Most people expect that an HOA is going to have some rules that they don’t like, but usually they only apply to how you are living on the property.

What would you do if your HOA told you who could and could not live with you?

That is what the guy in this story dealt with, and he is frustrated. Take a look.

HOA’s mandating who can live together?

I live in VA and moved here a year and a half ago in 2023.

I’m 23 now.

When I was looking, I was doing so with a few roommates also in their early to mid 20s.

Wow, impressive young adults.

We applied for a house within our price range with ample income requirements, positive previous rental history, credit scores above 700, and an elder cosigner with even more impressive credentials than us.

The landlord wrote back that while we had a star-studded application, they legally could not rent to us because we were not a “family.”

That is a weird rule.

As in, we were not all blood-related and/or legally married.

This was absurd.

I asked what the meaning of this was, and the landlord exclaimed that it was an HOA regulation for the community.

All inhabitants must be married nuclear families with kids, and friends are not allowed to live together under community law.

I was blindsided.

It really doesn’t make sense.

We’d done everything right.

I don’t think this should be legal.

I get HOAs have annoying aesthetic and zoning regulations, but is it not an intense and perverse invasion of privacy to disallow who lives inside a home with another person?

My gosh! Is this actually a thing or was this a one-off weird occurrence?

That does seem to be a rule that is well beyond normal.

Let’s see if the comments have any advice.

Legal, but still not right.

Hey, college kids can live in any condition.

They should just limit the number of people living there.

I guess that would make sense.

Then limit the number, not the relationship of the people.

Why do they care if a group of friends lives together?

No rowdy parties in the neighborhood, I guess.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.