A Strange Pet Rule Sparked An HOA Standoff When A Homeowner Refused DNA Testing And The Board Wouldn’t Back Down
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Grandfathered rules can create useful loopholes.
This dog owner refused an HOA DNA fee without written proof.
The board happily provided it.
Unfortunately, signing meant accepting every new pet rule.
Check out how it all went down.
They got me
After I moved into my townhouse, the complex expanded with newly constructed townhomes and additional shared space.
This brought along an HOA.
Those of us who were “original” residents and had a dog before the HOA were grandfathered from the new pet bylaws.
This is an odd request.
When they requested dog owners pay to submit their dog’s DNA (to prevent people from leaving dog poop in the dog park and public courtyards) I declined.
My argument was that I didn’t have anything stating I had to.
After some back and forth, they told me they’d provide something in writing.
They couldn’t get out of it.
They got me with malicious compliance by delivering a copy of the pet bylaws to sign, which would lock us into abiding by them.
I dropped my attitude and paid for the damn DNA test.
It’s stories like this that really make you hate HOAs. I’ve never heard of an HOA needing a pet’s DNA before. That seems a little extreme.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
This person thinks there was another option.
I bet a lot of people.
This person doesn’t think the pet owner should’ve given in so easily.
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All they had to do was ignore it.
A lot of people think this should’ve played out differently.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a community who realizes their mistake after restricting parking to residents only gets guests and delivery drivers towed.
It is pretty ridiculous.
The HOA answered this homeowner’s request by delivering pet bylaws that would remove his grandfathered protection once signed.
He quickly dropped the argument and paid for the dog’s DNA test instead.
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