Imagine buying a home in an HOA. Would you go to the HOA board meetings, or would you mind your own business and try to follow the rules but ignore the meetings?

In this story, one homeowner only attended an HOA board meeting because of something a neighbor said to him. When he checked out the meeting, he immediately saw red flags and spoke up. After being bullied by the board members, he decided to take them seriously.

Keep reading for the very satisfying ended to this story!

Got two HOA board members removed from board because they tried to bully me

I didn’t really pay attention to my HOA. It’s a new community (under 2 years).

I only went to my first meeting because a neighbor I’ve become buddies with told me HOA was being shady.

My undergrad degree is in Poli Sci, so being a government structure/process nerd I figured I’d check out the shenanigans for myself.

He immediately saw a red flag.

At the meeting one of the board members was being confronted about something he’d done.

Initially I had no clue what they were talking about, but by listening I quickly understood the context and scope.

The board member responds to the questions by yelling and using pretty abusive language towards the residents who were asking him questions about what he did.

That’s a red flag.

There was immediately a second red flag.

During his tirade, he told the people confronting him that he didn’t answer to him.

2nd Board Member chimed in saying we were powerless and repeats the “we don’t have to answer to you”.

Second red flag. I’d had enough.

He had the floor.

I raise my hand, the president (nice board member and good guy in general) recognizes me, gives me the floor.

Since it’s my first time there the fight paused and it got quiet (it was weird).

I simply but clearly told the two jerk board members that in fact we are the only people they answers to in this role.

Here’s how the board member responded.

First jerk board member didn’t like that and instantly because abusive towards me and started to try to bully me.

Now, I’m a sleeping bear. I don’t mess with anyone, but if someone messes with me, I make it my mission to let them know I can be the bigger bully.

After his response to me, another resident said to him “We’ve lost faith in you, you should step down”.

The board member replied “I’ve lost faith in you!” (made no sense).

He decided to give him what he asked for.

A second resident said basically to step down or we’ll recall you.

The board member said “you’ll have to force me off”.

I then said “Then that’s what we’ll freaking do!”

It wasn’t that hard to do.

In the next few days I analyzed my state’s HOA laws and my HOA’s articles of incorporation, bylaws, and covenants.

I realize the election of the two jerk board members was completely against the bylaws.

So I wrote a demand letter to the HOA’s attorney stating that the election of these two was in violation of our bylaws and they must be removed from the board.

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Attorney agreed with my analysis and the two members were forced off the board.

How satisfying! I hope the new board members that get elected are much better.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer who complained about an employee, not realizing they were talking to that same person.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

I feel the same way.

Here’s some praise.

He definitely helped out his neighborhood!

This is probably often true.

Taking on the HOA might seem intimidating to some, but it doesn’t seem like it was that hard in this case. Letting bullies stay in power isn’t helping anyone in the community.

I assume they had to elect new board members after these board members were removed. I hope the new board members actually cared about the community instead of only caring about themselves.

It’s a good thing his neighbor suggested attending an HOA board meeting!