A homeowner association (HOA) is an organization that governs a housing community, collects dues, and sets rules for its residents.
Depending on the neighborhood, it might: maintain common areas such as lobbies or street corners, remove snow from common roads and parking lots, look after local parks, and staff pools and gyms.
But some also test the very limits of your patience and sometimes even sanity, like issuing a warning because your garden gnome is two inches too tall or a fine because your mailbox is the wrong shade of beige.
So, Reddit user ScallionWarm7975 asked others on the platform to share their absolute worst HOA experiences and the fallout that followed. Turns out, there’s no shortage of those!
#1
I had a larger corner lot with a gravel front yard (SW desert).
I would spend time every weekend pulling any new weeds that I saw.
I’d still get a letter every couple of weeks saying I had weeds in my yard. One of the HOA board members lived across the street from me. I’d go outside after receiving the letter and search and search for my alleged weeds.
He’d come outside with his wife and stare at me. Both were in their late 70’s.
I just got to the point where I’d just go outside and pretend to pull weeds while they watched me.
I regularly went hiking in the desert and went to parks a lot. I started collecting seeds from wild weeds and would drop them in his yard every time I’d walk my dog past his yard. It quickly became covered in weeds.
I made a few complaints about the weeds in his yard to the HOA.
My letters about weeds stopped.
Image source: psycho7d8, freepik
#2
My coworker lives in a condo complex. She lives in an end unit, that is a 2 story townhome. She decided to remodel her condo with professional contractors. She changed the layout of the kitchen and moved the outside sliding glass door to her side yard about 6 feet to accommodate her upgrades. The outside of the building where the door was, was re-stuccoed and painted and you could not tell this had been changed. They did a great job.
Her HOA found out she moved the door and told her she had to move it back.
She started a lawsuit against the HOA and it was taking months. Then she had an idea. The election for HOA president was coming up … She got herself on the ballot.
She introduced herself to all her neighbors, and brought up several instances where condo owners were punished for dumb reasons. It seems her neighbors were fed up with the nonsense too.
She is now the HOA president, and no longer has to undo her construction.
Image source: bodhiseppuku, freepik
#3
My adopted mom died suddenly & tragically. 4 days after she died I was at the house in the garage searching for her will. 2 HOA ladies, dressed in their Sunday finest come up to grief stricken me and say “I am so sorry for your loss, we all loved her. Please let us know how we can help. By the way- the fence is stained with the wrong color & you need to take care of that ASAP- the fine is $200 per day for non-compliance”.
I signed each of them up for every wacko email and phone solicitation list I could find.
Image source: BeachMomILM, The Yuri Arcurs Collection
#4
Live next to HOA constantly get letters about how my property is deplorable and bla bla bla. I have a farm. I run a sawmill also. So, I finally get fed up with them. As they start coming on property, they are trying to take pictures. Had them trespassed after confronting them and asking them to leave they did not. I had drawn my firearm as they continued towards me screaming. BIOSECURITY is a real thing. Needless to say around 70+ Tons of manure now sits within feet of that property line. Keeps the high dollar snobs that hate me away. Oh and I have implemented maintenance Monday. At 10pm I start all equipment to check and service it as needed. I am zoned Ag. Have a Farm number. They have kinda started backing down. I also installed air cannons for pest deterrent. It’s amazing to hear them go off in the middle of the night. Yes I am very petty. No I will never live in an hoa.
Image source: maintman28, garetsvisual
#5
My HOA sent me a letter telling me that I needed to have a background check on the person living in my condo with me.
I was single and living by myself. My current boyfriend brought me a mattress that he had in his guest room. He was turning into a workout area and didn’t need the mattress anymore. He drove it over to my place and helped get it into my condo. I’m sure it didn’t help that he drove a bright red Hummer. There were no boxes of stuff, just a mattress.
A week later the letter arrived. I called the condo association and asked why I had received this letter. I was told that someone had called and said I had someone move in. No one called me to ask. My next-door neighbor is on the condo board.
I went to the next condo association meeting and chewed them out. Asked them why we were paying for the association if they weren’t going to do their due diligence. I know it’s not much, but it made me feel better.
Image source: 2013casper, azerbaijan_stockers
#6
I left my car in my driveway overnight. I had Covid and it came on very suddenly. I had to stop and take a break going from my bed into the bathroom, so I certainly didn’t feel up to moving the car into the garage. I got written up.
ETA: I sold the house but the neighbor came over to let the new owners know that they weren’t allowed to park in the driveway while they were unpacking a car as they were moving in.
The lady across the street also came storming over and got angry with my real estate agent because she felt that my listing price was too high. You could give me a free mansion in an HOA and I’d still turn it down.
Image source: jhumph88, Mike Von
#7
My condo’s defacto HOA had banned pets in apartments since day one. My nosey neighbour reported me for having a dog because she could hear barking the previous evening.
I don’t have a dog, my nephew and I were watching Marley and Me.
Image source: fckvapiano, EyeEm
#8
Not My Story.
A friend of mine rents a condo in an HOA community. From her bedroom window, she can view a vast open, undeveloped piece of land outside the community’s jurisdiction. It’s important to note that one has to go through the HOA community to access it. It attracts the homeless. Occasionally, there are disturbances among their community, and the police have to calm things down.
One night, she hears a scream, “I’m bleeding , help!” She looks, and all hell has broken loose. She calls 911. Dispatch sends the police, EMTs, ambulance, and fire. (there may have been a bonfire)
The HOA FINES HER $250 for calling 911. They said her call caused a disturbance with all the lights and sirens and with the emergency vehicles parking in the neighborhood.
She and her awesome landlord appealed it and won. But, it took over 8 months to resolve.
Image source: oceanbreze, Jonathan Cooper
#9
My neighborhood is a small cuál de sac community that was originally built by this one older couple that had hoped their kids and families would move into the other houses they’d built, but that never happened and all their kids live out of state. For years they were the head of the HOA for this little community. Then the wife of the couple started going around complaining about BS and claiming that we were violating this HOA rule or that regulation etc. I didn’t really give a d**n until I get a fine for letting my dog sunbathe on my front porch without a leash, with a note stating that she’s too big and violates the HOA bylaws and I have to get rid of her (dog is 40 lbs wet).
So at the next HOA meeting I requested a full copy of the HOA guidelines and rules to ensure compliance. Talked with everyone else in the block about the lady too. Came to the next meeting and I had about 4 pages of violations for her home based upon the rules and another 3 pages of “false violations” she’d tried to enforce. The meeting ended up with a vote of no confidence and we ended up voting to dissolve the HOA.
Now the lady goes around complaining about this and that but we all tell her she’s the reason there’s no HOA and she’s the only one that ever complains. Best part is when the couple living next to her asked her if she’s ever considered that her behavior is precisely why none of her kids moved back home after college. The look of defeat on her face let us know that she was fully aware that was the case.
Image source: satyrbassist, freepik
#10
We tried painting the brick in front of our house, drafted a letter in compliance with the HOA rules, even told them we’d be using proper masonry painting, I went through all the engineering side of how it will be done properly, etc etc. We were denied because “nobody has ever asked to paint brick in this neighborhood before.” I told them well we’re asking. They denied our request again and reminded us that if we painted the brick a lien would be placed against the property. So we didn’t paint but we started maliciously complying. Any permanent outdoor changes have to be preapproved, so when I built a deck around a tree, I made very sure to not set it into the ground. It weighs about 500lbs so it’s not going anywhere but it’s not permanent. When they came by to b***h at us, I told them it wasn’t permanent. They said we still needed to get it approved and I asked if I would need to get approval for buying a lawn chair. They said no, and I told them that I built a custom lawn chair and would not be getting approval for anything else unless I absolutely needed to.
Image source: SJdeGhozt, EyeEm
#11
My HOA in Texas sent me a letter that told me my child’s toys had to be removed from sight at the end of each day. Keep in mind… this was a ranch style development… I had 3 acres of land. I said fine. I didn’t put them away. I got another letter regarding the toys (bike and such) saying they had observed them in the driveway the previous day. I replied… yep… my daughter took them out to play with them again… I’ll put them away at the end of the day. I didn’t. Got yet another letter saying they saw them again. I said yep. My child plays with her toys every day. And after sundown you won’t see them any more. There are NO lights on my exterior. There are NO street lamps. I then got ANOTHER letter with a NIGHT VISION PHOTOGRAPH of my child’s bike 200 ft down my driveway near my garage. I s**t you not.
Image source: PoohbirdNC71, freepik
#12
I got fined $300 for my motorcycle being too loud. I’ve never owned a motorcycle.
Image source: Status-Visit-918, serhii_bobyk
#13
My neighborhood president wants to be an absolute t**t about everything so we nominated and voted in the 2 people she hates the most.
Image source: Emergency-Peanut5224, krakenimages.com
#14
I received a letter that I had to remove a sign from my yard – not political – when other residents had posted political signs and left the up long after the election. So I put the sign in my truck window in the driveway instead, where it could be seen from the street.
Image source: amosc33
#15
My fake HOA believe themselves to be legitimate and once sent me a handwritten fee invoice for flying a drone, having off leash dogs, and not mowing the right of way. In reaponse I sent them a mock copy with a bunch of made up fees they owed me.
Image source: voltato, Ahmet Kurt
#16
My neighbors, who have a son w special needs, had a small inflatable kids pool. Like a 30 Dollar wal mart pool. The hoa sent them a letter about how no above ground pools are allowed. I got into it the president who is on a power trip and let him know all of his violations. Which he then told me his were pre-approved? Anyway they ended up having a special meeting and allowed them to keep the pool.
Image source: Designer-Clerk-499, EyeEm
#17
I have some friends, who live in Texas, sane people except they won’t leave.
For those, who don’t know, Texas has four seasons just like other places and those seasons are named Summer, Summer, Summer and Hell.
Well, one day my friends had a visit from the HOA telling them that their grass was longer than the allowed one inch and they’d be fined until that was remedied.
Knowing full well that it was politically motivated nonsense my friend agreed that it was indeed a disgrace and he’d accept the fine, provided he accompanied the deputation around so they could fine every single HOA member, who had grass that was not green, since that was the other requirement pertaining to grass in that list of rulles and regulations, they were waving about.
Wouldn’t you know it, suddenly it was no biggie that his grass was a little too long, it did look much niecer being green. There hasn’t been any more issues with the HOA since they found out he flights back.
Image source: GrumpyOldGeezer_4711, Benjamin R.
#18
We replaced a cracked hardiplank board (note the singular BOARD) and painted it the same cream as the old board. Got a note from our HOA that we should have filed for a permit.
Image source: KeyGovernment4188, Blake Cheek
#19
I often give my housekeeper clothes to donate at Mexican orphanages. One time I had two huge black garbage bags full, she took one out to her car and left it on the driveway while she went to get the other one. HOA came by and sent me a fine for leaving out garbage. Same housekeeper parked far over on my driveway to leave room for me to pull in and turn into my garage. She left half of her front and back tires off the edge of the driveway and the other half of the tires on the dirt/grass patch next to the driveway. Not a front lawn, just the edge of the driveway. Got a fine for that too. I fought it, they sent me pictures so I know what they saw and proceeded to send out flyers to all the homeowners showing the pictures and fines. Four of us got together and ran for the HOA and won.
Image source: CanadianNana, Mufid Majnun
#20
My roommate and I were the “young ones” in a mostly senior subdivision. As such, we drew the ire of everyone for things like “smoking meat after 9M”, “laughter in general”, and “having guests park…in the guest area.” Fines occured on the regular.
We were often blamed for sound ordinance violations…at times we both were working night shift. The 90 y/o next to us was practically deaf and had an awesome audio system, but no one bothered to suspect him.
Anywho…
We eventually found out that the old couple across from is…the ones we constantly helped out…were the ones making all the compliants, and costing is almost of money.
A******s.
Well, in the middle of Covid they decided to sell. At the last minute their moving company pushed back the packup date. Well, they were in escrow, and this was going to cost them alot.
“Do you know anyone!?!?”
“I think I might…”
I set up a Google voice number, and had my buddy pretend to be a “mover”.
And I gave these pricks said number.
My buddy set up their “move” for the last possible weekend before penalties occured.
A*****e couple canceled the other movers.
Well, the friday before said weekend, me and roomie wished them “goodbye”, and went on a road trip for the weekend.
Wouldn’t you know it? Those d**n movers never showed up. Weird.
Anywho they got hosed on escrow fees in the thousands.
F**k them.
Image source: murse79, Jonathan Castañeda
#21
After my dad died the rest of the neighborhood voted to form an HOA and did so. They couldn’t force my mom to be a member so they’d have their kids vandalize my mom’s home and vehicles by egging the house. When my mom would try to speak to them before calling the cops they’d be all “Well if you were a member…” and when she did call the cops they were all “not s**t we can do”
She might have tried to do more but without my dad’s income paying the mortgage was becoming impossible so she sold and moved.
Image source: jackfaire, Victoria Romulo
#22
Does “exist” count? the fact they EXIST is stupid.
Image source: Nepeta33, Blake Cheek
#23
Landscapers aerated the grass around all the condos.
We get a letter a couple of days later about how we were in violation of letting our dog poop all over the grass.
Because cylinders of soil and grass are the same as dog poop.
Explained this to the management company and the violation was removed. The animal haters across the way continued to be awful.
Image source: powerhikeit, rawpixel.com
#24
Not me, my parents when I was a teen. My car parked in overflow parking had “satanic insignia” on it. Not sure if the meant the Air Force sticker, the Marine Corps Sticker (my bestie is a Marine) or the Metallica name logo sticker. Hell, maybe it was just the Ford Emblem. 😕.
Image source: CarobPuzzled6317, Alex Moliski
#25
I got a notice saying the stain on my fence was too dark. Made me redo my fence. Then the HOA decided to redo the park fences and used the same color stain and brand. I mailed a notice to them with a bill and stated they owed me and are in violation.
Image source: Ski787, Drazen Zigic
#26
During Covid lockdown, the local high school wanted to celebrate the seniors so they put congrats signs in the yards of the seniors Everyone who got one in ourneighborhood got a notice to take down it against hoa or face a fine!
Image source: Mama_clg, katemangostar
#27
Someone left their pit bull outside all day. They had one of those short 1 foot fences around their patio so of course eventually the dog jumped over and bit someone.
Because of this, HOA mandated that nobody in the complex is allowed to have ANYTHING on their patio. Only thing allowed is the cement patio itself.
People got together and wrote a petition and went to the board meetings etc so the mandate was eventually scrapped. Success story for once.
Image source: itseemyaccountee, Cierra Voelkl
#28
I lived in an HOA that was so poorly managed that 3 of my neighbors were “delinquent”.
I got divorced and was forced to sell my condo.
When an offer came in, the buyer’s bank refused to loan them money because they had a (common?) lending clause that said that they will not buy into any association that has more than 15% delinquency. My building had 3 delinquencies out of 17 units, meaning they had roughly 17% delinquency.
I could not move out. The HOA refused to forgive or restructure its delinquencies, but ALSO refused to send delinquencies to collections or even CONTACT THE DELINQUENT TENANTS about my issue. They told me “they’re your neighbors, take it up with them yourself.” I found out through this process that one of my neighbors owed almost $7,000 in delinquent HOA fees. My association was missing more than $11,000 in delinquent dues.
The only way I could solve the issue, after delaying my closing date TWICE, was to personally pay off the debt of my least delinquent neighbor (which was around $540) to get my own HOA’s solvency above 85%.
I was in an association that was so mismanaged that no one could join OR leave, without literally paying the price to the penny of their OWN mismanagement.
And they still charged me $900 some odd dollars in “document fees” to leave the association AFTER I paid off my deadbeat neighbors.
I hope my old condo complex is currently crumbling into the pavement.
Image source: TheDreadfulGreat, Jonathan Castañeda
#29
HOA president came to my front door and threatened to call the police if I came to the HOA meeting he invited me to, because he found out he spent an hour arguing with me and I wasn’t even the homeowner (my folks are, and they were out of town, he assumed). We got into an argument because I called him a, what was it… Ah yes, a f*****g d*****s for paying the new ISP $500,000 when our old ISP bid $0 because they were about to upgrade their infrastructure in the entire state – including our neighborhood. I have had 3 mb/s for a decade and I was actually hopeful I would get at least 100, but no, new ISP had never done residential work and botched install. They then told everyone we would get our same base speed and would have to pay a minimum of $400 a month to get anything better. We also had $100 tacked onto our dues for it.
Guess who went to the HOA meeting that night? Granted, they didn’t let me past the sign in desk with the management company, and the manager had a note about me already written down, but I made sure ol’ president saw me. After I left and got into my car, the manager kicked over the potted plant holding the door open, slammed the door, and locked it.
We started getting letter after letter about violations. The president would personally drive by our house up to twice a day looking for things to ding us on. Trash cans out 10 minutes after the truck just picked it up? Letter. Bird s**t on the mailbox? Letter. Parents brought the RV home to repair in the driveway for a day or two? Letter each individual day it was there.
My folks shredded every single one. Then we got second letters for ignoring the first ones (they require email response to confirm you’ve received and understand), and those went in the shredder too. Eventually, my father threatened to have a talk with the president about how he acted on our private property (threatening me with the cops) via the management company, and lo and behold the letters ceased.
The president didn’t re-apply for his position the next year.
Image source: LinuxCharms, DC Studio
#30
My wife had a house built in a new HOA before we met. I’ve always been a country boy, so living in a HOA was new to me. I was a DOD Civilian and previously lived about forty-five min from work, married her, and my new drive was one hour and forty-five minutes. Anyway, I’d leave at 5am and return from work 6pm daily.
We had a wet spring the first year I moved here, and our lawn grew like crazy, as well as the dandelions. Even though I worked long hours, I still push mowed the lawn twice a week and did outside work till dark. Lawn looked nice, but we battled dandelions like crazy. I swear we used every chemical known to man that year, even going as far as to pull them individually.
We soon started getting letters about our yard, even started getting pics of our dandelions. Not a casual yard picture, but someone had actually laid in our driveway to take pics at eye level across the yard to show them. My wife would just chuckle and round file the notices, they’d make me so d**n livid I couldn’t stand it. I mean, I knew more than anyone we had dandelions, and I had waged war on them, so the letters just added insult to injury.
We got about a letter a week for a little over a month, and my wife just started just tossing them and not saying a word about them to me until they stepped up their game.
Next, we got a threatening letter saying they were going to hire a landscaping crew to come landscape our yard, and we would be billed. We assumed it was over the dandelions, so we just sat on it while deciding what our next move would be. The next week, like clockwork, we received our next letter, and this time, it included a pic, not of our dandelions, but our shrubs. Seems they didn’t like the few spots in the shrubs where we had had bag worms sometime before. It wasn’t the whole shrub, just spots, and they weren’t really that bad. We didn’t care for the shrubs or how the builder had placed them, so long-term plans were to eventually replace them with what we wanted.
For me, this letter was my last straw. I backed into my yard, locked my truck into 4 low, and I proceeded to pull every d**n shrub out. Within the hour, we had a six foot pile of shrubs in the bed of my truck. We then filled in the holes and I made sure to leave my truck parked on the curb that night.
We have lots of walkers in our HOA. It’s an evening past time here, it seems. I was asked a lot that spring from my neighbor about landscaping, and I explained the situation. I read our covenants several times, and there is no required landscaping besides green grass and lawn has to be maintained. There is one sentence about trees or shrubs needing to be pre-approved, but nothing stating we have to have shrubs. The overall response to my solution over the landscaping was positive…lol
It’s been five years now, and even though I did level and landscape brick a spot for shrubs, I still don’t have a single one. I’m pretty vocal at the meetings and have become a favorite neighbor to many. I think alot of them live vicariously thru me where my HOA antics are concerned…..lol.
Image source: Fantastic_Muscle5729, A. C.
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