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Imagine getting a huge bill from your HOA for something they knew about for a long time but never bothered to tell the homeowners about, just assuming they all knew. Would you pay the bill or refuse?
In this story, one homeowner couldn’t afford to pay the bill even if she wanted to, and she doesn’t think it’s fair to tell her to pay it at all.
The HOA put their reasoning in writing, and she loves it, because now she has the proof she needs when she talks to a lawyer.
Keep reading for the whole story and to decide how you think she should handle this unfair and expensive situation.
My HOA emailed out an $18,500 invoice to all homeowners on June 1, 2026 and it is due August 1, 2026.
This cannot be legal.
I’m in WA state on an island with water table issues. We are on a private well system.
I bought the house in 2021 and there was no mention of any of these issues in that process.
This would be very annoying.
The first summer I was there, there were issues with the well and the HOA told everyone to conserve water.
I’d just planted about 30 trees and lost all of them bc I didn’t water.
When I requested the HOA reimburse me, they said they didn’t want to set a precedent and denied.
There were more expenses.
The following year, they tell all homeowners that we will need to pay $7000 to repair the water system.
Then they raised the HOA fees $100 a month to help pay for said water fixes.
And then…crickets.
Nothing from 2023 fee raise until this year at the annual meeting in May—The board tells us they have to fix it immediately and they send out this invoice after telling everyone they were going to do it at the annual meeting.
It wasn’t a vote, no choice in the matter.
The board put it in writing.
I appealed to them via email; it would take me 5 years to pay that off!
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had a similar response.
The board responded to everyone haughtily and said. “This isn’t a surprise; no one should be shocked; we’ve known about this for 18 years. If people don’t pay, we will put a lien on their home and will charge 12% interest.”
I thanked the board for putting it in writing that they’ve known about this for 18 years and I’ve only been in my house for 5 while they’ve said nothing for the last 3 years to boot.
There was one other issue with the HOA.
I’ve never been late or missed paying HOA dues.
I have had issues with my neighbor. He went to the board meeting in 2022 and complained and whined about me having someone on my property living in an RV.
Mind you, I understood this probably wasn’t within the rules but I looked around and saw three of my neighbors doing exactly that and decided it was fine.
The board allowed that neighbor to stand up and talk badly about me while I wasn’t even there and then the HOA president showed up at my house and told me my RV had to go.
This isn’t fair!
I said, “When you enforce the rules on everyone, I’ll follow the rules.”
They made one other person (another woman) get her trailer off her property but have allowed two male owned and occupied homes to continue with their RVs on their property.
I feel like a lawsuit is coming to a head and I told them as much if they put a lien on my house.
She lives in an HOA. That’s the real problem. HOAs are notoriously awful.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.
It’s too late for this warning now!
I’m assuming it didn’t fix the problem.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who is confronted by his high school bully and decides to steal his Nintendo DS.
This person provides some more context.
Another person isn’t sure she has a case.
I would never buy a home in an HOA. This is just another example of why it’s a bad idea. As if your monthly dues aren’t enough, then they need extra money for special assessments. I get that things need to be fixed, but the way this situation was handled would be super annoying.