‘The HOA was bent out of shape’: Dude builds a fence to keep nosy neighbors away, HOA intervenes, he finds a clever loophole

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    Plant - "HOA wants me to build a shorter fence? Got it!"
  • 02
    Font - HOA wants me to build a shorter fence? Got it! SOC I'm piggybacking off of the HOA trend going around here. This story was relayed to me by one of my favorite professors over 5 years ago, so my apologies if the details are foggy or inaccurate.
  • 03
    Font - My professor was a very, very private person, the sort of guy who would hesitate to tell you his favorite color if you hadn't known him long enough. He had recently had an incredibly nosy couple move in next door and realized the flimsy four foot fence he had got for the dog wouldn't keep out peeping eyes.
  • 04
    Font - So he installed a fence. But instead of using a standard size, which he knew his neighbors would peer over, he built an 8 foot fence.
  • 05
    Font - It wasn't even a week before HOA was on his threatening every fine they could and claiming he couldn't have a fence over 6 feet tall. So, being a dutiful citizen, he called the fence company to uninstall said fence.
  • 06
    Font - While the fence was being taken down, he closely examined the HOA handbook on the precise definition of a fence.
  • 07
    Font - He installed a new 6 foot fence that fit every single regulation, but with a 3 foot brick wall beneath it.
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    Font - EDIT: A lot of people are pointing out they've seen a story like this here or on Tumblr. I acknowledge karma farming is a major thing, but I am relaying the story as I heard it.
  • 09
    Font - I have plenty more from him, granted they don't fit in this sub. He used them to illustrate points mostly, like one about the horrendous public transport of Galveston where he literally ran through people's yards.
  • 10
    Font - I don't know if his stories were true- honestly I bet many of them weren't. But he was a real man. I'd share his name if I felt it was okay.
  • 11
    Font - He served Cuban coffee during office hours. We got a random sub toward the end of the semester because he had a triple bypass that he had told none of us about.
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    Font - Truthfully, I don't know if he's alive even, which was one of the reasons I wanted to share this. I have no way to make people believe that I am telling the truth, but if you look through the comments here, several people say they've heard of or even done similar things.
  • 13
    Font - EmbarrassedBlock1977. This reminds me of a guy I worked (as construction worker in his new house) for many years ago. He wanted a huge concrete wall next to his driveway. I'm talking about the entire length of his land-huge.
  • 14
    Font - City planning didn't allow it. Not a chance that he was permitted to put something so large on the border of his land. He was a well-off dude and he let his lawyers loose on the matter, he really wanted that wall!
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    Font - A month later, his wall was there with a mailbox fixed to it. All within the city planning law. It turns out that city planning stated that he could build "a mailbox on a fixed structure". They never gave precise size requirements for the fixed structure.. 5.5k Reply Share
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    Font - TheGrated Cornholio. There is a similar story about I think Jim Barksdale (Co founder of Netscape). He wanted to build a fence but the city said it was too big, so he built a hill with a smaller fence on top of it. 1.6k Reply Share
  • 17
    Font - SneezeBucket. The HOA is somehow both the most American and Un-American thing I've ever heard of at the same time. 1.2k Reply Share
  • 18
    Font - Classic Result They go low you go high ↑ 663 Reply Share
  • 19
    Font - Doxendrie. HOAS are ridiculous. The fence gate here was rotting and falling off, so FIL puts in a new one. The letter from the HOA arrives: the new fence you out in wasn't approved, you can't have that. So he takes down the nice new fence and puts back the old rotting one. Much better! The HOA approves. Wtf? Isn't the whole point of the HOA to keep everyone's property values up? 544 Reply Share
  • 20
    Font - N2wind. When I was a kid, my dad had bought a house that had been foreclosed on in a gated community. After multiple tickets from the HOA for having an enclosed trailer on the property, the HOA found out that since the property was bought on foreclosure, the property no long fell under HOA covenants. Edited for clarity. 232 Reply Share
  • 21
    Font - cybeast21. The malicious compliance is... ⠀: Built on a good foundation. 168 Reply Share
  • 22
    Font - Myzyri I did this last year to hide my pool from the next door watching my teenaged daughters sunbathe and swim. The HOA was bent out of shape about my 6 foot fence (4 foot is the max) so I installed 8 foot bushes to cover the 6 foot fence and told them I had that section replaced (they only cared about the 15 foot section that could be seen from the street). The fence is still there, but you can't see the top 2 feet.
  • 23
    Font - As a side note, they lost their drone when they tried spying on another neighbor's daughter and he blew it out of the sky with a 12 gauge. Their house is up for sale, so it'll be nice to get some new neighbors (I hope). 332 Reply Share

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