'It is against HOA rules': Elitest HOA demands removal of family's garden after forgetting they refused their application

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Aug 21, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

You can't have your cake and eat it too… and you should never voluntarily take a piece of an HOA's cake. For, that cake comes with a price—a blood price—that will bind you to their covenants and leave you vulnerable to petty powertrips from their bored aged board members who will go to any lengths to ensure that not a single blade of grass is out of line.

About 10 years ago, this guy and his wife moved into a suburban neighborhood that had a community pool, which was only accessible to members of the homeowner's association (HOA). But, when they tried to join, they were told that the HOA was not accepting new members, with the couple getting vibes from the HOA that they considered themselves to be too elite for the couple. 

Several years later, the guy and his wife decided to put in a raised bed garden in their front yard—but someone kept reporting them to the city inspector. The inspector would repeatedly appear after continued mysterious reports, each time confirming that the garden was, in fact, legal—but still continuing to come anyways. 

Growing frustrated by this harassment, the author filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out who was behind the reports, hearing nothing back but putting an end to the visits from the city. Instead, they received a call from an anonymous older woman, who told them to remove the garden because it was against HOA rules. Realizing that the caller was the same HOA Karen who had rejected their offer to pay for an HOA membership, the couple declined to remove the garden, instead expanding it and even adding playhouses for their children to it. The HOA Karen, unable to do anything about this, undoubtedly continues to stew in her impotent wrath.

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    "This would have been the end of it, but our anonymous friend simply couldn't leave well enough alone, and a couple weeks later I received a call from what sounded like an older woman."

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    Font - r/pettyrevenge Posted by u/Firestar222 14 hours ago HOA About 10 years ago, me and my wife moved to the suburbs to raise our kids. One of the things we noticed was that our neighborhood had a community pool. However, you had to be a member of the HOA to use said pool. Once we moved in, I contacted them to join, and was told they are "not accepting new members". I was surprised to say the least, as I was offering these people free money, but whatever. Now fast forward 3-4 years, me and wif
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    Font - My wife had taken gardening as a hobby and was getting quite good at it, but our backyard is extremely shady. After many attempts, we decided to put in a raised bed garden in the front yard. We did our research and it was not illegal to do so in our city, so I built her one. It came out great, our front yard looked like something from a magazine (all due to her hard work, not my skill), with many people making a point to walk by and see it. The neighborhood kids loved snatching berries as
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    Font - That's when the calls started. The city inspector would be by our yard weekly, because someone kept reporting our garden. Every time he would come by, we would ask if we needed to take it down/it was illegal, and he always said no. After a while, we got tired of this game (and a little pissed off they wouldn't come talk to us in person), so we filed a freedom of information act request to get the name of whoever was behind this and confront them.
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    Font - Once the request was submitted, we never heard back from the city. The anonymous calls reporting our garden also stopped. This would have been the end of it, but our anonymous friend simply couldn't leave well enough alone, and a couple weeks later I received a call from what sounded like an older woman.
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    Font - Caller- "Hello, I'm sorry to tell you that you are going to have to remove your front yard garden" Me- "Who is this?" Caller- "That doesn't matter, you need to remove it right away"
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    Font - Me- "If you actually want anything to happen, it absolutely does matter, it is not against any city law or regulation, and we're not taking it out unless you can provide a lot more information" Caller- "It is against HOA rules. You cannot have a front yard garden in this area per the HOA"
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    Font - At this point I realize these are the same people that rejected my offer to pay them free $ to join their stupid club, and happily I explained this to her while grinning ear to ear. I could almost hear the color draining out of her face when she realized who i was. Needless to say, the garden is bigger today than it ever has been, and we even threw a couple kid playhouses up there, cuz why not!
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    Font - fatzgenfatz 14 hr. ago . I think you dodged a bullet when your application was rejected. Well done. ✩ 1.0k 255 Reply Share CursedPaw99 · 12 hr. ago OP dodged a tactical nuke Reply Share
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    Font - Im_A_Long Boi 11 hr. ago Would definitely be cheaper in the long run to put a pool in their shady back yard instead of join the HOA for pool access 177 . 9↓ 9 Reply Share Atherly-7218. 3 hr. ago And you wouldn't have to swim in someone else's pee! Reply Share ●●●
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    Font - lapsteelguitar +4 · 13 hr. ago . To me, this qualifies more as justified revenge. Good for you guys. BTW: I would keep after the city on the FOIA and get that persons name. And let the HOA know about their incompetence. Reply Share 246 rovingdad +1 11 hr. ago Once you have the name or entity making the complaints send them a cease and desist letter. ↑ 71 Reply Share
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    Font - MysteriousFeetInc 13 hr. ago Back then, HOAs didn't want me. Now I'm hot, HOAs all on me. 4286 Reply Share nish8888 11 hr. ago . Before i came into this neighborhood tha hoa showed me no love ! ↑ 37 Reply Share
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    Font - Remote Broccoli - 12 hr. ago And this kids, is why HOA's are dumb, and they are usually run by people so power horny that they forget what they are there for in the beginning. 136 Reply Share Kooky-Exchange5990 Pretty much sums up all elected officials. HOA, city, county, state, national, and world. 32 12 hr. ago ●●● Reply Share
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    Font - gaudrhin 14 hr. ago That is the dream. Well done! 35 . Reply Share
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    Font - Sirano_onaris 11 hr. ago All I ever hear about HOA's is bad tha I ha I never understand why anyone would join them ↑ 15 Reply Share
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    Font - +1.4 hr. ago You...intentionally tried to join an HOA when you didn't have to? WTF is wrong with you? OneSplendid Fellow ↑ 11 11 ↓ Reply Share
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landowner hoa neighbors neighborhood homeowner neighborhood-drama neighborhood-stories home improvement hoa-karen Bad Neighbor karen
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