Homeowner Doesn’t Belong To HOA, But Is Getting Letters About Not Conforming To Their Rules
Private property is an inalienable right of every US citizen, and this right is enshrined in the Constitution. Indeed, no one can encroach, for example, on your house, no one has the right to tell you what to do on your land plot, how to run a household, how to do (or not to do) repairs in the house – unless, of course, this violates the rights of other people.
But it’s with this that three completely magical letters are connected, hiding behind which, some people quite legally dictate to homeowners what they should actually do and how. What are these three letters? FBI? No. CIA? Absolutely not. HOA? That’s it, bingo!
Here’s more proof of just how entitled and cheeky HOA can be these days with this post by u/nexttohoa on the AITA Reddit community, with nearly 18.1K upvotes and around 2.5K different comments in a year. The story of a dramatic confrontation between one person and a soulless bureaucratic machine… However, let’s talk about everything just in order.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post inherited a house with a vegetable garden from their late grandpa
Image credits: Thank You (23 Millions+) views (not the actual photo)
So, the author of the original post inherited the house from their late grandfather a few years ago. According to their own words, the OP had just graduated and the house was very close to the area where they wanted to work. In other words, not just a house, but a real dream. There was also a vegetable garden near the house, which the old gentleman had been cultivating with such love for many, many years.
Image credits: nexttohoa
Several years ago, a development company build a semi-gated community close to the author’s house
So several years passed, and then a development company began to buy out neighboring houses, planning to build a semi-gated community in their place. The OP recalls that the company representatives also made an offer for their house, but the homeowner flatly refused. In the end, the fence of the new community ended up about a few yards from their property, but it wasn’t closed all the way.
Image credits: nexttohoa
The HOA board started bombarding the author of the post with letters on fees, their lawn and the house paint
And so, after a while, the OP began to receive regular letters from the local HOA about fees, their lawn, and their house paint. The thing is, says the author of the post, that the house was painted brown, and all the buildings in the new community are designed in a gray-blue color scheme. As a result, HOA management required the OP to repaint the house, arguing that they were automatically a member and therefore must obey their rules.
Image credits: nexttohoa
Of course, this was not true, the OP recalls, because they had official documents, certified by county, about where the boundaries of their land plot began and ended. The OP tried to contact the HOA president to stop this wave of emails, however, they just never got back to them.
Image credits: nexttohoa
The homeowner ended up crashing the HOA meeting with all the papers claiming that their plot is not a part of the community
So after receiving yet another outrageous request, the OP just crashed the last meeting they had and explained that their house wasn’t part of the neighborhood and therefore not part of the HOA. After seeing the papers, the HOA board slowed down a bit, but said that since the OP’s house is so close, they still have to abide by their rules. To this, the OP simply showed an official response from the development company, confirming the boundaries of their plot.
Image credits: denisbin (not the actual photo)
Interestingly, after this very confrontation, the OP unexpectedly received an email from the HOA president, who demanded that the vegetable garden be torn down and the house repainted because it supposedly looked “rustic” and, in the president’s terminology, “was bringing property values down”. Of course, the OP did not comply with these requirements, although they did not want to negatively affect others, especially considering the current market.
People in the comments encouraged the author, stating that they’ve done everything right and giving their own examples of entitled HOA
However, the commenters were quick to dispel the Original Poster’s doubts, arguing that even if their house was in complete disarray, this does not give the HOA representatives absolutely any right to dictate any orders and make demands of them. “What if I said, hey your car is parked close to mine so therefore your car is my car?” aptly notes one of the people in the comments.
It must be admitted that such arbitrariness on the part of the HOA, alas, takes place literally everywhere. For example, one commenter described how a friend of theirs not only faced HOA demands from new neighbors about the appearance of their own house and car, but they even called the police several times.
It all ended, as the commenter recalls, when their friend simply put Halloween and Christmas decorations up in the middle of summer and would park his old beat-up truck front and center. Great way to deal with such an entitled bureaucracy, by the way!
To go on with the subject, here is another story about how entitled neighbors tried to force this homeowner to build a new, bigger house on their plot. And besides, as always, we look forward to your comments on this tale, as well as stories about your own history of dealing with overly annoying HOA.
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i don't care what the circumstance or the story is but if it involves any HOA, THEY are the A*holes! HOAs are BullSh!t
IKR. I saw the title 'AITA for not being in a HOA' and immediately I was like 'Nope'. HOAs suck
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First of all, there is a precedent set that says if you lived in your home before the HOA existed, then you have no obligation to join the HOA even if you are smack dab in the middle of it. Joining is voluntary. Secondly, Call the police on the HOA and press charges for HOA Harassment (yes, it is a thing). We had someone try to start a HOA where I live (I live in the Midlands, UK) and EVERYONE, using very colourful language, said no and some threatened to kick the living excrement out of them. Some, including myself, explained that this is not America and most of the houses are owned by a government 'HOA' called The Local Council, and they would prosecute anyone trying to override tenancy agreements with their own rules. They backed off. It was an American family and the mother was a traditional Karen. More stereotyped than 2 computer keyboards side by side
Why didn't she just stay in the U.S.A.? You go to another country, don't be an a*s.
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HOAs have the potential to be good for everyone involved in them, where they are relatively benign. Everybody chipping in for communal maintainence and facilities, etc. I can even understand some rules in some communities to prevent extremes of neglect that can genuinely affect the neighbourhood. The problem is that they do often get controlled by busybodies who want to transform the HOA into their personal vision of stepford wives style utopia. They begin creating rules against stuff that doesn't affect anyone adversely, disproportionately targeting vulnerable people in the process. They restrict people's enjoyment of their own homes in the name of "property values" when often the thing that they are wailing about has no impact on values at all. They turn into little dictators, all backed up by bylaws that given them an obscene about of power over other people.
Serve them a restraining order. Have the zoning posted in a front window. Decorate and paint crazy. Enjoy your new home. I'm sure no one in that HOA gives a poo about you because you're outside of it. It's one mean dude being a c word. And make every holiday over the top. And fence in your property.
The response to "AITA for not listening to the HOA?" is always "no." Details don't matter.
NTA!!! Ain't in gated territory, ain't part of HOA jurisdiction. In fact, paint the house bright pink or something just to spite them for being busybodies, I'd say.
I have a friend who had a similar issue. His house was there first and then a neighborhood was built up next to him and they demanded he join the HOA. They put up a big fuss and fight over it but lost. Now he makes sure to put up gaudy decorations for every holiday and he gets letters from the residents of the neighborhood thanking him for bringing some joy since the HOA won't let them decorate.
I'd get a cease and desist letter immediately. Document, document, document. Get surveillance cameras. Once that's done, research all your local town, county, and state ordinances. Then, exact your ultimate revenge by maliciously complying with all the city/county/state laws while openly flouting and mocking the HOA bylaws. Paint the house whatever color you want. Make the garden as big as permitted by law. Legally erect a greenhouse too. Go nuts with the decorations. Every single time they give you any grief, any lip, double down go bigger, louder, wilder, and boulder. Legally of course.
Here we go again with the "property values" cult trying to dictate what other people can do with their own yards and houses. I bet his property looks way better than their monotonous development anyway.
Yeah… those “cookie-cutter” homes are awful. I love my old neighborhood where every house is unique.
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Is the HOA a common thing in the States? I've never heard of it except on the internet. No one will ever tell me what to do with my property - and unless they had garbage piled up and it was smelly/attracting rats etc, I'd never dream of telling someone what to do with their property.
Not in normal neighborhoods. Just in rich upper class mostly white areas.
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LMAO. F**k the HOA, they are funny in thinking they can bully you into following their rules for shits and giggles. Tell them you will be reporting them for harassment if their continue to send you any type of fine or warning. And then do just that. Don’t feel bad, they are the ones who are out of line.
Ask them to move out, since having a bunch of fraudulent Karens so close to you is lowering your property's value. (And it is.)
HOA's are a bane on society they all remind me of Stepford neighborhoods all the house look the same. No individuality. No unique style. Boring and pretentious.
Exactly. That’s why I’m really happy that I live in an old neighborhood where every house is unique.
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All you have to do is tell them, "If I receive any more communication from this HOA, I will send all past and this one current communication to my attourney, and he will contact you"
Heres the best idea to deal with an HOA. Put in a CB Radio antenna. They can't control those and can get in serious trouble by demanding it be removed. I can't remember the exact bylaw that protects them but it has something to do with free airway use or something like that.
Become a certified Ham Radio Operator. They have to have very tall antennas to be able to speak to people around the world. They also help out when emergencies happen and telephones die. Yes, they still will work even when satellites won't.
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This HOA board is clearly stupid. As long as OP has evidence they are not within the HOA, I'd say make sure they sticks to any county etc rules that are enforceable, get legal advice, consider informing the local police if there is a chance the HOA could go to police and so the police have a record the HOA are harassing OP. If I was wanting to wind the HOA board up, I'd say get hold of a copy of the HOA rule book and see how many stupid HOA rules you can 'break'. And completely unrelated to the story about the HOA, I am loving the painted house in the first picture.
The rulebook should be public record. Just ask the council for a copy. If they refuse, give a written demand under freedom of information act. If they continue to deny it, take them to court for willful refusal to abide by the freedom of information act. I gaurantee the news will pick it up and the HOA will TRULY be in a hotbed them ;-)
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Show them how little power they have over you. Paint your house like a Piet Mondrian in big blocks of primary colors. Put tacky pink flamingos and garden gnomes on the front lawn. Just gussy it up as loud as possible.
WTF is wrong with HOAs and their hatred of vegetable gardens? Lawns are boring, characterless, and a massive waste of water.
As I mentioned on Facebook, if I own my home, I'll be damned if someone tries to tell me what I can and can't do with it, and if I want to paint my house lime green with magenta polka dots and have fifty-seven decorative lawn gnomes reenacting Hamlet in my lawn, no one is going to stop me.
People who run HOAs are 9 times out of 10 total aholes anyway. The fact they moved around you and demanded you confirm to them like a pack of colonizers just screams mess with them as much as humanly possible.
HOA’S are bad enough if you live in one. As this gentleman does not live in one, he does not have to conform to their regulations. It sounds as if he conforms to reasonable neighborhood cleanliness, so the fact that his house is rustic sounds cute to me, and is none of the business of the HOA.
Eff HOAs. If I wanted to pay someone to tell me what to do and make me feel bad about it, I’d still be catholic and tithe to the church.
They should paint the house lime green and hot Pink and tell the HOA they repainted there house
Do you plan to live there for a long time? If so, bring those property values DOWN. Lower property value=lower property taxes!
I never understood people that can live in neighborhoods that match each other and are the same exact boring houses with perfect little front lawns. Gross. I would love to be the OP, I'd be so mean.
HOA has the same rights as most banks so I would definitely not ever look into staying in an area with one. They can seize your house and sell it. This is actually a common thing, unfortunately. Unrestricted land is the best to consider or you will end up with a constant headache. I genuinely hope this person does not consider joining, based of guilt for others home value. They purchased their home knowing good and well what yours looked like.
Tell that HOA to either produce proof of a title or deed to the property or go pound sand. NTA.
Incredible! Stick to your guns and if they enter your property call the police. But first contact the police as this is not on. Good luck from Auckland New Zealand
I'm betting Grandpa refused to sell is house when they moved in and incorporated (and very wisely). Now that he is gone, they are trying to get you to either join their little cult, or move so they can try and get your property that way.
NTA. "brnging down property values"? YOU were there BEFORE they built the townhouses. They knew you were there and should have taken this into account You can't buy a house next to a pub then complain about the late night music
Whoa baby! I would NOT belong to an HOA, even if someone gave me a house. They suck every bit of imagination, creativity, and personality out of a neighborhood and make it look like every other neighborhood. I would rather live next to a town dump (as long as it was just ugly and not toxic!!!) than have to abide by someone else's idea of how I should live. Ugh.
As his house was there first, shouldn’t the HOA follow his example in home colors and yard use? I mean, by their logic of course.
I thought America was the land of the free? But when I hear back it these HOA’s of theirs, it’s never a good thing. There’s always some wannabe despot who tries to railroad others, and this homeowner isn’t even associated with them, plus dear Grandpa’s house was there first, for Heaven’s sake! He should keep all their harassing letters though just in case he has to take some action, but it is sad he has to deal with their nonsense.
Very politely tell them to F- -K Off or you are going to sue them for harassment for several million dollars for the anxiety and unwarranted harassment that they are causing you .You don’t belong to their HOA and since you are not subject to their rules and dumb regulations tell them since your house was there first that maybe they should be the ones to conform to your standards and if they don’t like tell they should build at their expense a nice fence to block them from having to look at your house and make damn sure it is on their property
HOAs serve a purpose if you're actually in the HOA. If you are outside the HOA, they don’t get to tell you, or insist upon, diddly-squat. Send them cease-desist letter by registered mail, clearly indicating your next move will be restraining order. Moreover, HOAs are, rarely, true "corporations," so you can get restraining orders against each of the individual members of HOA's Board of Directors. I live in HOA in suburbs west of Phoenix, AZ, and HOA Board members have usually been busy-body a$$holes who THINK their Sudden Power = "God just made me a Know-It-All!" Lastly, it's just N-O-T OPs responsibility to help maintain the value of "neighboring" houses 🏘 Neighbors WILL complain about ANYTHING. My experience with the complainers: I planted 🌵 cacti 🌵 in my front (and back!) yard... and some neighbors complained to HOA Board "because" ours was the ONLY house 🏠 on street that DID plant cactus 🌵 here, there & about.
As the pandemic lock downs were ending last year, I was looking to buy a house. I must have looked at 60 houses, but I made a 2 second decision on one. The realtor & I had just got done walking thru the house and this older woman walked past kinda in a hurry. Without breaking stride, she looks at us both, points at us and says, "And you need to get the mud off your sidewalk.". I looked at the realtor, we both laughed and said, "NO." Got in our cars & went to look at the next.
Shoot the republican fascist terrorist. That'll get through the others head's. Let people live free or die
Even as part of an HOA neighborhood you don’t have to do s**t. HOAs are unofficial organizations and you can’t get in official trouble for not conforming to their ways.
Hey jackass, take your Crackerjack law degree and shove it. Not only are they official organizations and capable of enforcing their own rules, they can get the local authority to back them up. In some cases they can even LEGALLY buy your house whether you want to sell or not and force you to move
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I love some of these AITA posts. "Should I do what the mean man says when I don't have to? It will make my life harder and open me up to a lifetime of harassment and fines. But he really seems to want me to do this. Should I? AITA if I don't?" C'mon, man. Really?
INFO: Is OP a different race from the people in the HOA? If so, lawyer up and pursue it as a hate crime.
Not related to the post, but you know, usually I see these stories on bp first, and then other similar websites pick them up and use the same content, and you can tell because there's even the bp watermark. There's no watermarks here, so you can't tell as easily, but you can't tell me it's a coincidence that I saw this same story that's a year old on another site earlier this week. Even picking out (from what I can tell/remember, though I could be mistaken, it's been a bit) the same comments and replies on the post to talk about/point out.
The advice from rhinovodka was good I think. OP could perhaps (I’m not American) argue that since HE was there first it is them (HOA) that brings his rustic charm property value down…? HOA made a quite stupid start to get what they want! Why not go over and ask kindly and humble if OP can consider repaint if HOA pays for it to be done. I hate when “agitated elephants” lets loose in a porcelain boutique!
Oh! I love the advice on doubling down on tacky decor! For every message the HOA sends, I'd buy a pink flamingo and add it to the garden or the roof or the fence. Bring it! 😂
YOU SHOULD SHOW UP TO THEIR NEXT MEETING WITH A CHAINSAW AND THE FIRST SON OF A BIT CH THAT TRIES THIS SH IT-CUT THAT MOTHERFUC KER IN HALF! BUTTH OLE!!
NTA, and I hope someone pointed OP towards the fact that the if the HOA keeps it up, there's fun bits of legal action that can be taken (harassment, for example); often you don't even need to follow up on it to get them to back down - just have to demonstrate a knowledge of it, *maybe* also a willingness to do it.
That was top of my list when I was house shopping. I've read enough AITA to know HOAs are always TA.
Tell them to go F themselves they have zero justification or jurisdiction over your property.
Tell the HOA to F off and laugh they have no justification or jurisdiction.
I think the developer should have thought about the differences in home styles when they built the community. Depending on where the OP lives, as long as he's not violating any town zoning or ordinances, and keeps his property neat, I don't think there's anything the HOA can do. Where we live, we have lots of zoning laws. Many places won't allow mobile homes. But if there's a mobile home already there, "grandfathered in" before the new development is built, too bad. UNLESS, of course, the developer wants to buy out the mobile home property. In this case, the HOA could get together and attempt to buy OP out. For maybe double what it's worth.
Let them sue and then win, hard. They tend to stop when they bleed money. That said, I want to change the laws so the HOA has to prove an unwanted feature brings property values down. I'm tired of hearing that and zero evidence for it. Besides, any financial advisor worth their salt will tell you that property is a liability, not an asset.
Frankly, reading the OP's replies to the comments they REALLY want to be part of the HOA. Everyone is saying the HOA has no power, and they are bending over backwards, wanting to put themselves under the HOA's thumb.
I didn't get that at all, they just don't want to make anyone angry. Did you go to the reddit post? Are you seeing something that I'm not seeing? Your extreme conclusion just doesn't have any evidence here.
Load More Replies... i don't care what the circumstance or the story is but if it involves any HOA, THEY are the A*holes! HOAs are BullSh!t
IKR. I saw the title 'AITA for not being in a HOA' and immediately I was like 'Nope'. HOAs suck
Load More Replies... First of all, there is a precedent set that says if you lived in your home before the HOA existed, then you have no obligation to join the HOA even if you are smack dab in the middle of it. Joining is voluntary. Secondly, Call the police on the HOA and press charges for HOA Harassment (yes, it is a thing). We had someone try to start a HOA where I live (I live in the Midlands, UK) and EVERYONE, using very colourful language, said no and some threatened to kick the living excrement out of them. Some, including myself, explained that this is not America and most of the houses are owned by a government 'HOA' called The Local Council, and they would prosecute anyone trying to override tenancy agreements with their own rules. They backed off. It was an American family and the mother was a traditional Karen. More stereotyped than 2 computer keyboards side by side
Why didn't she just stay in the U.S.A.? You go to another country, don't be an a*s.
Load More Replies... HOAs have the potential to be good for everyone involved in them, where they are relatively benign. Everybody chipping in for communal maintainence and facilities, etc. I can even understand some rules in some communities to prevent extremes of neglect that can genuinely affect the neighbourhood. The problem is that they do often get controlled by busybodies who want to transform the HOA into their personal vision of stepford wives style utopia. They begin creating rules against stuff that doesn't affect anyone adversely, disproportionately targeting vulnerable people in the process. They restrict people's enjoyment of their own homes in the name of "property values" when often the thing that they are wailing about has no impact on values at all. They turn into little dictators, all backed up by bylaws that given them an obscene about of power over other people.
Serve them a restraining order. Have the zoning posted in a front window. Decorate and paint crazy. Enjoy your new home. I'm sure no one in that HOA gives a poo about you because you're outside of it. It's one mean dude being a c word. And make every holiday over the top. And fence in your property.
The response to "AITA for not listening to the HOA?" is always "no." Details don't matter.
NTA!!! Ain't in gated territory, ain't part of HOA jurisdiction. In fact, paint the house bright pink or something just to spite them for being busybodies, I'd say.
I have a friend who had a similar issue. His house was there first and then a neighborhood was built up next to him and they demanded he join the HOA. They put up a big fuss and fight over it but lost. Now he makes sure to put up gaudy decorations for every holiday and he gets letters from the residents of the neighborhood thanking him for bringing some joy since the HOA won't let them decorate.
I'd get a cease and desist letter immediately. Document, document, document. Get surveillance cameras. Once that's done, research all your local town, county, and state ordinances. Then, exact your ultimate revenge by maliciously complying with all the city/county/state laws while openly flouting and mocking the HOA bylaws. Paint the house whatever color you want. Make the garden as big as permitted by law. Legally erect a greenhouse too. Go nuts with the decorations. Every single time they give you any grief, any lip, double down go bigger, louder, wilder, and boulder. Legally of course.
Here we go again with the "property values" cult trying to dictate what other people can do with their own yards and houses. I bet his property looks way better than their monotonous development anyway.
Yeah… those “cookie-cutter” homes are awful. I love my old neighborhood where every house is unique.
Load More Replies... Is the HOA a common thing in the States? I've never heard of it except on the internet. No one will ever tell me what to do with my property - and unless they had garbage piled up and it was smelly/attracting rats etc, I'd never dream of telling someone what to do with their property.
Not in normal neighborhoods. Just in rich upper class mostly white areas.
Load More Replies... LMAO. F**k the HOA, they are funny in thinking they can bully you into following their rules for shits and giggles. Tell them you will be reporting them for harassment if their continue to send you any type of fine or warning. And then do just that. Don’t feel bad, they are the ones who are out of line.
Ask them to move out, since having a bunch of fraudulent Karens so close to you is lowering your property's value. (And it is.)
HOA's are a bane on society they all remind me of Stepford neighborhoods all the house look the same. No individuality. No unique style. Boring and pretentious.
Exactly. That’s why I’m really happy that I live in an old neighborhood where every house is unique.
Load More Replies... All you have to do is tell them, "If I receive any more communication from this HOA, I will send all past and this one current communication to my attourney, and he will contact you"
Heres the best idea to deal with an HOA. Put in a CB Radio antenna. They can't control those and can get in serious trouble by demanding it be removed. I can't remember the exact bylaw that protects them but it has something to do with free airway use or something like that.
Become a certified Ham Radio Operator. They have to have very tall antennas to be able to speak to people around the world. They also help out when emergencies happen and telephones die. Yes, they still will work even when satellites won't.
Load More Replies... This HOA board is clearly stupid. As long as OP has evidence they are not within the HOA, I'd say make sure they sticks to any county etc rules that are enforceable, get legal advice, consider informing the local police if there is a chance the HOA could go to police and so the police have a record the HOA are harassing OP. If I was wanting to wind the HOA board up, I'd say get hold of a copy of the HOA rule book and see how many stupid HOA rules you can 'break'. And completely unrelated to the story about the HOA, I am loving the painted house in the first picture.
The rulebook should be public record. Just ask the council for a copy. If they refuse, give a written demand under freedom of information act. If they continue to deny it, take them to court for willful refusal to abide by the freedom of information act. I gaurantee the news will pick it up and the HOA will TRULY be in a hotbed them ;-)
Load More Replies... Show them how little power they have over you. Paint your house like a Piet Mondrian in big blocks of primary colors. Put tacky pink flamingos and garden gnomes on the front lawn. Just gussy it up as loud as possible.
WTF is wrong with HOAs and their hatred of vegetable gardens? Lawns are boring, characterless, and a massive waste of water.
As I mentioned on Facebook, if I own my home, I'll be damned if someone tries to tell me what I can and can't do with it, and if I want to paint my house lime green with magenta polka dots and have fifty-seven decorative lawn gnomes reenacting Hamlet in my lawn, no one is going to stop me.
People who run HOAs are 9 times out of 10 total aholes anyway. The fact they moved around you and demanded you confirm to them like a pack of colonizers just screams mess with them as much as humanly possible.
HOA’S are bad enough if you live in one. As this gentleman does not live in one, he does not have to conform to their regulations. It sounds as if he conforms to reasonable neighborhood cleanliness, so the fact that his house is rustic sounds cute to me, and is none of the business of the HOA.
Eff HOAs. If I wanted to pay someone to tell me what to do and make me feel bad about it, I’d still be catholic and tithe to the church.
They should paint the house lime green and hot Pink and tell the HOA they repainted there house
Do you plan to live there for a long time? If so, bring those property values DOWN. Lower property value=lower property taxes!
I never understood people that can live in neighborhoods that match each other and are the same exact boring houses with perfect little front lawns. Gross. I would love to be the OP, I'd be so mean.
HOA has the same rights as most banks so I would definitely not ever look into staying in an area with one. They can seize your house and sell it. This is actually a common thing, unfortunately. Unrestricted land is the best to consider or you will end up with a constant headache. I genuinely hope this person does not consider joining, based of guilt for others home value. They purchased their home knowing good and well what yours looked like.
Tell that HOA to either produce proof of a title or deed to the property or go pound sand. NTA.
Incredible! Stick to your guns and if they enter your property call the police. But first contact the police as this is not on. Good luck from Auckland New Zealand
I'm betting Grandpa refused to sell is house when they moved in and incorporated (and very wisely). Now that he is gone, they are trying to get you to either join their little cult, or move so they can try and get your property that way.
NTA. "brnging down property values"? YOU were there BEFORE they built the townhouses. They knew you were there and should have taken this into account You can't buy a house next to a pub then complain about the late night music
Whoa baby! I would NOT belong to an HOA, even if someone gave me a house. They suck every bit of imagination, creativity, and personality out of a neighborhood and make it look like every other neighborhood. I would rather live next to a town dump (as long as it was just ugly and not toxic!!!) than have to abide by someone else's idea of how I should live. Ugh.
As his house was there first, shouldn’t the HOA follow his example in home colors and yard use? I mean, by their logic of course.
I thought America was the land of the free? But when I hear back it these HOA’s of theirs, it’s never a good thing. There’s always some wannabe despot who tries to railroad others, and this homeowner isn’t even associated with them, plus dear Grandpa’s house was there first, for Heaven’s sake! He should keep all their harassing letters though just in case he has to take some action, but it is sad he has to deal with their nonsense.
Very politely tell them to F- -K Off or you are going to sue them for harassment for several million dollars for the anxiety and unwarranted harassment that they are causing you .You don’t belong to their HOA and since you are not subject to their rules and dumb regulations tell them since your house was there first that maybe they should be the ones to conform to your standards and if they don’t like tell they should build at their expense a nice fence to block them from having to look at your house and make damn sure it is on their property
HOAs serve a purpose if you're actually in the HOA. If you are outside the HOA, they don’t get to tell you, or insist upon, diddly-squat. Send them cease-desist letter by registered mail, clearly indicating your next move will be restraining order. Moreover, HOAs are, rarely, true "corporations," so you can get restraining orders against each of the individual members of HOA's Board of Directors. I live in HOA in suburbs west of Phoenix, AZ, and HOA Board members have usually been busy-body a$$holes who THINK their Sudden Power = "God just made me a Know-It-All!" Lastly, it's just N-O-T OPs responsibility to help maintain the value of "neighboring" houses 🏘 Neighbors WILL complain about ANYTHING. My experience with the complainers: I planted 🌵 cacti 🌵 in my front (and back!) yard... and some neighbors complained to HOA Board "because" ours was the ONLY house 🏠 on street that DID plant cactus 🌵 here, there & about.
As the pandemic lock downs were ending last year, I was looking to buy a house. I must have looked at 60 houses, but I made a 2 second decision on one. The realtor & I had just got done walking thru the house and this older woman walked past kinda in a hurry. Without breaking stride, she looks at us both, points at us and says, "And you need to get the mud off your sidewalk.". I looked at the realtor, we both laughed and said, "NO." Got in our cars & went to look at the next.
Shoot the republican fascist terrorist. That'll get through the others head's. Let people live free or die
Even as part of an HOA neighborhood you don’t have to do s**t. HOAs are unofficial organizations and you can’t get in official trouble for not conforming to their ways.
Hey jackass, take your Crackerjack law degree and shove it. Not only are they official organizations and capable of enforcing their own rules, they can get the local authority to back them up. In some cases they can even LEGALLY buy your house whether you want to sell or not and force you to move
Load More Replies... I love some of these AITA posts. "Should I do what the mean man says when I don't have to? It will make my life harder and open me up to a lifetime of harassment and fines. But he really seems to want me to do this. Should I? AITA if I don't?" C'mon, man. Really?
INFO: Is OP a different race from the people in the HOA? If so, lawyer up and pursue it as a hate crime.
Not related to the post, but you know, usually I see these stories on bp first, and then other similar websites pick them up and use the same content, and you can tell because there's even the bp watermark. There's no watermarks here, so you can't tell as easily, but you can't tell me it's a coincidence that I saw this same story that's a year old on another site earlier this week. Even picking out (from what I can tell/remember, though I could be mistaken, it's been a bit) the same comments and replies on the post to talk about/point out.
The advice from rhinovodka was good I think. OP could perhaps (I’m not American) argue that since HE was there first it is them (HOA) that brings his rustic charm property value down…? HOA made a quite stupid start to get what they want! Why not go over and ask kindly and humble if OP can consider repaint if HOA pays for it to be done. I hate when “agitated elephants” lets loose in a porcelain boutique!
Oh! I love the advice on doubling down on tacky decor! For every message the HOA sends, I'd buy a pink flamingo and add it to the garden or the roof or the fence. Bring it! 😂
YOU SHOULD SHOW UP TO THEIR NEXT MEETING WITH A CHAINSAW AND THE FIRST SON OF A BIT CH THAT TRIES THIS SH IT-CUT THAT MOTHERFUC KER IN HALF! BUTTH OLE!!
NTA, and I hope someone pointed OP towards the fact that the if the HOA keeps it up, there's fun bits of legal action that can be taken (harassment, for example); often you don't even need to follow up on it to get them to back down - just have to demonstrate a knowledge of it, *maybe* also a willingness to do it.
That was top of my list when I was house shopping. I've read enough AITA to know HOAs are always TA.
Tell them to go F themselves they have zero justification or jurisdiction over your property.
Tell the HOA to F off and laugh they have no justification or jurisdiction.
I think the developer should have thought about the differences in home styles when they built the community. Depending on where the OP lives, as long as he's not violating any town zoning or ordinances, and keeps his property neat, I don't think there's anything the HOA can do. Where we live, we have lots of zoning laws. Many places won't allow mobile homes. But if there's a mobile home already there, "grandfathered in" before the new development is built, too bad. UNLESS, of course, the developer wants to buy out the mobile home property. In this case, the HOA could get together and attempt to buy OP out. For maybe double what it's worth.
Let them sue and then win, hard. They tend to stop when they bleed money. That said, I want to change the laws so the HOA has to prove an unwanted feature brings property values down. I'm tired of hearing that and zero evidence for it. Besides, any financial advisor worth their salt will tell you that property is a liability, not an asset.
Frankly, reading the OP's replies to the comments they REALLY want to be part of the HOA. Everyone is saying the HOA has no power, and they are bending over backwards, wanting to put themselves under the HOA's thumb.
I didn't get that at all, they just don't want to make anyone angry. Did you go to the reddit post? Are you seeing something that I'm not seeing? Your extreme conclusion just doesn't have any evidence here.
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