If you want to start an argument, talk about politics. Many people have very strong views about their political leanings, and if you don’t agree with them, watch out!

In this story, one HOA neighborhood has a rule where you’re not allowed to post political signs in your yard. While I think HOAs often have really silly rules, this rule could probably prevent a lot of neighborhood drama.

However, in this story, getting the HOA board to enforce the rule actually created a lot of drama. One homeowner was really annoyed when his neighbor ignored the rule and posted a political sign in his yard. When he couldn’t convince the neighbor to take the sign down, he decided to show him how it feels by posting his own signs.

That caused more drama, an HOA board meeting and a lot of neighborhood arguing. Keep reading to see if they ever did have to follow the rules.

AITAH for not backing down from a fight over “no political signage” rule by my HOA that is only selectively enforced?

My HOA has a rule stating that we should not post signs or material of political nature on our homes or in our yards.

It’s understandable, I agree with the rule, however some people have pushed the boundaries of the rules, and get away with it because the board does not want to “be the bad guys”, so they avoid dealing with conflict over petty things.

It works well most of the time, but not when you the the occasional repeat annoyances where a neighbor will “not change anything unless someone from the board actually makes me”.

One of his neighbors is ignoring this rule.

My neighbor has a political thing in his yard, and I talked to him about it, and how the rules state we shouldn’t be doing that kind of thing.

It turned into more of “are you for/against my side” over just the overall feel of things. So I asked him if I put something in my yard of the polar-opposite in my yard how it would make him feel.

He got upset and said I would be evil for doing so.

I told him that was my point for bringing it up and why the rule exists, because someone could feel the same way about his sign.

He decided to add his own political sign.

Nothing had changed for a while, so I decided to be provocative and get some signage that was the mirror-opposite of their political stuff, and immediately got backlash, and complaints, while being praised by others. (about 50/50 split.)

I used it as an example of the argument to get the board to address the “no politics” rule, and how it is ultimately better for all of us to maintain it equally and fairly.

It quickly became a dysfunctional meeting of how all sides would claim “the other guy’s” sign was provocative and political, while “my own sign” isn’t that political, and they were evil for suggesting such.

The board knew they couldn’t pressure me to remove mine without getting the neighbor and a few others in the neighborhood to do the same, so they avoided it best they could and basically told us “election is only a month away, you’re all adults and know how to behave, we don’t want to waste our energy being karens over this stuff, so if you all haven’t worked it out after next month, we will hash it out again, but please don’t waste our time”.

The neighbors resolved the issue on their own.

Most of the neighborhood took down their signs, and I immediately noticed, and took mine down as well.

I decided to get an American flag and mount it by my door (HOA can’t make that illegal) instead to show that regardless of politics, and our differences, we are all still Americans.

AITAH for starting trouble by breaking the rules too by getting a political sign just to prove a point, or should have I just let it go? Too petty, or not?

Keeping politics out of the neighborhood is probably a good idea.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a family living outside the HOA who refuse to remove their tree or lights despite their neighbors hating them.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Here’s a reminder of why he did it.

This person shares what they would’ve done.

The HOA rule might be illegal.

Another person really hates HOAs.

Living in an HOA isn’t for everyone, but it probably works best for people who like to play by the rules. For example, in this story, OP wanted the rules to be enforced and only broke the rules to prove a point and to hopefully force the neighbor to follow the rules.

Many HOAs that I hear about are crazy strict about their rules, so in this story, if anything, the HOA board wasn’t strict enough. It all worked out though.