Don’t paint your front door pink. Don’t park in front of anyone’s home except your own. Don’t adopt a pitbull. Don’t forget to bring in your bins within an hour of the trash being collected. And don’t eventhinkabout letting the grass in your yard grow taller than an inch and a half.Ah, the joys of having a homeowners association! While purchasing a house means freedom for many people who have previously rented, for others, it means being tied to a host of new rules. And to find out just how extreme HOAs can be, we’ve gathered some of the most infuriating posts from the[Anti] Homeowners AssociationsandJust No HOAsubreddits down below. Enjoy reading through these stories that might make you want to abandon the suburbs for good, and keep reading to find a conversation withOrchard’s Housing Advisor Jason Hanson!This post may includeaffiliate links.
Don’t paint your front door pink. Don’t park in front of anyone’s home except your own. Don’t adopt a pitbull. Don’t forget to bring in your bins within an hour of the trash being collected. And don’t eventhinkabout letting the grass in your yard grow taller than an inch and a half.
Ah, the joys of having a homeowners association! While purchasing a house means freedom for many people who have previously rented, for others, it means being tied to a host of new rules. And to find out just how extreme HOAs can be, we’ve gathered some of the most infuriating posts from the[Anti] Homeowners AssociationsandJust No HOAsubreddits down below. Enjoy reading through these stories that might make you want to abandon the suburbs for good, and keep reading to find a conversation withOrchard’s Housing Advisor Jason Hanson!
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Admittedly, our HOA is pretty good. The fees aren’t that high for houses (less than $30 per month) and a little higher for the condos. Pool is pretty decent and not that far away. We decided to put solar panels on our house. The HOA told me that we were not allowed to do that. We asked why. They said it would ruin the aesthetic of the neighborhood. The solar panel company told us that that was illegal. They have a legal department that has to argue with HOAs all the time. It took two months before we finally got the OK to put the solar panels in. I just wonder, is it just a power trip for the HOAs that they have to make you jump through hoops to go a little greener. SMH.
To learn more about HOAs and whether or not they’re a good thing for homeowners, we reached out to Jason Hanson, a Dallas-Fort Worth based Housing Advisor forOrchard. Orchard has served thousands of homeowners through its brokerage services and online home search tools, and Jason has 10 years of experience working real estate, so he was the perfect person to weigh in on HOAs.“HOAs can be great if they’re run well,” he told Bored Panda. “But if they’re not, they can end up being a nightmare to deal with. That’s why it’s so important to research the HOA before buying a home in an association. Look into the board, their finances, and the seller’s history with the HOA, for starters, and don’t be afraid to ask the seller and neighbors questions.”
To learn more about HOAs and whether or not they’re a good thing for homeowners, we reached out to Jason Hanson, a Dallas-Fort Worth based Housing Advisor forOrchard. Orchard has served thousands of homeowners through its brokerage services and online home search tools, and Jason has 10 years of experience working real estate, so he was the perfect person to weigh in on HOAs.
“HOAs can be great if they’re run well,” he told Bored Panda. “But if they’re not, they can end up being a nightmare to deal with. That’s why it’s so important to research the HOA before buying a home in an association. Look into the board, their finances, and the seller’s history with the HOA, for starters, and don’t be afraid to ask the seller and neighbors questions.”
A number of years ago we moved into a subdivision with what seemed like a pretty laid back HOA. Now, the former owner was a first class a-hole who would never win the good neighbor award. Among the worst things he did was pave most of the front yard because he got tired of the neighbors b**ching at him to cut his grass. About 6 months later I got a letter from the HOA telling us the driveway was “out of compliance”. I called the number in the letter and asked what they meant and they said it was far too large and needed to be reduced in size. Me: “Okay, so just let me know when the contractors will be here so I can move my cars”. HOA: “No, you’re the one who needs to pay to have it reduced in size.” Me: “Sorry, there were no covenant violations listed in the settlement papers, so there was no problem then, which means there’s no problem now”. HOA: “But, but..” Me: “Let me know when they’ll be here and I’ll move my cars”. Never heard from them again, and that was 17 years ago.
When it comes to the pros of having an HOA, Jason says they can be helpful with exterior maintenance, increasing home value, offering amenities, lowering bills and assisting with conflict resolution. “Most HOAs handle a large portion of your home’s exterior upkeep so you don’t have to, like mowing the lawn and landscaping,” he explained. “Although, most HOA’s don’t handle the upkeep of the homes’ exterior, mowing, and landscaping in Texas.""[Homes with] HOAs sell for an average of 4% more than similar homes outside of HOAs, according to a2019 UC-Irvine study,” Jason added. “Many HOAs offer amenities like swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses, playgrounds, and gyms in the communities.”
When it comes to the pros of having an HOA, Jason says they can be helpful with exterior maintenance, increasing home value, offering amenities, lowering bills and assisting with conflict resolution. “Most HOAs handle a large portion of your home’s exterior upkeep so you don’t have to, like mowing the lawn and landscaping,” he explained. “Although, most HOA’s don’t handle the upkeep of the homes’ exterior, mowing, and landscaping in Texas.”
“[Homes with] HOAs sell for an average of 4% more than similar homes outside of HOAs, according to a2019 UC-Irvine study,” Jason added. “Many HOAs offer amenities like swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses, playgrounds, and gyms in the communities.”
“HOA fees cover different things, but one commonly included cost is utilities, like water and gas,” Jason continued. “Sometimes, HOAs resolve conflicts rather than incite them. If your neighbor plays loud music in the middle of the night or they fail to pick up after their dog, who just so happens to love your front lawn, an HOA can step in.”
Disclaimer: I did not live in this HOA, but I did live down the street.Ok, so, we’re gonna set the way-back machine to circa 2000 on this one…gas is cheap, cell phones were small, and my Ford Escort got amazing gas mileage. As the (now) ex-wife and I were struggling with our bills, she decided that the easiest thing (for her) was for me to get a 2nd job to try to catch up and then get something into savings. Having seen the sign in the window of the local pizza shop which was named after a popular game played with small rectangular pieces that was advertising $12-$16/hour for drivers (THAT was a lie…), she badgered me into applying.Fast-forward a couple of months, and I have settled into my mind-numbing routine of working 60-70 hours a week at two jobs. On this particular day, I was scheduled to work on Saturday, which was hit-or-miss for tips. You see, our delivery area was very nouveau riche, combined with scattered groups of Florida rednecks. You would have a gated community with McMansions and BMWs right next to a trailer park. Oddly enough, the smaller the house and cheaper the car, the bigger the tip…which factors in to the story. On this particular Saturday, a local HOA was throwing a pizza party for the residents. I think they were celebrating the last house being sold, or moving the HOA from the developer to the board, or something. Anyway, they ordered a TON of pizza. So much so that the manager had scheduled extra kitchen staff and had them show up an hour early just for this one order. He even gave them a discount on the pizza, since they ordered so much. There were so many pies that it took myself and another driver two trips apiece to deliver it all. When we got the last boxes of pizza delivered, the manager wrote a check for the total. Couple hundred dollars and change……rounded up to the next dollar for our “tip”.So, I left, and went back to the store. The manager asked me how much of a tip that I got, to which I replied “87 cents”. He didn’t believe me, so I showed him the check. He then asked me if I was messing with him, and if they had given me a cash tip. “Nope!” He. Went. OFF! He walked over to the phone, called the manager of the HOA, cussed her out for not tipping his drivers, AFTER he had discounted the order and scheduled extra staff just for her order, and told her that he was entering that entire subdivision into the computer as “Do Not Deliver”. He then hung up, opened the cash register, and gave each of us a $20 bill for a tip.To this day, I have no idea if any of the residents were ever able to order from that store.
This happened about 3 years ago, I was living with my dad before moving out, this is in central Texas a little north of Austin on a county road, my family had lived there for almost 30 years long before any thought of a neighborhood even existed. We have our 2 gate posts painted purple, which means keep out, for anyone who doesn’t know. And we kept the gate dummy locked to avoid unwanted guests. The most recent neighborhood at that time had a rather strict HOA that luckily up until that point we had the pleasure of never dealing with as we lived 2 miles down the road from the back entrance to said neighborhood. One day on my day off while my dad was at work I heard a knock at the door and looked through the peephole to see a woman in her mid 40’s dressed like a business woman. I assumed it was someone offering to buy the property as we live on 20 acres. I opened the door and she said “I’m blah blah blah with the (neighborhood) HOA, I just wanted to speak to the property owner about the purple posts, it doesn’t really match the aesthetic of the neighborhood.” I was fking lost, I started to talk and then was left speechless and this bch says “can you speak?” In the most cty tone I’d ever heard. And I said “lady, purple posts mean keep out and that gate was dummy locked, idk how long you’ve been in Texas but your actions in the past 5 minutes would’ve counted as a signed death wish to a lot of people on this county road, including my dad. We’re not apart of your stupid ass HOA, we live 2 FKING MILES down the road from it and if we want to spray paint our trees red and grass blue, we can. So turn around, close the gate behind you and f**k off.” She started to talk so I slammed the door in her face and watched her leave from the window. Few months later a friend of mine moved into that neighborhood and told me that my dad and his property is regularly posted on their Facebook page as “unfriendly and dangerous”. Anyways, I hope someone gets a laugh, and I’m so glad I found this sub.
My HOA was doing some useless things like replacing asphalt with bricks, which was loud and took weeks and probably will cost a lot to repair, so they told us we could move our cars to the small plaza next to our homes. They assured us we had permission. Big mistake. Every car parked there got towed, and they had no choice but to pay roughly $300 for every car towed.
As far as the downsides of having an HOA go, Jason says some of the most common complaints are about the fees, the risk of lien or foreclosure, the lack of choice, the rules and the potential for mismanagement. “HOA fees (sometimes called HOA dues) are mandatory. The actual cost of these dues can range from $100 to $1,000 a month or more, depending on the services the HOA offers,” the expert explained.“Those who can’t or don’t pay fine assessments or regular HOA fees can face a lien on their property from the HOA and risk losing their home to foreclosure — even if they’re up to date on their mortgage,” Jason added.
As far as the downsides of having an HOA go, Jason says some of the most common complaints are about the fees, the risk of lien or foreclosure, the lack of choice, the rules and the potential for mismanagement. “HOA fees (sometimes called HOA dues) are mandatory. The actual cost of these dues can range from $100 to $1,000 a month or more, depending on the services the HOA offers,” the expert explained.
“Those who can’t or don’t pay fine assessments or regular HOA fees can face a lien on their property from the HOA and risk losing their home to foreclosure — even if they’re up to date on their mortgage,” Jason added.
This was in the mid-90s, when I owned a condo in Las Vegas. I bought it new and lived in it. I do not recall how long I had lived there when I received a letter from the HOA asking me for my address. I just ignored it. A few weeks or so later, I received an infuriating package. It was a letter stating I had been fined $100 for not “returning” that other letter.I went down to the office to visit the HOA president. And said exactly this to him: “The only way I will pay this fine is through judgment. Because I want to see you explain to a judge how you sending a letter to my address to verify my address and then fining me because you did not receive a response is going to fly with a judge”. The reaction was priceless.He thought for a minute, then conversed with the other person there, then said to her “Could we have misplaced his letter? Ok, no fine”. He just was completely unwilling to admit he was in the wrong, but he obviously didn’t want to go to court, either.
Back in the ’90s, the wife and I bought a new home that was part of an HOA. We made sure to read the HOA rules in advance, and thought we understood them. We kept a snake as a pet, and wanted to be sure that there was no issues. The only pet restrictions stated were no livestock. Since we didn’t intend on owning chickens, cows, pigs or other farm animals, we thought we were safe. Wrong. After living in the home for a few years, we expanded our animals to include additional snakes and assorted reptiles. Since all were in locked cages, the neighbors never really knew about them. Eventually, the HOA board found out and sent us a letter demanding we get rid of them. Very stupid because this was in an area of north Phoenix, AZ, and wild snakes, lizards and other reptiles abounded. The people of the area were far more likely to run into a rattlesnake on their own front porches than to ever even see our ball python, or bearded dragon. The HOA board members viewed our reptiles as livestock. (Yee haw, let’s round up them corn snakes and herd them along!) Bottom line, we were facing a big fight with them, one of which we couldn’t financially afford. Not ready to back down and lose our pets, we decided to reread the HOA paperwork again. We discovered that, as HOA members, we were entitled to all financial records of the HOA. So we sent them a registered letter requesting ALL financial records. All of a sudden, the board backed down and let us keep our reptiles. Never saw a single financial record, but we took the win. Not too long after, we moved out of that house and into another that didn’t have an HOA. Will never, ever buy a home that is part of an HOA again.
“Since HOAs handle so much of the community upkeep, they often have meticulous guidelines for individual homes, like pre-approved exterior paint colors and shutter styles,” the real estate expert shared. “HOAs often come with a litany of rules about things like fencing dimensions, how tall your grass can grow, or what fertilizer you’re allowed to use.““HOAs are made up of volunteers in the community. In other words: They’re human,” Jason noted. “A good board can be efficient and professional, a bad one can mismanage the community, misspend money, or abuse its power.”
“Since HOAs handle so much of the community upkeep, they often have meticulous guidelines for individual homes, like pre-approved exterior paint colors and shutter styles,” the real estate expert shared. “HOAs often come with a litany of rules about things like fencing dimensions, how tall your grass can grow, or what fertilizer you’re allowed to use.”
“HOAs are made up of volunteers in the community. In other words: They’re human,” Jason noted. “A good board can be efficient and professional, a bad one can mismanage the community, misspend money, or abuse its power.”
I own a bunch of rentals in a bunch of communities. I’m no stranger to HOAs and court battles. In fact, I have a company attorney on retainer. I just moved into a community and finally bought myself a house I plan to stay in for a while. Well, a Karen recently got elected to the board and she immediately hated me. Why? Well it all started when I requested the following:1: HOA financial documents—which two months in they have still not produced. 2: A temporary reasonable accommodation after a major surgery. Finally, I asked her husband not to change his oil in the parking lot. She hit back hard. So far I’ve received four notices for: speeding in the parking lot, a political sign (who was an opponent to her political sign in her front yard), a construction noise complaint, and destruction of community property for washing my car with a hose.So my attorney goes to work on the upcoming fight. My attorney BCCs me on all emails to the association and the management company. I wish I was making the next part up. Karen is so stupid she replied all on an email meant for just the property manager: A few snippets: “I’m going to keep fining him and make his life horrible.” “He is a nightmare and a punk kid with too much money.”“We are going to drown him in lawyers’ fees and send him the bill until he finally submits to me.” “This is now personal, I’m on a mission to show that punk kid with his parents’ money that I’m president, and he will do as I say.” My lawyer called me six times at 10:30 last night and said “check your email.” At 9 am, my attorney sent a cease and desist to the entire board and included a copy of the email.Mine and his phone have been blowing up non-stop from the four other board members and their attorney trying to just talk. This woman may be the stupidest person on Earth. I honestly cannot wait to see the fallout from this.
Every few weekends my manager comes over my house to help work on a side project for the company. When he comes over he parks in front of my house.The house across from mine just happens to be one of the worst karens I ever met HOA volunteers. She tends to take her job a bit too seriously. Anyways she complains to my wife and I every time she sees the car like clockwork. She will ether call or wait until she sees us outside. The first time she even took it upon herself to write a letter about how its better for everyone if we can keep up a certain image in the neighborhood.I explained to her that he is my manager after the letter about a year ago. She accused me of lying since I drive a nice truck and have a nice house so she knows I bring in a decent salary. She assumed that my manager made more therefore he “needs to own a nice car.” I than explain that my manager makes 250k per year and drives a beater because he does not care about his image. She than goes on some rant about how she goes into massive debit to keep up the right image for the neighborhood and that its ignorant of my manger to save his money and buy a beater when people like her are pay check to paycheck to keep up with the Jones’s.Lucky for me I can not get fined but I still find it quite annoying that she is worried about the cars that my guests drive. I told my manger about her constant complaining every time he is over. He joked that He will spray paint his car with chalk next time he comes over to make it look as trashy as possible. I told him to dress in his worst cloths as well and slowly get out of his car to make sure she notices.
When it comes to what buyers should understand before purchasing a home in an HOA area, Jason says, “Depending on the HOA, owners may have to get approval for even the simplest of things, such as planting shrubs and flowers. For larger improvements such as pools and patio covers, a more extensive approval may be required.““The HOA board members are typically elected positions, and the HOA holds meetings on a regular basis,” he added. “Many homeowners don’t go to these meetings or cast a vote for the board members. If you want to make a change for the better, attend meetings and consider running for the board.“If you’d like to gain more insight or guidance before purchasing your next home, be sure to consult the experts atOrchard!
When it comes to what buyers should understand before purchasing a home in an HOA area, Jason says, “Depending on the HOA, owners may have to get approval for even the simplest of things, such as planting shrubs and flowers. For larger improvements such as pools and patio covers, a more extensive approval may be required.”
“The HOA board members are typically elected positions, and the HOA holds meetings on a regular basis,” he added. “Many homeowners don’t go to these meetings or cast a vote for the board members. If you want to make a change for the better, attend meetings and consider running for the board.”
If you’d like to gain more insight or guidance before purchasing your next home, be sure to consult the experts atOrchard!
I have not heard a peep from my ridiculous HOA in over three years.Pre-covid, I was trying to install a shed in my backyard. It was not visible from anywhere other than my house, but I’m a rule follower, so I asked for permission.I wanted something cheap and knew the HOA would be a hassle, so I started with three separate units in my request and told them to pick one. They were all pre-fab sheds, and the HOA wasn’t having it. They said it must be a Tuff Shed.I sent a new request with the moderately priced shed kit from Lowe’s, and they came back and said it must be a Tuff Shed.I drove around the neighborhood taking pictures of other non-Tuff Shed sheds. Then I attached it with a letter that asked why was I getting denied with others clearly had this allowed. I added, “Is this because I’m the only Mexican on the block and you are trying to drive me out of the neighborhood?“I felt a little guilty because I’m only half Mexican and very white looking. I don’t have a Mexican name and I do not look Mexican at all.TL;DR, I pulled the race card and never heard from them again.
My HOA in the last neighborhood sent out a letter saying everyone needs to have their house painted this summer because the neighborhood is looking “a little dull”. The next letter that came was a petition from someone in the neighorhood that they wanted everyone to sign and tell the HOA that more than half of the neighborhood hasn’t fiscally recovered from Covid and that they can essentially go fk themselves. I was renting so the paint wouldn’t have been my problem anyway. But it’s just ludicrous to me that people who run these sthole Karen commissions think that they can just do this kind of s**t.
I am a first-time home-owner, and I have an old car that does not start, and which I have been trying to fix. I have been parking it in front of my house. Today I saw an HOA warning notice on my car, saying that parking a car in front of my house overnight is prohibited and it will be towed at my own expense—which is seriously the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.I called the HOA asking about this and the lady told me that they can’t have cars parked in front of the house as it damages the view of the community. Good God.
The HOA had these expensive custom-built wooden mailboxes installed in all the houses as they were built- the issue? They really don’t stand the test of time. Several of these mailboxes are rotting badly. Mine was unsteady and leaning for years until it finally gave out. I waited several days- expecting to be contacted but when I wasn’t I went to home depot and got a cheap one as a filler. I then spent the next two hours digging rotten wood chips out of a hole. I installed the mailbox and received a notice saying I must fix this or be fined. I contacting them telling them that I can’t just pop out to the store and buy a custom-built mailbox, they don’t sell them. They looked through their files and found the number of the man who installed them. I called him (I don’t see how this is my job) and he said that he hasn’t made a mailbox like that in years and that he doesn’t have the parts for them anymore and that- even if he did, he’s going out of business and won’t be able to install a new one. I told the HOA this and they said they would give me an extension of 1 month to figure this out and then we’d ‘reconvene’. Welp, it’s been a month and nothing has changed and they’re threatening to fine me again.Maybe if you’re going to require a special custom mailbox- you should make sure they don’t rot in a matter of years. These things should be able to last for decades, mine got about 8 years.I also think it’s funny that they didn’t fine me for having a rotted broken mailbox but for having a metal ‘non-matching’ one.
See Also on Bored Panda
This happened 30+ years ago, before I was born, to my mother’s family. My grandmother lived in a house in this one neighborhood that was meant to be for older people in Florida. They really didn’t want anyone under 16 to live there. However, my mother was living there with her, and she also had my older brother Jack. The committee did not like this.They told my grandmother that while my mother could still live there, my brother couldn’t. Their methods got dark. They began completely harassing them, and the rest of the neighborhood joined in. My great aunt was also in the area and had sold my grandmother the house she was living in during this time. A guy actually threatened to shoot up my aunt’s office and someone threw a brick through one of the windows.They were not the only ones that had kids living there and being harassed, either. An elderly couple who had their grandkid due to the fact the parents had died also got this mistreatment. After some time, everyone who was being harassed started up a lawsuit against the HOA clubhouse. It was a federal case and took five years to finally resolve—in favor of the kids and guardians.
This happened years ago when I was in elementary school. I was living in Florida at the time. Anyone who lives in Florida knows how often new gated communities just pop up. So our neighborhood was established and had been before I even moved into the house. The house once belonged to my uncle. We had a neighborhood watch, but no HOA.The gated community was finally built and people were moving in. Now, we don’t have a bad neighborhood, but we had some strange colored houses. Lime green and magenta with giant metal lizards hanging all over it, for example. Our house was simple, hand brick and half concrete painted white. It stood out compared to some of the other houses.The new gated community is an HOA community, and they thought they ruled over ALL of us. Soon people in our neighborhood were receiving fines for their house color choices, their “unsightly” cars, not approved mailboxes, and other nit-picky things. My parents received some for my dad’s boat being in the driveway and even our unruly yard.We had a bougainvillea, which grows like crazy, and we were constantly trimming it. We even got a fine for our fence. The old fence was chain-link and the new fence was a wooden privacy fence, don’t ask why we had two different fences, my uncle only fenced-in part of the house, it was still a good fence so my dad didn’t want to rip it out.Well, my mom and dad would just pitch anything they saw coming from that gated community, as they had fancy stationary that was easy to spot. This went on for maybe four or five months, we would receive “fines” for not meeting HOA standards and other violations. We talked to our neighbors and they received them too. They tried to call and complain.Still, they were given the run-around and decided to pitch the mail as well. Then it all came crashing down. My mom received a phone call from her bank, and they started to question her about the lien on the house that just appeared in the system. My parents had less than a year left on their payments for the house, and they always paid extra every month for the house loan and were always on time.My mom was super confused and said there shouldn’t be a lien, we don’t have a reason for there to be a lien. Turns out the gated community filed liens on almost every house in my neighborhood. My mom told the bank the situation and called a lawyer. At that point, a lot of the members of that HOA faced charges and it was a just huge mess with a pretty big lawsuit against the HOA board.We were able to pay off the house after the lawsuit. We even had a big celebration on one of the roads, a huge cookout, and we met people we didn’t know before. I even made new friends with some kids that I didn’t know existed. People moved out of the gated community due to bad press and a lot of the houses stood empty for a long time. When I moved away, there were still a lot of houses empty and it was like a ghost town.Last I heard, the name of the community changed and the houses were being filled up. So I guess the lesson is, leave our bright houses alone and mind your own business.
My in-laws live on a golf course that is private membership, weird thing is living on the course does not get you membership to it and you still have to pay HOA and membership fees do do both…well in-laws have an in ground pool that is right below one of the greens and a hole (Think a 10-12 foot hill up to the green from the pool level). So many entitled people will yell at my in-laws as well as us when we are over that we have to be quiet when they are putting and we just ignore them.HOA and the club have sent letters as well as attempted to walk into the locked backyard while we were out in the pool to yell at us but were only to leave the property. Nowhere in the HOA laws does it say you need to accommodate golfers while on your private property.They once had a Karen who was both on the HOA board and part of the golf club yell and fake choking on the green while my father in law was grilling.
When my HOA said that I needed a “water catch basin” under all of my potted plants in front of my townhouse, I noticed that the official rules did not say plant saucer. Technically a water catch basin is an industrial water conduit. So I went out and bought a big ugly water conduit and a big PVC pipe to be attached to it. I then sat my plants on top of that (It is still there. It takes a majority of members to change the rules so they have to live with their demand).They then said that the flowers in front of my townhouse needed to be dug up because only the landscaper could plant things there. The previous owner had planted them and I hadn’t any idea where they all were. So I bought a shovel and dug up every single plant and expensive bush in front of my place. It cost them much more than the $50 fine that they were charging me to fix my compliance.In the past year they have stopped trying to fine me. Probably because I am too expensive to go after for their little things anymore.There are lots of malicious compliance solutions you can pick. If an HOA requires a grass front lawn, see if you can get written permission to spray it regularly with color so that it won’t turn brown. You then go and get fluorescent pink. You simply make it so obnoxious and expensive that they stop trying to impose silly little things. There are lot of fun things you can do with following rules exactly or getting permission to do things that have unexpected results.Brainstorm with friends. Have fun. But make sure it stays exactly within the rules. You can “train them” to look only at meaningful things instead. Especially with you. HOAs can actually be a good thing if they are reminded to stick to what is really important. More like a utility service than an enforcement authority.
My HOA is fining me for parking in the Visitor Parking area…but the car is not mine. They will not believe me, and refuse to remove the fine. In fact, they are now adding on late fees.
Our condo association is evil and power hungry. A few years ago they called DCF and tried to get my sister and I to go to foster care. I have a service dog for my disability. It was fine for the first year but then they started issuing fines. We are up to 6000 dollars. One of our neighbors are on the board and for the past year she has been taking photos and videos of me and my dog. Yesterday, I was leaving the car and I saw her in her window recording me. Someone put up a paper saying no dogs in our unit. I took it down and they fined us for destroying their property. They violated HIPPA and talked to my therapist without my consent. They send angry emails to us every day and send treats to foreclose. This association harass anyone who doesn’t fit their mold.Edit: There has been a few people that have said things along the line that my dog is a ESA not a SD. 1. FHA gives housing rights to ESAs 2. My dog is task trained for my specific disability’s and we have provided a note to the association in which they ignore and still issue fines while encouraging neighbors to stalk us.
Date back to 2017. There is no way my HOA would have known but from Dec 2016 - March 2017 I got divorced, my Dad had a heart attack, while he was getting a stent put in my Mom was in the ER with a gastric ulcer and died 10 weeks later, and my 18 year old dog died the day after my divorce mediation. This was my Falling Down moment…The HOA sent me a violation letter in March ‘17 for not having enough mulch in my front yard flower beds. It wasn’t that I was missing mulch; I just didn’t have enough. However, the front entrance to the subdivision, beds along the community walls (about a mile long), common areas, gatehouse and clubhouse areas, etc., which the HOA maintains, were missing mulch. This is a large, gated community in South Florida where the entrances are big - it was an eyesore considering we pay $425/mo HOA dues. They had budget issues and were behind in that upkeep, but they thought they could ding a homeowner for the same thing.I created a violation letter with the same font, logo, style, and used the exact same wording used in my violation letter and sent it back to the property management company with my information changed to their name/address. I added 10 more bags of mulch to my yard and waited. I went to the HOA meeting the next month and they brought up my letter. I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing as these twats got riled up over it. By next month they hired a company to mulch the subdivision.
So earlier this month, I purchased a property in real estate lien auction. The property was in a voluntary HOA that had 100% membership, and they were RUTHLESS in trying to get me to join before I bought the house. But I knew what I had to do get them off my backs. My attorney looked into the situation and drafted a proposal and sent it to the HOA via registered mail.He drafted up a proposal agreement with the HOA with the following conditions: 1. The property owner has unrestricted access to any community-owned roadways, gates, etc. necessary to access his property. 2. This does not constitute joining the HOA. 3. The property owner will pay a figure monthly to the HOA to contribute to the non-government owned infrastructure, at his discretion. The amount is non-negotiable and not legally required, merely an acknowledgement that the assets exist and have costs for their upkeep.4. The property owner will not be held to any HOA standards. 5. The property owner does not and will not get any voting rights in the HOA. 6. Any further attempts to get the property owner to join will be considered harassment. 7: Cashing of the attached checks constitutes agreeing to these terms. 8. The HOA will provide any necessary access codes for the property owner to use for visitors, contractors, etc.They received it and signed for it. That day the harassment from the HOA stopped. A week later their attorney sent back a response. When I read it, I had to shake my head. It read: The HOA board has met, and they do not appreciate your un-neighborly attitude and are not agreeing to your terms. However, they acknowledge that your claim to unrestricted access to your property may have legal merit if the issue is taken to court. I have been instructed to give you a gate access code, attached below. You will not be given a key fob to the gate as it would give you unrestricted access to their clubhouse.Furthermore, they are notifying you of the following: The roadway and sidewalk are both HOA property and they reserve the right to remove any illegally parked vehicles or other property. This is however an acknowledgement that you will not be held to their community standards. They also are requesting some leeway regarding harassment as community notices may inadvertently be delivered.Finally, they are returning the check uncashed. I’m not quite understanding how this doesn’t constitute them agreeing to my terms though. They are giving me everything I want and are turning down my gift towards the upkeep of the road/gate. I guess if they want to shoot themselves in the foot just to be spiteful, I’ll let them go ahead.
My wife and I bought a house in an HOA back in May of 2020, we bought it from family and was told the HOA is very relaxed to say the least. Basically pay you’re dues and submit the proper documentation when doing major changes to the house/ landscaping. We received the rules and regulations when we bought the house, and it was very generic, nothing in it mentioning security cameras and motion lights.Well this past Monday my father in law and I finally installed 2 security cameras/lights (had to run new electric lines due to the house not coming with a doorbell). Tuesday afternoon we received a warning about modifications to the house without prior approval (we already had 4 motion sensor lights up months prior to installing the camera).I figured they just want a statement or something similar to explain why we put up the new system. I submit the statement, and don’t hear anything back for a couple of days. The response I finally got was that the cameras needed to be removed, paperwork submitted, then they can be re installed.After spending 6 hours running wire and installing the system, I’m not pulling it down, and will not be changing anything until I get a response to my submission.If it wasn’t mentioned in the rules and regulations, I figure they really don’t have a leg to stand on in general.To summarize we have 4 motion sensor lights and 2 cameras.
The community manager emailed me a notice saying to remove the weeds from my front lawn, or that we would have to pay a fine in 14 days. She took the photo of the weeds at 10:29 a.m. The landscapers had arrived at 9:42 a.m. and were parked behind my car. She took or cropped the photo in a way so that you couldn’t see the landscaper truck behind my car. I sent her photos after the property had been cleaned up, as well as the invoice for today’s work. I also acknowledged that she took the photo when the landscapers were there. Haven’t heard back yet.It’s not the first time she does something like this. In October, we got a notice to remove the weeds. We told her we would not be able to take care of them till the following weekend. She said ok. That following weekend, she sends another notice for the same thing. We complain and told her what we had agreed upon, and she basically says, “you’re lucky we didn’t fine you.“I normally give people the benefit of a doubt, but what happened today gives me the impression that she’s harassing/targeting us.Update: She said that if she would have seen the landscaper, she wouldn’t have sent the notice, and she is closing the violation.It makes me wonder if the time stamps on their notices are incorrect/fake.
We bought our place back in June 2021 and have since been trying to get past our “flooring violation”. The rules in the HOA say we must have rolled carpet or sheet vinyl. 15 years ago, someone installed ceramic tiles in the kitchen and living room. Anyways, we talked to many, many, many flooring companies and they told us vinyl planks were best with the attached padded underlay.Our HOA immediately said no to the pricing, which was high. So we went back around to the flooring companies and most told us no, that sheet vinyl it really would cost 10k because it would be hard to get the floor that smooth again. Finally, Home Depot said they would do it at a lower price and the HOA finally agreed. Until it all went so wrong.When Home Depot actually got here to do the work, the workers then refused, saying it was too much and we need licensed contractors—and again that vinyl planks are better. We took all this information back to the HOA. Mind you, all this time we have only spoken with our actual board members for no more than five minutes. We are only permitted to talk to the property management that ignores us half the time.They actually forwarded us to their attorney simply because I think they were tired of talking to us. So the HOA attorney decided to make a waiver with the HOA board members that says our neighbors below us have to sign off saying that if our new floor bothers them, it’s up to them to legally come after us and the HOA will not help them. This is how cheap they are.Our neighbors that also think this whole situation is weird signed off on the papers. We found the planks and sent all this to the HOA attorney. WELL, apparently we missed in the wording on the waiver that we had to re-send this neighbor approval back to the property management—basically an approval on an approval. We did not understand this—and we started the work.Now we have a half-cement, half nice-looking floor. No baseboards and our washer and dryer cannot be plugged in. The property management has told us to cease all work and that they would update us later. They threatened fines if we attempted any more work. How long are we supposed to live like this? We cannot deal anymore with this stress.The day when they told us to stop all work, I literally got home and burst into tears. Also, the attorney told us we were absolute idiots in so many words. I have never felt so belittled in my entire life.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
Home & Design
