HOA President Tried to Enforce the Rules on a Resident—Then He Learned the Home Was Never Part of the Association
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HOAs loooooove rules.
This one tried enforcing them beyond its own neighborhood.
An inherited home suddenly received complaints about fees, paint, and lawn care.
Its owner brought receipts.
Check out how it all went down.
AITA for not being in an HOA
I inherited a house a few years ago after the passing of my grandfather. The timing was perfect as I had just graduated and it wasn’t that far from the area where I wanted to work.
About 2-3 years ago a development company bought a bunch of surrounding property to build a semi-gated community.
The fence for the community ends a good few yards away from my property but isn’t closed all the way.
Now that people have moved in I’ve been getting HOA letters about fees, my lawn, and my house paint.
I tried emailing the HOA president but they never got back to me.
They attended the HOA meeting.
I crashed the last meeting they had and explained that my house wasn’t part of the neighborhood and therefore not part of the HOA.
The president and board members tried to say that I was because of how close my property is.
It isn’t, and I have documentation from the development company and the county saying it isn’t.
The HOA president still wants them to follow the HOA rules.
After the meeting the president emailed back and said that regardless of the particulars I should still try to conform to the rest of the community because I was bringing property values down.
I know that I was very lucky in getting my home and I don’t want to negatively affect others, especially considering the current market.
AITA for not listening to the HOA?
This person’s house is not part of the HOA. They should ignore the HOA and the HOA president.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
The answer is easy. Ignore the HOA.
This person would be more cautious and talk to a lawyer.
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This person would enjoy breaking the HOA rules.
They do not have to conform to the HOA standards.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a home buyer who was surprised to learn his neighbors were upset about him removing a fence.
It’s probably pretty obvious that this home isn’t part of the HOA.
OP proved through county and developer records that the property sat completely outside the HOA’s authority.
Redditors declared OP NTA and suggested a formal cease-and-desist, possibly accompanied by an army of lawn flamingos.
Nothing says “community values” like invoicing a neighbor who never joined the community.
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