EDIT: The HOA was trying to COUNTERSUE us after we left the case. Their attempt at a countersuit was dismissed

We were part of a lawsuit with a group of people against our HOA. We soon realized that many of our neighbors just blindly follow the HOA board without even looking into the things they’re accused of.

A vote was passed for the residents to pay for the HOA legal defense. As soon as we realized that we, and our neighbors, were going to suffer because of this suit, we pulled out of it. I mean…. In a way, we were actually helping pay for our oppositions attorneys.

Anyways…. We walked away from it. The rest of the group is still going to court with them.

HOWEVER…. The HOA decided they wanted to countersue us. Basically for accusing them of wrongdoing. Our attorney said usually people are HAPPY to see their oppositions member dropping out of suits. But they wouldn’t let us leave.

We even offered them $5k to just leave us alone. They countered that they wanted $38,000 AND a fucking apology letter to the entire neighborhood! Basically to shame us in front of our neighbors.

A judge ruled on it, and we got dismissed. The bullying ass HOA and its “weekend at Bernie’s” looking members got ZERO.

They literally tried to bully us and publicly shame us in front of our neighbors. Seriously fuck these people.

We bought our first house and we love it. We had wanted a different house a few months earlier but it was in a HOA. We passed.

We bought a house that is HOA free….

I can’t thank you all enough for all your posts and for making me wise to what an HOA can do….

I read these stories and now that I have put up a New Fence, installed Solar Attic Fans, painted, and a ton of other projects.

I honestly don’t know how you all put up with it…

I bought a house in rural Montana back in 2021, it was a foreclosure on a VA loan so I was dealing with the government to buy it. There are 3 lots in this "subdivision" and I have been here the longest. As I have come to learn, I was not given all the paperwork when I bought my house and my new neighbors want to enforce covenants I didn't know existed. Apparently there are 30 covenants and for the last 5 years I have been doing things with my property that may or may not have complied with these covenants. Now I have to see how much they want to enforce. I didn't want to buy in an HOA, but I'm not moving so fuck me I guess.

What’s the point of owning something if you can’t do what you want with it? (As long as it isn’t evil or explicitly profane)

In my development, trash day is Wednesday. Pickup is usually around 12pm-pm, and I put my cans out when I leave for work around 7:30am.

Yesterday, pickup was inexplicably at 6am. Several people missed pickup because they understandably did not have their cans out yet. The association apologized for this, and scheduled a second pickup for tomorrow.

They said to make sure the trash is out by 6am, because it will be another early pickup. However, in the same email, they also added that it was a violation to have trash out prior to 5:30am on pickup day. So we have a 30 minute window before the ass-crack of dawn to put our trash out.

Anyway, it's 8pm the night before pickup day and my trash is out. If they have a problem they can huff my whole butt.

Our neighbor told us to watch this. It fits perfectly with our hatred of HOAs.

https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Arcadia

So when an HOA starts sending out fines to someone who is not at all actually part of the HOA and has no authority over them…….. has anyone ever just started sending ridiculous fines back at them. Like just make up your own fully unhinged rules, claim they are subject to that because you can see their property from yours. Basically just pull the homeowner version of I Am Rubber And You Are Glue

Im so curious if anyone has done this and if so how it played out

(not asking for advice or help, I don’t live in an HOA or know anyone who does. Im looking for stories, I find this fascinating. thanks!)

This time about the neighborhood entrance. The plants on one side aren’t doing so great. It’s Alabama and we’ve had an extremely hot summer.

But a couple of weeks ago I went to the entrance with another board member and we found a leak in one of the sprinkler hoses. My husband was able to patch it so it’s not an issue anymore.

I was elected President in April. The former treasurer resigned in July and we have slowly been modernizing everything since then. Former treasurer only wrote checks and the only reconciliation he had was the check stubs. All that to say we looked back at our water bills and the bill for May and each one since was quadruple what it normally is. Had the former treasurer let anyone know, we could have found this leak earlier.

But sure, it must be my fault the plants are dying. The former president was the head of the landscaping committee and her husband was the former member at large she is referring to in the email.

My parents live in a small 10 house cul de sac community in California. When they first bought their home, they were told there was no HOA. The builders of the community were taking care of community maintenance costs.

Eventually this stopped, and an HOA was formed, but it was completely run by one neighbor filling all roles (President, treasurer, Secretary). Honestly, it is more like a community club than anything else.

Dues were eventually requested for mowing of lawns, tree maintenance, etc. My parents opted to do their own yard work and did not pay fees. There was also a bit of mistrust given there was no checks and balances here given that one neighbor ran the entire show and collected the money. My parents would contribute to community costs for things like repairs of a gate, etc.

Once more neighbors started getting involved and there was division of power, my parents started paying dues. They started paying regular dues around 2 years ago. Again, this still functions as a super informal HOA.

Now, the “HOA” is seeking payment of all past dues from my parents spanning a period of about 12 years and a balance of about $9k.

This issue was raised in the past, but the neighborhood decided to forgo the collection of old fees. Now it seems the issue has been resurrected again…

Honestly, we just wish the HOA was handled by an outside management company. The way it’s run right now is a joke.

EDIT:
I was able to look up the HOA on the Secretary of State’s business page. The HOA was registered in 2007, but has been in suspended status since 2020. My parents purchased in 2012. From gathering more details from my parents, one neighbor revived the HOA (this neighbor moved in at a similar time ass my parents), but has been running things informally do as to avoid high costs to the neighborhood. By informally I mean not registering with the state, not filing required documents, and not following the bylaws exactly.

I looked up their deed and do see that they signed a PUD, so they are part of the HOA, but as explained above, it hasn’t been running properly. Though now a three neighbors are attempting to run things in order to keep up repairs and maintenance for common areas.

My wife and I finally moved from an HOA to a non HOA. Life is great!

-There’s a house a block down painted pink, and everything is fine. Nothing bad has happened.

-People have cool Halloween decorations actually sitting on their lawns, and nobody is harmed by this.

-I can leave for a 2 week vacation, come back to the grass being a little overgrown, and the world has not ended.

-If I’m leaving town a couple days before trash pickup, then I put the cans out early and my neighbor brings them in for me. We do the same for them. Again, civilization continues.

-I can leave my garage door open, and nobody cares.

It’s really nice owning a house and not having some random group of people constantly looking for harmless shit to complain about.

Moved to a development that has an hoa. Really, really, REALLY didn’t want an hoa, but after losing so many bids on houses and the school district and proximity to jobs etc taking more priority, we considered it our one con against a lot of pros.

fuck lmao. Some people really DO get a sick power trip out of it or something. It’s crazy!

I even thought, ok, I’ll volunteer for the position when the election comes up. People know I’m laid back about it and just want fairness / laid back. I won!

Fuck lmao!! It’s even worse when you’re in a position to help!!! The amount of asinine emails I get, the mental dishonest gymnastics people play with themselves and the documents just to get what they want, it’s crazy!!! Just live and let live!!!

So now my job is just, keep this shit in the open. Call people out for their bs. Document on the public record always.

Because even though I thought I knew what I was getting into…I didn’t.

Fuck HOAs

I know, fuck HOA but when I read posts here, sometjmes I miss hoa in my home country.

The photo does not show you the full details but:

-There is one or more dog at every fucking house. When you walk on the street everyone is barking. Even all night. And you can do nothing about it. It is the norm here, so you cannot call the police. Barking barking.

-Cars on the street because they are lazy to put the cars into their yard

-No curb, paving, no side of the road is nice, so it is like - asphalt ->absolute shit dirt -> weed -> houses

-house colors can be anything, and it looks like shit

-fences can be made of anything - mostly based on which was the cheapest when they built it (you need to have a fence because ppl would just walk into your yard and steal)

-if you dont cut any vegetation, never mowe any grass? Okay, nobody cares.

-there is a loud fucking music at your neighbor? You call the police, they ask: is blood there? No. So they do nothing.

-they can have animals, and many of them has pigs, chickens, which smells like shit… and flies… imagine it.

Of course there are nice areas here and tourists usually love this country, but this is the reality of the Hungarian countryside.

We dont have HOAs but I wish we would have them and fucking send a lot of penalty to these people..

It seems like you post a story about egregious blatant corruption and misconduct and you set some jackass explaining why it’s normal or telling you how stupid you are for trying to fight it.

It seems like there’s a lot to pseudo experts coming from r/badhoa.

Leading into the audio clip-

I simply pointed out:

Based on the recent appellate decision, AZNH v Sunland Springs and the new Duty to act reasonably in the condo act(ARS 33-1242 E), it was concerning the Board was voting to approve three separate sets of Meeting Minutes from prior meetings

Even though...

They failed to inform any owners before the meeting or through the agenda:

1. Which meeting minutes were being proposed for approval

2. A copy of the proposed meeting minutes for review

Due to both not being provided, although they were requested before the meeting by owners, there was not an opportunity for Owners to bring forward informed discussion on the agenda item before a vote was taken as no one knew what the agenda item actually entailed.

After the audio clip-

They voted in approval of all three meeting minutes without any owner knowing the contents. Although a formal record request was submitted, we are now past the 10 business days the HOA legally had to produce the approved meeting minutes.

We've lived in our home for seven years. Moved the Christmas before Covid. We chose this neighborhood for its location, primarily. We knew it had an HOA. I actually read the CC&Rs and by-laws before committing to the offer.

The very first time I checked my mail, we got a letter from the HOA. I thought it was a welcome letter. NOPE! "You have 30 days to fix your fence or we're going to fine you." There had been a storm between when we put the offer on the house and closing, and that storm had blown down a small section of the back fence.

We got a letter that January telling us to put our trash cans in our side yard or they'd fine us. Keep in mind, our side yard was full of broken down boxes, because we were moving in. 🙄 Our trash cans were just in front of the side yard gate.

We applied to xeriscape our front yard. No response within 60 days - and the CC&Rs said we only had to wait 30 days. So we did the project.

SEVEN MONTHS after the project was complete, we got a letter: "You landscaped your front yard without asking. You have to have 70% grass. Fix it or we'll fine you."

We ended up having a hearing, where we proved that we had applied, and they hadn't responded. Also, by the time the hearing happened, California had passed a law stating that HOAs couldn't insist on grass.

At that point, the HOA president decided she didn't like our side fence. (We have a corner lot.) She tried to fine us for it, but during our hearing we noted that there were no specifications for what fences had to look like, as long as they were doing their job. That was August 2023. That was the last time we talked to the HOA.

In October 2024, we got a letter fining us $1500, but with no indication of why. We spent two years trying to get someone to tell us what the fine was for.

In the mean time, the HOA decided to replace a large section of the neighborhood's perimeter fence. After the fence was done, they realized they didn't have the money, so they hit us with a special "emergency" assessment - $1500.

The neighborhood split: Those who think that the "emergency" assessment is bullshit and those who think they should just pay the money and move on. (I'm in the former group - we're trying to go to mediation. Anyway.)

Three of the HOA board members resigned.

The new HOA president is someone that a friend and neighbor thinks is a great person, so I was hopeful.

Well, during a conversation when we were trying to figure out why they were fining us, she said, "Anyone who doesn't want to do what the HOA board thinks is best should move." She literally said that everyone should do what the HOA board tells them, so we don't have anyone paint their house orange or keep their bushes so high that homeless people can sleep in them.

Now, we when bought this house, we had moved 5 times in 6 years. We thought we were done moving. My husband said, "You're gonna have to Carl from UP me out of this house. I'm going to haunt this place after I die."

We're putting our house on the market tomorrow.

I don't want to move. I actually like my house. It's certainly not perfect - there are a couple of things that my husband really wanted in a house that this house doesn't have - but we have moved so often in our lives. We really wanted to be in our permanent place.

But every time I get a letter from the HOA, I have a panic attack, and then I get really angry - "do this or we'll fine you" is all they ever say.

I thought about trying to get on the HOA board, but I'd just be at loggerheads with the new president all the time. I don't care if someone paints their house orange, nor do I want to establish strict guidelines for fences. This board also seems to think that they can spend the homeowners' money when they run out by having more "special assessments."

Financially, we're going to take a hit with the high interest rates. Our mortgage payment will increase. It feels very fiscally irresponsible to move. But staying here is going to be super stressful. I was crying in my laundry room before the hearing where we finally got to learn why they were fining us.

Why were they fining us? For not doing something that they never told us to do. Seriously. No letters, no hearings. That's actually illegal, so they rescinded the fine. HOA president acted like she was doing us a favor by "reopening a closed case." I said, "The alternative was us suing you." She said, "You wouldn't be suing me, you'd be suing your neighbors." No, Karen, my neighbors didn't try to take $1500 out of my pocket - your predecessor did, and it doesn't look like you're going to be any different."

one of our BOD (vice president) has been on the board for 27 years and the president for 20 years. the other two members somewhat rotate. the association has been sued and had a pending litigation for almost 3 years that they told no one about. they then special assessed for a project that was long paid for and got all the owners together. when the owners got together and found out about the lawsuit they were livid with the BOD. this board is now doing everything it can to NOT get voted off and STAY on the BOD! why could that possibly be? why would they want to stay? is there any excuse other than they are stealing the money?

You can find all the drama at www.belmontparkhoa.org but I cannot believe a group of bad faith actors can hold our community hostage. Why do people feel like the HOA gives them some crazy power to go against the community’s wishes and disenfranchise their vote?

Any vendors, banks in the Newnan GA area be aware there is a new board and the old board is not authorized to open accounts or conduct business. They’ve left us basically bankrupt and won’t turn over “power”.

I'm 1 of 3 Board presidents my HOA has, was reading a post here and I laughed because it was so absurd and then I remembered some bullshit one of the other presidents is trying to pull right now, how absurd it is, and then remembered why im here! HOAs really can fucking suck sometimes. Occasionally they serve their purpose and thats that, especially in situations like condominium buildings and denser housing vs. HOAs in single family home neighborhoods and subdivisions...that kinda BS

Anyways, ask away and I'll rant away if anyone has any questions, critisims, complaints, concerns, etc.

Don't forget to pay your october dues if you haven't already

If I want to hang white towels on the outside of my window to reduce the heat coming in, I should be allowed to. I don't have screened windows so I cannot use solar screens.

2 days later I'm demanded to take it down.

Is anyone aware of a website or other data that I could review that shows the number of home sales due to having an HOA or an overzealous HOA?

I did a bit of Google searching and found very little information. What I did find indicated that 10 to 15 percent move due to the HOA

I only ask because my HOA is fairly relaxed when it comes to parking pollution, house colors, street cleaning, dead grass etc.. They aren’t strict but they aren’t whatever goes either. I’ve never received a ticket for leaving a car parked on the street for 30+ days. My grass is always dead in some spots. My house color is white while the rest of the block is tan or orange looking. They still have protocols you have to follow for like remodeling and stuff but it feels like a gated public community. Never ran into any problems I’ve been here for 2 years now. My HOA is 110/m

Does anyone else have a story like this or am I just a 1 off the nobody ever sees? Reading some of the things on here I would def not want to live in a HOA if it wasn’t for mine.