There’s a difference between legal obligations and moral obligations.

The man in this story insists that he should be able to do whatever he wants with his property because he’s not a member of the HOA.

His neighbors strongly disagree.

Are there ways to de-escalate the situation and mend fences?

Read the story below.

AITA for not following the rules of the neighborhood homeowners association even though I live in the neighborhood but am not a member.

Neighbors in a Homeowners’ Association have issues that I don’t follow the HOA rules…

So the neighbors called me an ******* today…

I bought a house 5 years ago that a real estate company built on speculation. Mine was the first house in a planned subdivision that they were going to build one house at a time or as people bought the individual tracks of land.

In my contract to purchase my home there was no homeowners association and because I was here first I don’t have to join any if the other neighbors decide to create. I’m grandfathered in is what it says in my contract.

The rules don’t apply to him, but does that make it reasonable for him to do the following?

They all seem to forget this though and continually try to give me HOA fines for breaking the rules of the HOA.

This has ranged from days I have things delivered to my home (Amazon deliveries on Sundays), to when I cut my grass to me having vehicles parked in my yard.

They aren’t happy I own an extra tract of land because I bought 2 to have a bigger yard so I could build a shooting range (I live in the south this is not that uncommon) .

The recent event though that led to them calling me an******* is they came over to ask me to remove the eyesore in front of my garage. Now my home faces the road not anyone else’s house so they don’t stare at my garage but apparently they still don’t like it.

OP offers to resolve things with bargaining.

I run a small hobby business of doing woodworking projects and I have a shelf outside my garage door full of various pieces of treated lumber that I may use one day.

It’s not the neatest and cleanest area but it’s not a disheveled mess either.

So I told them if they lightened up and just left me alone about all the other stuff, I’d consider moving my wood pile if it bothered them so much.

They told me that I needed to address all the HOA issues and take care of the wood pile.

Along with stopping any deliveries on Sundays and getting my other truck out of my yard. They handed me what basically amounts to a ticket and I trashed it and told them to get the F off my property.

They called me an ******* for my unreasonable behavior and told me they’d be back.

Here’s what people are saying.

I’m sure this is more than $100, but is probably worth a try.

LOL wouldn’t that replace this problem with others?

That’s my issue. OP and a lot of the commenters are just talking about law, not about general respect.

I know, right? He lost sympathy for me there.

What is that about? Is it a religious thing?

I don’t think neighborhood harmony is on the horizon anytime soon.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.