What the recorded documents actually say about Wellington Park Villas in South Bend — 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
The service schedule described on this page runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029 and the $500 buyer charge began with transactions on or after 1 January 2025 - both are association decisions rather than recorded covenants, so they can change at a board meeting in a way the declaration cannot. Ask the association to confirm both before you rely on them in a deal. The declaration itself dates from 1990 and parts of it describe the developer's control period, including a requirement that the exterior design, the landscaping plan and the contractor all come from lists the developer designated; those provisions read as history now, but the architectural approval they feed into is still live.
No perimeter fencing of any type is permitted without the Architectural Control Committee's advance written approval, and the ban is written wide enough to catch planting - hedges and other growing fences are named alongside chain link and split rail.
No structure of a temporary character, trailer, basement, tent, shack, garage, barn, TOOL SHED, STORAGE SHED or other outbuilding of any type may be used on a home site at any time, temporarily or permanently.
One of the strictest vehicle rules in the directory. No recreational or commercial vehicle of any type - campers, trailers, trucks, boats and all-terrain vehicles are named - may be kept in open areas anywhere on the property, whether on your own home site or off it, and the ban expressly reaches parking in the streets, in driveways and anywhere else on the property or its common areas. Snowmobiles are prohibited outright and users are subject to prosecution.
No tennis courts and no above-ground pools at all. Any other swimming pool may be built only after prior written approval from the Architectural Control Committee, and installing one is also named in the paragraph requiring approval from both the Board and the Committee.
An owner may not paint, decorate or make any change to the appearance of the exterior that differs from the plans the Architectural Control Committee approved, without the prior written approval of BOTH the Board of Directors and the Committee. The declaration names what that covers: sidewalks, driveways, paint colour, roof colour, additions to the home, and installing a swimming pool. Awnings need the Committee's approval. Driveways must be at least twelve feet wide and asphalt or concrete - no stone or cinder - with asphalt three inches thick and concrete four. Every home site also carries a dusk-to-dawn light of a Committee-approved type in front of the front setback line, and a home backing onto Wellington Lake or another lake needs a second one behind the rear setback line as well.
This declaration names satellite dishes directly and bans them: no outside above-ground television, AM, FM or short-wave radio antenna, SATELLITE DISH, or other device for receiving television or radio signals of any type may be erected or maintained on any home site or structure here. All utility service is underground and out of sight. Federal rules have since limited how far a covenant like this can be enforced against a small dish, so ask the Committee rather than assuming either way.
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 home site on a schedule it sets, and runs the irrigation system. An owner may plant flowers, trees, shrubs or other material only in accordance with the Landscaping Plan the Architectural Control Committee approved, or inside the area that plan marks as the Personal Patio Garden. The current service contract fills in the practical detail: mowing every Friday weather permitting, clippings cleared off lawns, walks, drives and patios, curbs and walks and drives power-trimmed and edged six times a year, foundation beds weeded ten times a season with a pre-emergent, and five yards of twice-cut dark brown mulch per villa with extra available at $100 a yard installed. Pruning covers shrubs, bushes and ornamental trees under fifteen feet in the foundation beds; budding plants are left alone, and anything you do not want touched has to be TAGGED WITH A RIBBON - a ribbon on your front lamp post means the crew skips your villa entirely and the pruning becomes yours. Landscaping debris put out on Friday is limited to one lawn bag a month, and debris may not be piled in the common areas.
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 →Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind may be raised, bred or kept otherwise, none may be kept, bred or maintained for a commercial purpose, and none may be allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any manner.
Renting is not banned, but the term is capped: no lease of a home here may run LONGER than one year. A landlord would be re-papering the tenancy annually. Note this is the opposite of the rule at some neighbouring villa communities, which set a one-year MINIMUM - read it carefully before you plan around it, and confirm with the association that no amendment has changed it.
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 sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a home site, except one sign of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent, and a builder's sign of any size during the construction and sales period.
Ordinary cars are fine; very little else is. No recreational or commercial vehicle - camper, trailer, truck, boat or all-terrain vehicle - may be kept in an open area anywhere on the property, and the rule says expressly that this includes parking in the streets and in driveways as well as on your own home site. Driveways must be at least twelve feet wide and paved in asphalt or concrete.
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 →No home site may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish, and trash, garbage and other waste must be kept in sanitary containers; any incinerator or disposal equipment is kept clean and sanitary.
No fire may be allowed to burn on any street or roadway in the property.
No hanging of laundry, rugs or other items outside the home is permitted.
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.