it cuts both ways. A pet is a nuisance if it shows repeated or unprovoked aggression, attacks or bites a person or another animal, damages property, or disturbs the peace with sustained or frequent barking or howling - but the covenant says plainly that brief or situational barking, at a passerby, during play, at a knock or a doorbell, is NOT excessive. The board decides, on documented behaviour, video or audio evidence, or complaints. A dog classified as dangerous by a government authority faces additional requirements, which can include fencing, leashing or muzzling. Livestock and poultry may not be kept. Chain link or welded wire may go inside a split rail fence just to contain a pet.

Paragraph 21 - Livestock and Poultry, with Paragraph 6(f)
✗ Not allowed

Renting your home

This is the rule to read before you buy here, and it is stricter than almost anything else in the county. A home may not be leased, rented or occupied by anyone other than the owner and their immediate household, with one narrow exception: an owner who has lived in the house as their primary residence for at least twelve consecutive months may then rent it out, and only for up to twelve months from the day they moved out. Extending that needs the board's prior written approval, granted at its sole discretion on a showing of hardship or other reasonable cause. Buying here as an investment rental is prohibited outright - an owner who has never lived in the house may not rent it at all. Any lease has to be in writing, run at least thirty days, be filed with the association, and require the tenant to follow the covenants. The owner stays responsible for the tenant's conduct, and a lease made in violation is voidable by the association, which can fine, sue and recover its attorney fees.

Paragraph 3(c) - Rental of Dwellings, in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Basketball hoops

On the VILLA LOTS (1 through 9 and 66 through 83) the separate Villas declaration governs this and it is strict. No permanent or temporary structure other than the house may be placed on a homesite or attached to the house, a tree, a bush or the landscaping without the association's prior written approval - and the covenant names basketball hoops and backboards as examples. Beyond that, no athletic equipment or similar article may be LEFT OUT on a homesite for longer than 24 hours without the association's written consent, with trampolines, swings, decorative tires, plastic flamingoes and nets all named. On the non-villa lots the main covenants do not address hoops, so the architectural committee's general approval requirement is what applies - ask before you mount one.

Paragraph 17 of the Wellington Lakes Villas declaration - Additional Permanent Structures and Recreational Equipment
Conditional

Yard signs

One sign of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent. The association keeps the right to put up its own signs for safety, liability and community notices, and legally required postings, temporary security or safety signs, and association-authorised event signage are not caught by the ban.

Paragraph 20 - Signs, in the 2025 restatement
Conditional

Street parking

Driveways have to be at least twelve feet wide, asphalt at least three inches thick, brick, or concrete at least four inches thick. Stone and cinder driveways are not permitted. A circular drive in front of the house may be as narrow as eight feet. Campers, trailers, trucks and boats may not sit in the open anywhere in the subdivision.

Paragraph 19 - Driveways and Chimneys, with Paragraph 28
Conditional

Running a business from home

A home occupation is allowed if it is carried on entirely inside the house by a member of the immediate family living there, stays clearly secondary to living there, shows no sign or display outside, sells no commodity on the premises, and employs nobody from outside the household. No industrial, mechanical or high-powered electrical equipment that makes noise, vibration, fumes or odours, or interferes with household utilities - though the covenant says expressly that ordinary laptops, desktops, printers and telecom equipment are not a violation. Certain trades are named and excluded whatever else: barber shops, styling salons, beauty parlours, tea rooms, fortune-telling parlours, animal hospitals, and any form of animal care or pet grooming.

Paragraph 3(b) - Home Occupations, in the 2025 restatement
✗ Not allowed

Short-term rentals (Airbnb)

Named and banned. Short-term and transient rentals are expressly prohibited, Airbnb and VRBO among them - and the covenant closes the obvious loophole by saying the ban applies no matter how the arrangement is structured to look like a lease of thirty days or more.

Paragraph 3(c)(3) - Rental of Dwellings, in the 2025 restatement
Not stated

Vehicle repair in the driveway

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 →
Conditional

Trash & recycling containers

No lot is used as a dumping ground. Trash and garbage go in sanitary containers kept clean, and incinerators are not permitted. Containers are stored out of public view except on collection day - they may go curbside no earlier than the evening before, and have to be back out of sight by the evening of collection day. On lake and park lots, nothing may be dumped in the shoreline or parkside area or into the water, leaves and grass clippings included. Oil and fuel storage tanks go underground or inside the house, basement or attached garage.

Paragraphs 22 and 25 - Garbage and Refuse Disposal, Fuel Storage Tanks
Conditional

Grilling & outdoor cooking

No fire may be allowed to burn on any street or roadway in the subdivision. A fire on your own lot is not addressed.

Paragraph 34 - Fires
Not stated

Clotheslines

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 →
Not stated

Flags & flagpoles

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 →
Not stated

Window coverings & decorations

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 →

Where these answers come from

The documentFourth Amendment and Restatement of Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Wellington Lakes at Knollwood, Clay Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana
Recorded asAmended and restated instrument 2025-31008, executed 16 October 2025
Original protective restrictions recorded as instrument 9521707 (1995)
Plat of Wellington Lakes at Knollwood, lots 1 through 83, recorded 1 June 1995 as instrument 9516212
Wellington Lakes Villas at Knollwood plat recorded 1 June 1995 as instrument 9516219
Covenants run to 1 May 2035, then renew in ten-year terms unless 75 percent of owners record a change
How it was readThe recorded copy on file is a scan of paper with no digital text, so it was read by optical character recognition. That can misread individual words, which is why nothing on this page is presented as a direct quote.
Checked againstthe 2025 restatement was read against the 1995 original and the earlier amendments, and every answer on this page is cited to the restatement where it speaks
The associationWellington Lakes at Knollwood Homeowners Association, Inc. Every lot owner is automatically a member with one vote per lot, however many people are on the deed. The association maintains the lakes and shoreline areas, the parks and parkside areas, the landscaped entrances and the street lighting, can provide security services, and carries public liability insurance on the lakes and parks of at least one million dollars per occurrence and two million in the aggregate. There are no separate dues - everything runs through one annual assessment, equal for every lot in every section. The budget is adopted at the annual meeting, bills go out each January and are due within thirty days, and after that interest plus a ten dollar late fee accrues every thirty days. Unpaid amounts become a lien on the lot. The board also appoints the three-member architectural control committee. Ask the association for this year's assessment figure.

Ask us about Wellington Lakes at Knollwood

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