January 31, 2025 at 1:15 pm

Corrupt HOA Policies Forced A Member To Fight Unfair Roof Costs, So They Took Over The Property’s Online Identity To Retaliate

by Benjamin Cottrell

Source: Canva/Gpoint Studio, Reddit/PettyRevemge

Living under the rule of an HOA often feels like navigating a minefield of petty politics and arbitrary decisions.

One condo owner had grown weary after years of clashing with a board that bent rules for some while charging others unfair fees.

The story culminated in a digital power play that left the HOA playing right into their hand.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

You want me to pay for repairs to the “HOA” roof? You can’t can’t handle the “HOA” roof.

Well over a decade ago, I lived under the nasty, petty, vindictive thumb of an HOA. (I mean, who hasn’t, amirite?)

I had clashed with the board for years over illegal special assessments and their failure to ever enforce rules against board members’ friends.

The condo owner had seen some success in getting the HOA to bend on some things.

My crowning achievement was forcing them to either grant every homeowner full, unfettered access to all roof patios or limit roof repair expenses only to those units who wrongfully claimed the roof areas were a part of their units.

Despite the fact that their deeds did not grant them private rights to roof areas, each homeowner on the top floor had fenced off “their roof space” and, in one instance, built an un-permitted sunroom.

Although, they often had to take their complaints elsewhere.

Additionally, I reported the sunroom to the city, and it had to be removed because it lacked a permit, was too heavy for the roof, and was causing damage to the roof.

This was the same damage the board wanted everyone to pay for.

It was a lot of time and energy just to fight people trying to screw us.

Eventually, I was ready to sell my condo. Because I was selling for sale by owner, I did my own marketing.

But in the process, they came across a gold mine of leverage.

As part of my marketing, I bought the domain of my unit number + street name and built a website for the unit/sale.

While doing so, I noticed the .com, .net, and .org domains for the building’s street address were available for purchase.

So, I snagged those too, as well as “StreetNumberStreetNameHOA.com/.org/.net.” Then, I sold the place and moved out.

So guess who came crawling back to their door?

Six months or so later, I received an email from the HOA board president, asking if I owned those domains.

I replied that I did.

She told me they belonged to the property and, now that I didn’t live there, I had to turn them over.

The ex-resident was happy to oblige…for a price.

I told her she needed to replace the HOA’s lawyers if they told her that, and the board was welcome to purchase the domains from me for the tidy sum of $5,000.

Why $5,000? Because that’s the amount they wanted each homeowner to pay in special assessments for the roof repairs needed from the illegal sunroom and fencing.

Let’s hope that HOA forked over the money!

What did Reddit have to say?

This scorned ex-resident may have even more leverage over their HOA than they realized.

Source: Reddit/PettyRevenge

This bitter commenter just doesn’t see the benefit of HOAs.

Source: Reddit/PettyRevenge

Hoarding a desired domain name does give one a lot of power.

Source: Reddit/PettyRevenge

The condo owner may have moved on, but their clever domain play ensured the HOA wouldn’t forget them anytime soon

Turns out digital real estate is just as valuable as physical.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.