Shutterstock

Imagine living in an HOA, and you also work from home as a counselor, meeting clients in your home. What would you do if the HOA approved a construction project that negatively impacted your home? We’re talking a lot of noise and even vibrations inside your home caused by all the work.

That’s what the woman in this story had to deal with, and it truly sounds awful.

It doesn’t sound like she tried to fight the HOA in any way, so she just had to live with it, but what makes it even worse is what the HOA did with the money they received for approving the construction project.

Let’s read all about it.

3 Years of pipeline construction behind my mother’s home

My mother rents in an HOA community divided into an east side and west side by a street that cuts through the middle.

She lives on the East side.

The HOA is entirely controlled by people who live on the west side.

Three years ago the HOA approved the construction of a major pipeline through undeveloped property behind my mother’s house. There was a payout of a few hundred thousand dollars to the HOA for this (I’ll get back to that).

The construction really hurt OP’s mom’s business.

My mother is a premartial and marriage counselor, conducting her business from home.

The construction was disruptive to the point of literally making her home shake, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of dollars worth of counseling appointments.

No, she couldn’t just temporarily rent an office – she can’t afford that.

This went on for three years, only just finishing a couple of months ago.

It’s things like this that make everyone hate HOAs.

As for the money, guess where it all went.

Straight into the pockets of the president of the HOA.

His wife is an interior decorator, and she was hired using the entire budget to renovate the community rec center.

Guess what the changes she made consisted of. The addition of a couple of Ikea chairs.

I feel so bad for OP’s mom!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person thinks the whole situation sounds like a nightmare.

Another person wonders why OP’s mom didn’t move.

I understand not being able to afford a separate office space, but I agree with the person who wondered why OP’s mom didn’t move. Three years is way too long to deal with all that noise and hassle. Surely she could’ve found a better place in all that time.

What a nightmare!