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While HOAs can be awful, in theory, you’d think that if you follow all the rules, you shouldn’t have any problems. What would you do if you thought you were following all of the HOA rules, but then it almost seemed like they were making up new rules and sending you violation notices because you weren’t following them?

In this story, one homeowner is in this situation. It’s all about a shed, which was approved by the HOA. But it’s confusing whether or not the HOA approved the paint color, and the homeowner isn’t sure how to make the HOA happy at this point.

It sounds very frustrating, but hopefully there’s an easy solution to his problem.

Let’s read all about it.

please tell me if I’m being irrational

I recently had a shed built on my property. I followed the process of getting it approved.

Fast forward 6 months, and I get my first violation letter, saying “please paint your shed a color that is allowed by the HOA”.

So I reviewed the rules, and there is no color that is “allowed” by the HOA. Without getting too much into the legalize, the rules say that we need to get approval for any change to the exterior.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a spot for the color on the stupid form they provided for me to submit to the review committee.

He really did try to do what they wanted.

So I went back and forth with the management company about this, and we decided I could submit another request with the color detailed on it.

Less than a month later, I got a second violation letter, telling me to finish painting the bare wood on the shed (there were small parts like by the door hinges I had not finished yet).

So I finished touching those parts up and thought the issue was resolved.

This would be so frustrating!

Fast forward again 5 months later, and now I’ve gotten a 3rd and final violation notice. It basically just says that I’m out of compliance because I never got approval on the color, and I need to bring my property into compliance.

So I’m just generally lost at what I’m supposed to do.

The way I see it, the approved materials on my original request is “treated wood”, and the paint is part of that treatment, and there has been no “change” to the color, since the original construction was not technically completed until after the paint was originally applied.

Furthermore, I see the 2nd violation letter as written approval of the 2nd request I submitted which included the color.

He doesn’t know what to do.

Are these arguments sound?

I’m at my wits end with this, and I don’t want to mess around with being liable for their legal fees, but they haven’t really provided any sort of path to compliance for me.

If they said what color it needed to be, I would make it that color. But they haven’t. Even if I stripped all of the paint off (which is maybe impossible at this point), then I would technically be in violation because the material would no longer be “treated”, which is what was approved.

I’m between a rock and a hard place. What should I do?

Again, this is why I will never live in an HOA. In this case, it almost seems like they’re making up the rules as they go.

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Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

This person suggests hiring a lawyer.

Here’s another vote for a lawyer.

Attending a meeting might help.

Here’s a workaround that might actually work.

I think I’d try the last two suggestions in the comments before hiring a lawyer. If attending a meeting doesn’t work and submitting the paint color again doesn’t work, then it would be time to hire a lawyer.

HOAs seem like vultures. He needs to fight this.

It’s so ridiculous that there’s this much drama over paint!

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Author

Jayne Elliott

Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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