There are so many tales of woe out there that stem from neighborhood HOAs.

It’s enough to make you wonder why on earth anyone wants to live with one to begin with, right?

The following story concerns a lady who quickly learned that her HOA ruled the neighborhood.

Let’s take a look.

The fence is whiter on the other side

This story is something my mother did when they moved into the home they live in now.

Where they moved to was a commercial apartment/ condo place with an HOA.

To paint the picture this place has large 6 house condo buildings that were all the same and standard 8 home apartment buildings.

All the rent to own condos have a porch area in the back that lead to a parking lot. Some of which my mother noticed has fences.

My mother handled mostly all of the getting the house ready and dealing with the HOA. She learned pretty quick that you had to get permission to do just about anything here.

So, when she wanted a privacy fence, she did everything by the book.

So after we moved in she sent in a request to put in a privacy fence, like many of the others in the area.

With the HOA’s approval and guildelines she finds a contractor and has the fence put in.

Cue HOA.

Only to have them tell her that her “white” wasn’t the correct one.

My mom submits the contractor’s document stating the kind of fence and color and specs only for her to receive a letter stating her fence needs to be removed due to not meeting HOA standards.

Their reasoning, the technical term for the color white of the fence doesn’t match what they allow. Best example would be they allow “paper white” but it was labeled eggshell.

They stated they would fine my mother for everyday the fence stood.

All of her common sense arguments fell on deaf ears.

My mother attempted to explain that the specific brand only used that white. To get the other white you had use a different, more expensive fence brand.

My mother was peeved to say the least, she went as far to take pictures of all the fences hers included and demanded the HOA distinguish which was hers at a monthly meeting.

They couldn’t but still didn’t care; the paperwork didn’t match.

So, she and the contractor pulled up the fence.

Thankfully she had a friend in the contractor.

She called him back and spoke with him about what the HOA said, and they hatched their plan.

My mother and the contractor pull up the fence and the HOA watch as it’s taken away in a day.

Only to put it in the next day and present paperwork stating it was the “correct” white.

The next day the SAME fence comes back and gets put in again, this time the paperwork says “paper white”.

It’s been years and my mother still has the same fence, the HOA never said anything farther.

Those fees where never paid but it’s fine my mom doesn’t use the pool anyway.

What a waste of time and resources.

Reddit loves chiming in on these HOA posts!

She could have tried, I suppose.

Or this could have been an option.

So many whites!

A very apt description.

Seems like a legit theory.

I would have been livid that they could not visually discern the “wrong” white but didn’t care.

LIVID.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.