'We screwed them out of potentially millions': Jealous HOA Karen's shrubbery objections unearth interesting details about the HOA's policies

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 26, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

Things can get serious when it comes to shrubberies, especially when you're going head-to-head against the local HOA's mode meddling member… or on a quest for the Holy Grail. Whether it's a Knight of Ni or an HOA Karen, you'd best have your wits about you when they come around making demands about shrubberies and their appearances. 

When you decide to go meddling with things that you ought not to be meddling with you, you need to be careful. And that's because you might send someone on the warpath who was just leading a peaceable existence and minding their own business. That person might go on to ask questions of their own and unearth things that you might wish they hadn't. Still, it seems that people who find themselves in these positions through recklessly enforcing their "authority" generally were incompetent enough to misunderstand the situation in the first place. 

This is how it was when this HOA Karen began pestering this family about the buses they had planted in their front garden, declaring that they weren't approved by the HOA and demanding that they tear them out and replace them under threat of a fine. After repeated threats, the couple got a lawyer involved and soon found that they weren't the ones who were going to be out of pocket.

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  • 01
    Plant - "Fetch us another shrubbery..." "We screwed them out of potentially millions."
    via fanpop / Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Rolandscythe HOA didn't like our bushes so we screwed them out of potentially millions. It was suggested I post this story here so here goes. I once lived in a neighborhood where the stuck up Karen of a president kept leaving us 'warnings' that we needed to tear out the flowering bushes in our front garden plot because they weren't HOA approved'. They were witchhazel and sedum and I
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 03
    Font - suspect the lady was more jealous that our yard stayed colorful through autumn while most of the houses around us looked bare once it got cold out. We would get a letter every now and then about how the bushes had to be torn out and replaced with 'approved' shrubbery. After the second letter they sent us a notice that we were being fined for the bushes remaining.
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 04
    Font - After the fourth such complaint I finally talked to a lawyer friend of mine who set up a court hearing and went over the HOA rules and charters to see what we were dealing with. Turned out that not only did the HOA have absolutely no say over what residents in the area could plant on their own property, but since our house and the lot it was built on was part of the original neighborhood BEFORE the land around it was developed and the HOA was established, we were grandfathered in against
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 05
    Font - I understand other residents who lived in the older houses in the area also looked into whether or not they were obligated to pay fees. Also saw a lot more people planting all sorts of exotic looking flowers, trees, and bushes after that. All because Karen didn't like the bushes.
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 06
    Font - D cynical-mage That made me sigh in happiness. 42.5K Reply Share OctarineSkybus Truly uplifting. 373 Reply Share TurtleSandwicho Uplifting and not uprooting. ↑ 199 Reply Share
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 07
    Font - Q10Offsuit Great revenge. Nice, succinct story. 10/10 Reply Share 679 MattRenez I'm so used to opening a post and needing to scroll a mile to see a tl;dr. What a beautiful thing 116 Reply Share Q10Offsuit Agreed. I have neither the time, nor the attention span to read 98% of them. Reply Share 23
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 08
    Font - Witty_Goose_7724 I absolutely love HOA revenge stories. I had some issues with my HOA and they snuck into our yard and ripped everything in my backyard while we were out of town. Even though I had gotten approval for my yard work from the previous board members and I sent them copies of the letters. I won't get into all the details (although they're pretty juicy). I sued them and they lost so much money that they had to increase the dues for everyone. Our property was exempt for a couple
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 09
    Font - Accomplished_Sir5178 Glad you didn't destroy your plants and will no longer have to pay HOA fees and deal with the "Karen". 122 Reply Share
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 10
    Font - Ken-Popcorn My only question is why OP ever paid the fees to begin with 84 Reply Share Gadgetman_1 These HOAs prey on new owners moving into older buildings in or around their area. As soon as they hear about someone moving in, they show up and present themselves, hand over some paperwork and pretend that the previous owner was also a member, without saying it outright... If your house is also excempt from a nearby HOA, leave a note that the new tenants will find the first day. Never trus
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 11
    Font - 91 MrZaroni Karen should've stayed in her lane lol Reply Share 19
    via u/Rolandscythe
  • 12
    Font - Thepatrone36 HOA's can get ridiculous from time to time. Currently there's a battle going on regarding if you can have a refrigerator in your RV port (where it can't really be seen unless you look really hard for it) vs on your back porch (where it most definitely can't be seen unless you look REALLY hard for it). Personally the way I like to keep my property regardless falls in line with HOA policies and they all know that I'm sitting back, watching them, with barely concealed amusement.
    via u/Rolandscythe

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karens hoa karen hoa neighbors neighborhood homeowner neighborhood-drama bad neighbors neighborhood-stories terrible neighbors Bad Neighbor karen neighbor
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