Homeowners Associations promise order and charm, but they usually just end up delivering chaos and conflict.

When one overzealous neighbor treated enforcing HOA rules like a personal crusade, what followed was a petty legal tug-of-war that ended up getting the entire association and its corrupt members disbanded for good!

Read on for the full story.

Become the worst neighbor and HOA Board member ever? Lose your “job” and HOA

Me and my wife purchased our first home when we were 24 and 25.

We spent months looking at houses and areas and tried to find a “forever” home in a good district for potential future kids, etc.

We finally found a perfect one at a decent price.

At first, everything was great — super nice neighborhood and decent neighbors.

But not all was as it seemed.

Well, a few months after buying the house, we rented an RV to go on a trip and parked it in the driveway for the 3 days leading up to the trip to pack it and for me to learn how half the things in it worked.

This is when we learned that HOAs are absolutely crazy, and our neighbor was on the board of our local HOA.

And he was quite aggressive, to boot.

Within an hour of it being parked, he got home and stormed over demanding we remove it from “his” neighborhood or he would have it towed and fine us for every hour it was there.

Myself, being the average and normal person, told him kindly to get off my back and get out of my driveway.

I told him if he returns, I’ll call the cops because he was screaming like a madman inches from my face.

They weren’t just empty words, though.

About 3 hours later, a big rig tow truck shows up, and he walked up like he was a god and handed me a plain envelope with a letter inside.

It pretty much said, “By order of the HOA, this RV is to be towed,” and included a fine of $1,500 for violating their rules.

While Mr. Crazy Board Member might not listen to reason, the tow truck guy they found wasn’t so fond of entering my driveway and towing a vehicle when I told him if he comes on the property, I’ll call the cops.

Once the tow truck driver decided he’s done being involved in this mess and left, neighbor goes even more crazy and storms off.

So this homeowner decides it’s time to seek some outside counsel.

I called my friend to get his dad’s number because he’s an attorney.

I asked him about this insane letter and fine I just received and asked him some legal advice.

After speaking to his father, he told me to come down, write him a $500 check, and bring along all the papers I received when purchasing the home and the current letter I just received.

So the attorney got to work sending some letters.

The next day, he had a very friendly letter sent to my neighbor and the HOA board.

Basically, telling my neighbor to **** himself in legal terms and to leave us and our property alone.

But then the situation got even stranger.

I then continued to receive fines of $1,500 a day in plain envelopes — not postmarked — stuffed into my mailbox.

I then turned them over to my friend’s father, and each time, he sent another set of letters and contacted USPS to report the incidents.

Turns out, putting mail into people’s mailboxes is a crime — who knew.

The homeowners doubted the attorney could help turn the situation around, but still, they remained patient.

We decided to go on our week-long trip across the state and mildly forget about it all.

Kind of upset I had to spend $500 to have an attorney send letters, but that’s what they do.

Fast forward to us returning from the trip and the RV back in our driveway for 2 days so we could unload/clean and then return it.

Again, each day, more envelopes were stuffed into our mailbox, more visits to our attorney, more letters sent, and more incidents reported to USPS.

Then things got even crazier, if you can believe it.

Here’s where the fun really begins.

Turns out, Mr. Crazy finally gives me a “summons” to appear before the board.

My attorney said this is crazy illegal because what they’ve done is use what looks like an actual legal document improperly to “summon” me to the board.

Another $500 to the attorney, and we wait for the date they made (a Tuesday at 10AM).

The attorney really started picking up some steam.

They attempted to keep my attorney out of the room on some “board privacy” rule but quickly shut up when he began going over their own rules that they were violating to them.

Deep in this HOA book are some very nicely worded rules outlining what makes board members ineligible, and how they cannot serve if they commit certain infractions.

Well, guess what Mr. Crazy neighbor has done? Committed several of them — all documented.

The homeowners also realized they had a lot more leverage than they initially realized.

The cherry on top is that if 51% of the HOA members vote to dissolve the HOA, it all goes away.

It happens my wife worked part-time from home during this mess and had all the free time in the world to begin a “Disband the HOA” campaign.

Over the course of the next 2 months, she went around and really began to get to know our neighborhood really well.

It turns out, they had so much more in common than they initially thought!

Turns out, a lot of people dislike the HOA and the power-hungry seniors who act like dictators that run it.

The HOA attempted to stall everything by holding no meetings (another HOA violation) and began their own campaign trying to change HOA rules to keep from being ousted.

The HOA somehow ended up making themselves look even worse.

They even sent a fairly problematic flyer and letter to everyone explaining the “dangers” of not having an HOA and all the bad people (Blacks and Mexicans) that would move in and take over.

They claimed our houses would become much less valuable and everything else they could try.

Turns out it’s extremely fun to use someone’s own rules against them.

After weeks of hard work, the neighbors started to see some results.

The neighborhood even started a fund that paid us back what it cost us to get the attorney started and the continued costs he had.

A few weeks after their failed fear campaign and being forced to hold a meeting, a vote was called by using their own rules.

The HOA was no more, and all remaining funds were to be dispersed back to the homeowners and members equally.

This led to some long-term change in the neighborhood.

About half the former board members sold their homes and moved, including Mr. Crazy Neighbor.

I’ve spent 3 hours trying to find old news articles because it was reported on — mostly due to the problematic letters by the HOA — but it was too long ago to find anything.

Moral of the whole mess: Don’t buy a home in an HOA, and if you do… plan to hire an attorney.

Looks like all it took was a good attorney to get this corrupt HOA taken down for good!

What did Reddit have to say?

The attorneys really could have had even more of a field day with this corrupt HOA.

HOAs have a terrible reputation, and it seems like it’s for good reason.

When it comes to neighborly relations, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

It may be tough upfront, but a good attorney is well worth the investment.

The HOA thought they could fine and bully their way to control, but they forgot what happens when neighbors actually talk to each other!

In the end, justice wasn’t just poetic — it was long overdue.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.