HOAs are intended to maintain the order and aesthetics of a neighborhood. However, there are instances when these organizations fall short of their responsibilities, causing frustration and discontent among homeowners. In this collection of stories, homeowners share their experiences with their “miserable” HOAs.
From absurd and arbitrary rules to overbearing enforcement and lack of transparency, these stories highlight the grievances and challenges faced by homeowners who feel oppressed by their HOAs. Get ready to hear tales of excessive fines, infuriating policies, and battles for basic rights.
These homeowners are no longer remaining silent as they shame their HOAs, shedding light on the need for accountability, fairness, and a harmonious relationship between residents and their community organizations.
All content has been edited for clarity.
At Least He Apologized
“My parents’ HOA is pretty typical, but there’s one guy who’s on the board who is crazy. For instance. Pretty standard rule, all exterior paint colors have to be from this list of like 10 shades or be approved. About 6 months after my parents moved in, they got a different color approved. Then they went out of town for a week, left me home to house-sit (home from college for the summer), and hired a company to come paint while they were gone.
No problem. Painters show up, do some prep work and then paint one side of the house. At about 6 pm, someone starts pounding on the front door. It’s this late sixties-aged man, basically frothing at the mouth who instantly starts tearing into me about being in violation of HOA rules since I didn’t get color approval and asking if I was a renter, how the HOA didn’t approve of rentals, and ‘no one has seen an adult home in days, just a rotating stream of teenagers.’
I was 19, looked about 16, had had a few friends over the night before to watch movies, and had a girl I drove to work every day get dropped off). I told him the homeowners were out of town, but as far as I knew, it had been approved and shut the door on him.
He came back the next day and sheepishly apologizes for bothering me. He had personally approved of the paint, but had somehow missed that my parents’ house was the one being painted (he didn’t know any addresses, just what families lived in what houses). Idiot.”
Yeah That’s Just Stealing
“So, my parents’ neighborhood here in the south is on a lake, and on this lake, we have neighborhood docks. There are 12 dock slots, with 12 neighbors owning boats. It was established back in 1997 that there would be a separate fund for the docks that the boat owners would pay into every year for upkeep/new docks, it was $500 per person per year for your dock slot.
Last year, the 12 families that have been paying in for 18 years (no one ever moves here, and everyone else that owns a boat lives on the lake) went to go take money out to buy 2 lifts and redo the wooden walkways on the dock, only to find out that the fund they’ve been contributing to for years, was gone.
They went to the HOA, and the HOA stated, ‘That was under a previous president and board, and we voted 3-2 to rescind the dock fund and include it in the general fund.’ Which they then used to repair (badly) a tennis court and some paths.
When the families started to make a stink about it, the HOA sent out an email to everyone saying, ‘We’ll rebuild the dock fund, but every house in the neighborhood will be assessed an $800 fee, please vote yes or no to rebuild the fund.’ It overwhelmingly was voted no.
So, they couldn’t do anything about it, their bylaws are a little more than f*cky.
However, the board president really f*cked up. She and 3 of the 4 others on the board are out this summer. She got a variance to build a fence around her property (6′, wrought iron around a several-acre property, easily costing upwards of $70k), and the variance was approved by her friends in the HOA. The bylaws state that any granted variance can be rescinded by a 4-1 vote. The only 4 people that are running for the open seats were people f*cked over by the dock fund misappropriation, I’ll give you one guess what their first vote is going to be on.”
All That Instead Of Just Enjoying The Flowers
“My ex and I bought a house in an HOA neighborhood where the lots were 2 acres and we had 2 lots. I decided to plant wildflowers in about a 1/4 acre behind the house.
Our HOA president was 70-something, a retired Army colonel who went on to work for the IRS. He was a total d*ck and us being partners most likely didn’t help. The wildflowers came in well and bloomed profusely. But if you want wildflowers to come back you have to let them go to seed. He sent us a notice to mow them down.
I explained to him, nicely, that in order to reseed you had to let the seeds mature. He was adamant that they had to be mowed or he would have them mowed.
There were only 45 homes in the development so I went door to door and 42 of the 45 neighbors signed a petition to let them go to seed. He still was adamant. So I studied the bylaws and went around house to house and found 35 violations of the HOA rules.
He backed down and at the next annual meeting, I headed up a group to get him out.
The next Spring, I look out the back window and see someone in my yard. There he is, with his grandchildren, taking pictures of them in front of my bluebonnets.”
He’s Running On Pure Spite
“My grandfather lives in a ‘senior-friendly’ HOA. He and my grandmother lived there for about 15 years, the entire time my grandma was an avid gardener, and her favorite plants were her hydrangea bushes. The HOA allowed her garden in the back of the house, and the bushes in the front for the entire time they have lived there.
A year or two after she passed away the HOA board had a huge turnover and the HOA informed my grandpa that the bushes had to go, even threatening to ‘forcibly remove’ the bushes.
Well, my grandpa is a retired federal appellate judge, he has lots of free time and he LOVES to argue. He has told my uncle and me on multiple occasions that after my grandma died, he really found no joy in anything, but now he is only alive to spite the HOA and loves every minute of it. A year ago, he spent about 6 months drafting response letters for every single violation in the HOA that they could try to fine him on and has them all ready to go.
My uncle has told me that my grandpa has quite literally set aside 10s of thousands of dollars per year, for 30 years, to pay for legal filings, research, and fines. He will never stop, he is the terminator of HOA fine notices.”
They Were Just Inventing Problems
“I got a notice in the mail in December that I need to plant more trees in my front yard. And I have one month to comply. In December. With snow on the ground.
I have a total of 7 trees on my property, and 3 of them are in the front yard. Well 1 of them is in between the sidewalk and the street, so apparently that tree does not count. The covenant says I need 3 trees in the front yard. This house is 7 years old and was this way when I moved in 1 year ago.
I wrote them back and said I would plant another tree in the Spring and they will need to wait for better weather. They said I should plant it in December anyway, and I just never responded.
I hate HOA.”
That’s Called Setting The Tone
“When I was a kid I remember our family had just moved into a new neighborhood. The first person to come greet us from our neighborhood was there to hand us a fine because the moving people left a small tire mark on one of the curbs.”
Let Them Think They Did Something
“My HOA mailed us a letter stating the color red I painted my front door wasn’t approved. They required me to submit the paint color name, brand, and sample to the architectural committee for review and approval. I did. It was denied.
I wrote a letter stating there was a neighbor 2 blocks over with a red door- who had been approved. HOA says, ‘Paint it the same color as your neighbors, and we’ll approve it.’
I let 2 weeks pass. I wrote a follow-up letter informing this very particular HOA that I had completed the repainting of my door from the red I originally chose (which was denied) to the exact same color as the neighbors. I get a letter that thanked me for repainting and (finally) approves my red door. Their letter even stated that my door was visited and inspected prior to approval. Jokes on them.
I never repainted it and they couldn’t tell the difference.”
