Imagine living in an older home that is not part of an HOA, but over the years, a new neighborhood that is an HOA has popped up. Even your next door neighbor is in this new HOA.

If she tried to give you a letter from the HOA letting you that you couldn’t do something, would you ignore her, take the letter, or explain that you’re not part of an HOA?

In this story, one man was in this situation, and he feels kind of bad about how he reacted to his neighbor. He was tipsy at the time, but he still thinks he should’ve handled the situation better.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for laughing at my neighbor and calling them stupid before closing the door on them?

I 25M live in my family’s cottage which I was given ownership of. The cottage itself is a waterfront property facing a medium-sized lake.

My family has been living here for generations as my great grandfather originally bought it before passing it down eventually leading to me.

My neighbors are a different story as many of the people I have known since childhood has moved out.

The houses that my neighbors once had have been torn down and replaced with “designer” style homes. With the construction of these homes came new neighbors and an HOA of which I am not a member.

Meet Sophie.

My problems started with my next-door neighbor Sophie(F50-60?) over fishing.

One day after doing some Canoe fishing I was approached by Sophie on my beach.

She started asking if it was legal to fish on the lake to which I said it was as long as you pay the 25$ per year license. After that, I said that I had to go as I had caught some fish and I wanted to start processing them for dinner as it was getting lake.

After our conversation, I did not hear from her for over two weeks.

Then, he received a letter.

My encounter with her this time was not in person but through a letter.

In this letter, she wrote about how “dangerous” fishing is to the environment and why I should stop.

In response, I chose to simply chuck it in my recycling bin and ignore her as it wasn’t worth my time.

But Sophie came back with another letter.

My most recent encounter was two days ago while I had some friends over. It was in the afternoon when I had ran back into the house for some more beers along with one of my friends.

While grabbing the drinks we heard a knock at the door. When I answered the door it was Sophie and she had another letter.

Before handing the letter she said that she had tried to be diplomatic and now she has had enough and has a letter from the HOA.

He thinks he was too rude.

Admittedly I was a bit tipsy at the time and in response, I laughed and called her stupid for believing the HOA can do anything before closing the door on her.

After sobering up I feel conflicted, on one hand I feel that I was justified in my actions because my fishing is none of her business. On the other hand I feel that I could have dealt with her in a more tactful way.

AITA?

Kind of. Was he rude? Yes. Should she have minded her own business? Also yes. Are HOAs awful? Yes, also yes.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a family who is resisting pressure from the HOA to remove their tree and lights.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

This is a good point.

This person thinks she’s lying.

One person is reminded of another story.

Here’s a suggestion.

I feel bad for this guy that he has to live next to a Karen in an HOA. It must’ve been blissful all those years without the HOA neighborhood. He’s not doing anything wrong. She should leave him alone.

To be fair, she probably doesn’t know that his house is not part of the HOA. If she does, she’s even more out of line. If she stops by again, he should make it clear that he’s not part of the HOA, that he’s lived in the neighborhood longer than she has and to leave him alone.

Then add no trespassing signs, cameras and maybe a fence with a lock on the gate to keep her off his property.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.