HOAs can have a lot of really ridiculous rules, and if you live in one, you better read those rules closely so you know what you’re getting yourself into.

Imagine living in a home that is not part of an HOA when you move in, but it later becomes part of an HOA.

If that HOA now demanded that you submit certain information that you didn’t feel like you had to share, would you do it anyway, or would you refuse?

In this story, a pet owner who lives in an HOA originally refuses to comply, but that’s not the end of it.

Let’s read the whole story.

They got me

After I moved into my townhouse, the complex expanded with newly constructed townhomes and additional shared space.

This brought along an HOA.

Those of us who were “original” residents and had a dog before the HOA were grandfathered from the new pet bylaws.

This is an odd request.

When they requested dog owners pay to submit their dog’s DNA (to prevent people from leaving dog poop in the dog park and public courtyards) I declined.

My argument was that I didn’t have anything stating I had to.

After some back and forth, they told me they’d provide something in writing.

They couldn’t get out of it.

They got me with malicious compliance by delivering a copy of the pet bylaws to sign, which would lock us into abiding by them.

I dropped my attitude and paid for the damn DNA test.

It’s stories like this that really make you hate HOAs. I’ve never heard of an HOA needing a pet’s DNA before. That seems a little extreme.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person thinks there was another option.

I bet a lot of people.

This person doesn’t think the pet owner should’ve given in so easily.

All they had to do was ignore it.

A lot of people think this should’ve played out differently.

It is pretty ridiculous.

Never give in to an HOA if you’re not part of the HOA!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.