Homeowners’ associations are known for ruling neighborhoods with an iron first, and often their arbitrary rules paint residents into a corner.

When one couple seeks to repaint their house, it became clear their HOA wasn’t going to make it easy.

After pushback from the association, the couple decided to push their rules to their limits in a creative act of petty revenge.

Read on for the full story!

Annoying the Head of the HOA

A friend of mine not too long ago painted his house. He lives in a development that has an HOA.

He admits that he and his wife made the first mistake by not reading the HOA handbook close enough, so they didn’t realize they had to get the color approved by the HOA.

The HOA catches on right away, but for some reason, decides to drag out the ordeal.

On the first day of painting, the head of the HOA stopped by and talked to them.

He made small talk and mentioned ways to make painting the house easier, etc.

At this time, the HOA head knew they hadn’t gotten the color approved because he sits on the three-person panel that approves the colors.

However, he opted not to say anything to them.

Instead, he waited until they had the entire house painted and then told them the color was not approved because there were too many other houses with a similar color (it was a lighter shade of green).

This obviously rubs the couple the wrong way, so they began plotting their revenge.

Faced with having to spend the time and money to repaint the entire house, he and his wife decided to get a little revenge.

They submitted the form and color swatch for the new color, which was approved.

They knew the HOA was precious with their time, so they decided to take as long as humanly possible to choose a new color.

Knowing the panel had to take time out of their lives to meet every time they submitted a color, they decided to submit another color swatch and form saying they had changed their minds.

This color was one they knew would never be approved.

As assumed, it was denied.

Before long, they had quite the system going.

They had to submit again, and once more, they submitted a color they knew would never be approved.

Again, they were denied.

They repeated this 4 or 5 times before the HOA head contacted them and told them the first swatch they submitted was still approved and not to submit another swatch for approval.

They were tired of playing games.

Before long, the HOA began to put their foot down.

He replied, telling the HOA head that it turns out the first color was no longer available, so they needed to submit one last swatch.

Of course, this was a color they knew would not be approved.

This time, the HOA told them if they submitted another un-approvable swatch, they would be fined and billed for the panel’s time.

But the couple wasn’t going to give up that easy.

He submitted another swatch that was a color he knew would never be approved, along with a photocopy of the page from the handbook covering the process of getting a color approved.

He pointed out that there was nothing in there that mentioned any limit to the number of swatches a person could submit.

This entire process took a few months.

Finally, the head of the HOA shows up at their doorstep.

After 8 or 9 swatches that were denied, the head of the HOA was fuming mad and showed up at their door, telling them he wasn’t leaving until they had decided on a color for the house.

My friend pointed out that the handbook says the only way for a color to be approved was with a vote from the full panel.

Not so fast!

The HOA head called the other two people, and they came over.

Once they were all sat down, he and his wife shuffled through about 10 different swatches of crazy colors before finally showing them one that was a light green color.

Frustrated, they approved it and left.

A few weeks later, the head of the HOA contacted him to see when they were going to paint.

Here’s where they deliver the real kicker.

He told them they already had.

The swatch they had approved was the color the house was already painted.

A week later, he got an angry letter from the HOA and a bill for their time.

He refused to pay and will fight it.

The HOA, anxious to avoid another incident like this one, adjusts the rulebook.

A couple of weeks after that, everyone got a revised handbook in the mail with very detailed rules on how to get a color approved.

My friend then called the head of the HOA and told him all of this could have been avoided if he had just said something that day when he came over and talked to them as they started painting.

But he decided to be a jerk, so they decided to be jerks back to him.

In a strict HOA like this one, sometimes you just have to bend the rules.

What did Reddit think?

It’s a well-known fact that the people in charge don’t always know best.

A leadership role in an HOA definitely attracts a certain kind of person.

This commenter thinks the homeowners should have pushed it even further.

The mere presence of an HOA is a dealbreaker for this commenter.

The new handbook may have closed the loopholes, but the HOA leader won’t soon forget this brush with defiance.

The HOA learned that day that playing games has colorful consequences.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.