HOA Demands a Non-Member Pay for a Sewer Line on Its Property, but He Refuses to Cover the Previous Owner’s Costs
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Imagine successfully buying a home that is not part of an HOA. What would you do if the HOA neighborhood near your house sent you a bill anyway?
In this story, one homeowner is in that exact situation, and I’m not sure they really have any right to tell the homeowner to pay. He has been reasonable and willing to pay for the time he has lived in the home, but that’s not even good enough for the neighbor who calls him a liar.
Keep reading for all the details.
I don’t even belong to an HOA!
Apparently, although our house is not in an HOA, our sewer system runs into what is supposedly the HOA’s big sewer pond.
They want to charge us a few hundred a year (per side of a duplex) to use the sewer.
We were not notified about any of this before we bought the property.
OP agreed to pay only for the time he owned the home.
In the beginning, I didn’t have a huge problem with it except he was trying to charge me for a year or so of sewer from before I bought the home. Even after we showed that that bill was before we bought the home.
I figured up what our bill was for the couple of years we had not paid because we weren’t part of the HOA and paid it.
Then I got another bill for The frame of time from when I bought the house to current. (At that moment it was a couple of years ago)
So he took the money I paid and use it for the previous owners bill. So I refuse to pay any more.
This neighbor sounds awful!
Have a mostly ignored each other and occasionally spoken about it over the last few years. Me saying I’ll pay for my bill, I’m not paying but I’ve already paid, and I am not paying for the old bill.
He got on next door to inform me that I never paid a damn thing, he wasn’t trying to charge me for anyone else’s bill, and I was a horrible horrible non-bill paying slimeball.
I sent him for a message asking for a way to pay that was verified I. E. Venmo, PayPal, something…
He never answered me and a few months later he has filed a mechanics lien as well as small claims court case.
This is all so ridiculous.
From what I can find, first of all a mechanics lien is not the right type of lien and specifically does not cover you utilities. And specifically, in my state, does not cover HOA utilities.
I also just discovered while going through the paperwork that they set off our sewer on 5/16/25.
Which then begs the question where is our sewer going?
And I know for a fact the county told him he was not allowed to block that line and could only petition for me to pay the bill.
Apparently, he didn’t listen.
He’s not part of the HOA. He shouldn’t have to pay anything.
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Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person doesn’t think he should’ve paid.
Yup.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about neighbors who complain about dandelions only to find themselves on the other end of a creative response.
This person has questions.
Another person makes a good point.
He needs a lawyer. Really, he should’ve refused to pay the bill the first time. He is not part of the HOA. A sewer bill would probably be paid through a local utility company not a neighborhood HOA that you’re not part of. The neighbor is probably just scamming him.
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