Living in a home improvement area (HOA) is often no cup of tea.

As you’ll see in this story, it can be even more unpleasant if the HOA wants to use your land.

See how the person in this story deal with the HOA president.

HOA President is a bully. Well, his ego allows me to bully him!

I bought a large chunk of the land intending to do some farming, but that never happened.

About 20 years ago some of the property owners (OO) got organized and had the area designated as a municipal suburb.

One offered to buy half of my property.

I agreed, and the money I got for the sale (which was about 4 x what I’d paid for the entire chunk of land 10 years prior) combined with a small loan from the bank gave me what I needed to pay for a house to be built, and it was a fairly large and nice house too.

But harmony was not in this picture.

I stayed in the house for a few years, and my mom moved in with me.

I had decided to subdivide the property again and build her a house next to mine, but unfortunately a tumor took her before the house could even start.

Soon after she died, we moved out of the house and started renting it out.

About a few weeks before we moved out the OO I’d sold the land to started talking about starting an HOA. I wasn’t interested, and left soon after.

About two years later, the neighbor OO contacted me.

The HOA was trying to get the old farm road blocked off to improve security and decrease through-traffic, and wanted the road next to my property to be the main (and only) entrance to the HOA community and they were pressuring me to say yes.

I said no.

So we came to an agreement.

They eventually got the other main road blocked off and the HOA is paying for a rent-a-cop to be permanently stationed close to my property, as well as mowing my lawn and paying me enough money for takeaways for the family each month.

3 years ago, someone scared my tenant’s young daughter by making strange noises and shooting a gun close to her bedroom window three or four times over about a month.

This scared my tenant and I guessed it scared the HOA because they AND my tenant contacted me with a proposal.

I join the HOA and they give me exclusions from the HOA rules, including exclusions from paying the monthly fees, and in addition they will build a wall around the ENTIRE HOA neighborhood, including electric fencing and security cameras.

I couldn’t see the downside, and so agreed.

It was a regrettable decision.

A month to the day after everything was done, my tenant got an HOA warning about his dogs barking.

He told the HOA that while the property was in the HOA, it was exempt from the rules.

The HOA told him that they had cancelled the exemptions, and that he had 30 days to comply.

They had retroactively cancelled the exemptions, and claimed I owed them money.

This started an expensive process involving lawyers and the court system, that ended with a judge telling me that what the HOA had done was mostly legal.

They had the right to revoke the exemptions, but that they had to give me 30 days notice.

I was determined to break every rule I could find a loophole to break. I didn’t get past the first page.

The next afternoon the neighbor OO delivered (and had me sign for) two documents: one telling me that my exemptions would expire in a 30 days, and one letting me know that the easement would no longer be required after 30 days.

EXACTLY 30 days TO THE HOUR after the HOA had given me the 30 days notice, I knocked on the neighbor OO’s door (did I mention he was the president of the HOA?) and had him sign for two documents.

He didn’t mess around.

The first was that I planned to build a house on my HOA property and the second was notice that they had 30 days to remove from the property the guard shed, the parts of the electric boom that were on my property, as well as the sign.

I could hear the HOA lawyer smirk on the phone as he told me that building a second house to be spiteful would not be accepted by the courts.

I smirked when I responded why it would be.

Neighbor OO invited me to lunch (his treat) to discuss the problem.

I said “No thanks” and rejected more offers from him and others.

Including the lawyer.

About 9 days before their 30 days was up a different lawyer called to “negotiate a surrender” (his words, not mine).

I’d already had documents drawn up.

My new easement offer: Included everything offered by the old easement offer; I changed the line “mow the lawn” to “get the property to HOA standards and keep it there” since it was now in the HOA.

It would cost them about $500 per month instead of $35, the amount would be increased with inflation (the previous contract didn’t include that bit) and other terms.

The final term I gave was that the HOA would pay all my legal fees if any legal action was taken against me.

The lawyer said that my proposal sounded unfair, but that he’d have the HOA president look at them.

I reminded him that in 8 days I’d be setting a group of men armed with sledgehammers and anger management issues loose on whatever of theirs was still on my property.

That evening the HOA president called me irate and told me he was never going to sign the new contract. I said “OK” and we went back and forth.

He whined about everything he could think of.

And then eventually told me I’d be hearing from his lawyer.

The next morning Surrender Lawyer called to ask if I’d be willing to come to their offices to sign the contract.

I agreed.

Finally, things start looking up!

I read the contract.

Nothing had been changed. NOT A SINGLE THING.

And the HOA president had signed it, with the Surrender Paralegal signing as witness.

They wanted to sue me, but their lawyers explained to them that there was no way to win.

I eventually signed an addendum to the contract that said that the neighbor OO (HOA President) would personally pay all my legal fees unless he held no position at all in the HOA and that the HOA would pay all legal fees if the HOA took legal action against me.

He resigned from the HOA at the end of that meeting.

After the mediation, it was clear that it was my way or the end of the HOA.

I’m writing this after getting home from the latest mediation.

I built a “paddling pool” for the neighborhood dogs and it is an eyesore right at the entrance of the HOA. They have to pay for it to meet “HOA standards.”

Here is what folks are saying.

With his tail between his legs, no doubt.

Yep. It’s absurdly unfair.

It’s pretty sweet. I’m happy for you!

Aw even revenge can be wholesome!

LOL I loved that, too. Good for the dog!

I wonder what the bully is up to now.

Hopefully not writing contracts.

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