Imagine looking for a place to rent with some friends. You find the perfect place, and sign the lease. What would you do if the HOA told you that you couldn’t live there because you’re friends and not a family?

That’s the situation the four friends in this story find themselves in, and it’s really frustrating for them and for the landlord.

Let’s read all about it.

The HOA screwed us against the landlord’s wishes

I’m a young 20 something looking to rent a place to live with 3 other 20 somethings in the suburbs of the East Coast.

We have searched long and hard for a place to live, and the situation has become absolutely unbearable.

It’s a nightmare out here just trying to find affordable housing. 4 person homes are just cheaper per person than apartments, somehow.

They found the prefect place.

We find a lovely townhouse that’s within our price range, so we begin inquiring.

It’s in a little gated community of about 12 townhouses on a nice lake.

The landlord loves us, he’s friends with our realtor, and he says we’re the best applicants he’s ever gotten for the property. Good credit, nice jobs, quiet folk, no problems.

We’re a teacher, an autism care worker, and 2 software devs.

But the HOA stepped in.

We sign a lease and write a tentative check for the security deposit.

One of our housemates is currently functionally homeless, as their previous lease ended 6/1 and we’ve been looking for months, so we breathe a sigh of relief.

2 weeks go by, we’re prepping our move, and suddenly the HOA decides to circumvent the landlords wishes and deny our application on account of being 4 young men instead of a family (yes, that’s the exact reason they gave the landlord).

This would be really frustrating!

The landlord is furious, and possibly seeking legal action.

We’ve wasted so much time not looking these last two weeks since the lease was signed, and our friend was pretty happy to not be couch surfing while trying to work from home full time.

We’re getting our security deposit back, but we’re back to square one because of these freaking pearl clutchers.

Who knew the HOA had the ability to override a landlord’s decision? That’s so frustrating!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Maybe they could pretend they’re a family.

It might be the law that’s the problem.

One person thinks the landlord is the real problem.

But another person has a suggestion that just might work!

The HOA needs to mind their own business.