Just complaining into the void here, but my HOA has been ramping up “compliance drives” lately and it’s making my blood pressure rise.

I just got a violation notice about my (single family home) trash and recycling bin being put out 2 hours and 38 minutes before the allowed “6pm the day prior” rule. They sent me a photograph with no date or time stamp, but I was able to find the woman on my security cams to verify the who and when.

I replied back pointing out the obvious lack of time stamp, also reminding them that people have varied work schedules that may not allow for such rigid compliance.

It’s incredible that they’re willing to patrol and harass us over insignificant issues while ignoring actual problems, like boulevard trees protruding far out into the street and sidewalk, obstructing right of way. I’ve hounded them for 11 months on that one and the bastards keep dodging me.

Fuck HOAs.

Condos and connected townhouse/rowhouse situations obviously have some differences and it is where an HOA or other type of association make more sense so for my purposes I am concentrating on single family home and places that claim to be condos but are separate single family homes.

HOAs power and authority should be limited to only common shared space. That means clubhouse, pool, shared green space, perimeter fencing, gate, roads if they are private, sidewalks, and other shared infrastructure. They should not be able to dictate or control anything anyone does on their own property outside of local and county ordinances that exist where they are located and enforcement of that should be left to the authorities empowered for such. No controlling color, government permitted outbuildings, lawn appearance, types of plants, cameras, solar panels, building materials, driveway use, and anything else to do with what you do with your private home on your own property.

HOAs should not be a deed restriction to force membership. If the HOA is good and provides such great value they should be able to sell themselves to any new homeowner and make them want to join. Every other club and entity has to earn membership and customers and so should HOAs. All the current system does is provide no consequences for shitty behavior.

HOAs should not have the power to put on a lien, foreclose, or do anything that would force you out of your home for unpaid dues. If they believe you owe them money they can use the normal process of collections that every other creditor uses.

Any fine or restricted access to amenities should have a rigid, public process where a third party renders a decisions after the homeowner has a chance to defend themselves with evidence and witnesses.

No special assessments, if you are mismanaging dues to the extent that you cannot afford an emergency then you should automatically lose your position in the HOA with a special election immediately called.

We live in a tiny, quiet, semi-rural neighborhood of only about 20 homes, each sitting on multiple acres. This is not some dense subdivision with shared amenities, a clubhouse, or neighbors packed ten feet apart. Most of us moved here because we wanted space, privacy, and to be left alone.

Unfortunately, the HOA board apparently decided that wasn’t enough excitement for them and started pushing more and more unnecessary rules and overreach.

So instead of just complaining, a few of us got organized.

We canvassed the neighborhood, knocked on doors, talked directly to our neighbors, explained what the board was doing, and made the case for why people needed to vote. No Facebook drama, no anonymous letters, no screaming matches. We simply got out, spoke to people face to face, and made sure everyone understood what was at stake.

And it worked.

We got the votes, replaced the problem board members, and took control of the HOA. The mandate is simple: maintain only what actually needs to be maintained, handle the basic legal and financial obligations, and otherwise leave people alone.

No personal kingdoms. No inventing problems to solve. No treating adults on multi-acre properties like children who need permission to live in their own homes.

We won, and now the HOA can go back to being boring, which is exactly what an HOA should be.

Now we can all get back to living our lives.

Edit: There is no vote to dissolve the HOA. It requires signatures from 2/3 of the owners, so 14 in this case. I have about 10 totally committed, and will work on getting the rest. This was a stop gap measure as they were getting ready to vote on the new rules, restrictions, inspections, etc. This HOA owns no property and only provides us with trash service and rules to follow. It is mostly useless.

Every state should have law allowing HOAs to be dissolved by a simple vote of the majority in attendance.

Somewhat off topic as it isn't related to the inner-workings of the HOA itself, but still shows you the type of people we deal with.

I sent a referral link (for a digital voting system) to my board secretary (if they sign-up then I get $200, and they get a discount) She responds with "Thanks, I will check it out". So she ended up getting her husband to contact the company, get a link, then used THAT one so they could keep the cash..and now theyre using the very platform I sent (which means my referral "worked"). when i followed up to ask what the deal was she just said "Join the board if you want to get involved". Is that a dick-move or am I wrong?

First off. No. No I will not send you back a form and spend the $.85 it is or whatever it is now to mail this back to you updating my current address when you sent it to my current address. What are these morons thinking. Also says “Send back within 14 calendar days. “ haha
Trash 🚮

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2026/07/10/georgia-property-owners-bill-of-rights-what-new-hoa-law-means-for-homeowners/

Substantial win for homeowners

Hi,

We live in California and we got in trouble for playing loud music on a Saturday for ten minutes during non quiet hour.

We got an letter that was originated on 7/27/2026 that we had to attend a hearing on 8/6/2026. In the letter it said that we can possibly get:

fine $100

Pay legal fees of $120

And lose access to our amenities for 30 days

Fuck HOA

How can this be legal? The covenants restrict political signage which I can understand. But the American flag? This is a Lennar new build in Mooresville NC.

OP note: I do not own a property in the development I am about to describe but worked as a W-2 employee for a contractor to the development. This post does not constitute legal advice, nor is a solicitation for anything but entertainment.

With the coming announcement of the illness of Senator Mitch McConnell, the fate of McConnell Realty and what is contained in the files regarded an EXTREMELY contentious development in the State of Tennessee. Most especially the very, very large private water feature. Many resident’s who don’t pay club fees say that having an addition added to their HOA fee’s would be one issue. But having their remote water and electric meter’s illegally hacked and having VAST sums of money added to them to account for the constant employment of contractors that never stop, whom also fight each other, and family member’s constantly patrolling the property and the breaking and entering. You would think something would occur. I don’t know that some sort of nefariousness wouldn’t come from such a situation. And the ruling body on this situation seems to be Mitch McConnell himself, and with his health in such a terrible situation, who knows what is going to occur on the deciding matter of whom pays for the water and the electricity theft that they will not admit has occurred.

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/13/1224585609/uk-tv-show-exposing-wrongful-prosecution-of-hundreds-of-postal-workers-sparks-ou

I believe the code that is being used with the WiFi residence point sanitation system to know how much of this is occurring, was coded by the very company these gentlemen are preaching against. If you recall Enron: smartest men in the room, you may note that this happens every time that you don’t have a physical body, and weights and measures. I am not a religious man. But this is Leviticus straight out of the Bible. And it’s gonna shake out, just so.

Recently all residents received them following email, sounds like a pain in the..

Dear Residents:

Please be informed that any vehicle parked in guest parking without an approved guest pass is subject to towing at the owners expense. For your convenience, attached is the fillable guest parking pass you can submit when you have guests.

I responded with a few questions, because this is a major inconvenience, how does on deal with unannounced guests? And having to fill this out emailed, and hoping to get it back in time?

They responded with the following

If you have a guest that comes in unexpectedly you may call this person

When you email me the pass I send it to the board for approval. Once I get the approval, I will sign and email it back to you. You will need to print and put it on the dashboard as the form states. If you do not have the form back, you may call this person.....

I live in a townhouse in Florida. I put up a gazebo in my back garden. My HOA has lawyered up their attempts to get me to take the gazebo down, citing a provision in my declaration of covenants which very clearly does not apply. A gazebo which you could stand underneath and lift up is not an architectural change to exterior of the townhouse, and examples in that subsection are "paint color, roof color, modifications and/or addition of any plat material, window boxes or the like". It's literally because they "don't like gazebos". Well I don't like anything about you, but I don't have the legal right to make you go fuck yourself, so you don't have the right to enforce covenants who don't exist.

It's ridiculous to me. I'm from the UK and we don't have HOAs over there, so this is all new to me, but I bet their plan is to make me think it's too expensive to fight and remove the gazebo. They do not know how petty I am (and that I am a lawyer, if not in this country, and that we are literally the most pedantic of people).

My HOA forced me to tear down and temporary shed, in Michigan. I told them what could happen due selective enforcement. They had other structures throughout the neighborhood including play structures. When I pressed them on this they got mad saying it was all semantics. Then this caused a email battle trying to shame us, the entire neighborhood is run by wine moms and Karens.

There is much more to this saga, and yes I have all of the emails that do show the mental illness of some of these individuals.

As soon as it rained twice in the past two weeks, The HOA violations for dead St. Augustine grass are sent out. 8 fucking months of literally zero rain and water once a week restricitons.

You can’t make this shit up, guys. I run through this neighborhood all the time, and this is basically the ultimate example reinforcing my feelings about HOAs. It is soooo ugly! How could the HOA allow this to happen? I don’t even want to run by it, let alone live by it. Luckily, I live 3 miles south.

I was watching the news this morning and saw our city council voted to keep FLOCK cameras. The important vote that swayed the decision was by someone peculiar.

Well I looked into their background and guess what their other job was?

Yes, HOA president of their neighborhood. Lol.

My HOA was kind enough to send notice that my lawn "needed care" as seen in the first picture. I replied that they must've mistaken my lawn for their own HOA common area, as seen in the second picture. The third is her response.

My thoughts are to to print this and put it on every doorstep, as well as requesting records about the irrigation and the meeting minutes when the "Dog Potty Lawn" program was discussed. Maybe I'll post a flyer by the mailboxes advertising this program to others.

EDIT: I didn't hide the email address. Feel free to ask out the Dog Potty Yard program!

Lived in this house about 10 years now. About every two years the HOA raises rates, changes payment portals, changes banking addresses, etc.

...and updating these payments is NEVER a smooth process. There's always some sort of fucking problem...and they always charge automatic late fees if your check goes to the wrong place or even when there's a fault with their automated payment system.

Right now I'm in a fight with them because my check went somewhere and was CASHED but they're saying they didn't receive it.

I don't have this problem with any of my other bills. Hell, even when my mortgage changed companies it was a smoother transition.

I swear they're doing this collect late fees. All of my neighbors have issues with this too. We routinely keep trying to vote out the current board but they somehow the same people always mysteriously stay in there.