'They fined me for leaving my garage door open': 25 Overeager HOAs who love peeking over fences and slinging fines at their residents

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 17, 2023 11:00 AM EST

HOAs are determined to keep their neighborhoods looking pristine, no matter what. If you happen to live a neighborhood rules by a home owner's association, you don't always have a lot of choice about how to keep your home. For example, you might want to paint your home a nice warm yellow color, but lots of HOAs have a strict color palette you need to choose from. So the HOA could easily reject your request, and insist you paint your place a boring gray color instead. 

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  • These people below were asked about their worst experiences with HOAs. I was expecting to read stories about HOAs taking things way too far, but for a lot of people, the issue was the constant surveillance. It wasn't about one big issue, but a lot of little issues that garnered fine after fine after fine. One person wrote that their HOA fined them for having three small pebbles… on their driveway made of rocks. Come on now! That's the silliest thing ever. That level of surveillance would make anyone exhausted. 

    Check out these really insightful and interesting anecdotes below. Then, when these people were acting on autopilot, they did some pretty silly things, like putting their Bluetooth headphones in the freezer to charge. 

  • 01
    P 0-11 1
    via Dillon Kydd on Unsplash
  • 02
    Homeowners of Reddit, what's the worst experience with your HOA that you've had?
    via u/Neo1928
  • 03
    mymassiveness I was threatened with an $85 fine because they claimed my tree was shading the sidewalk by 2". It was such an odd complaint. I just wondered what kind of person was involved with that report.
    via u/mymassiveness
  • 04
    outbound A few months after buying my home, I received a snotty letter from the property manager stating that I hadn't been paying my fees and that they were going to take legal action. I checked my bank statement, and the cheques had cleared. I wrote back to the property manager, told him that the tone of his letter was extreme for a first letter for a minor issue and not appreciated. I also included duplicate copies of the cheques and stated that
    via u/outbound
  • 05
    I had verified with my bank that they had all cleared. I also copied the 8 board members (and included the snotty letter from the property manager). The next evening, the board president stopped by and apologized. The board agreed that the property manager's letter was inappropriate and that they would speak with him. Two weeks later, a notice was posted in the community building that the property management company had been dismissed and that the board had selected a new one.
    via u/outbound
  • 06
    Apart from that, nothing much exciting. They didn't like how I had run an antenna cable up the back of the house (admittedly it was a bit sloppy), so they sent the maintenance guy over to offer me guidance on their standards and he helped me clean it up.
    via u/outbound
  • 07
    + [deleted] We would get written up for the smallest that isn't even visible from our neighbors properties. We were really confused how we kept getting written up for that stuff, until an HOA worker accidentally admitted on Facebook that they go into people's fenced in yards to look for stuff.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 08
    This is a big problem because my dogs love running away, so if some HOA lady comes opening up my gate to write me up on how tall my flowers are, my dogs are gonna run away, and possible get hurt, or worse. It me off.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    Trailerparkqueen We wanted to stucco our block fence walls in our back and side yards. The front and anything visible to the street already was, but the inside of he backyard, was just plain block. We petitioned the architectural committee for our HOA and they said yes. Submitted the plans and they said yes. She even emailed me saying it looked really great! We were using licensed professionals and had submitted their plans. Since there were no issues, and we got the ok, we went ahead
    via u/Trailerparkqueen
  • 10
    and stuccoed the walls. A few years later, the HOA company had changed to another. The new one was quite aggressive with notices and fines and they fined us for the terra cotta stucco of our backyard walls. I submitted the explanation and emails from the previous HOA management company, showing that they approved it (and loved it!). They responded basically saying they didn't give a and we had to take it down. I cannot take stucco ! We had down. What the a beautiful backyard!
    via u/Trailerparkqueen
  • 11
    Actually they objected to the whole backyard, which was a gorgeous pool and golf putting green, but they acquiesced the rest and honed in on the stucco. I said no!! A year later we went to sell our house and they held up the whole thing for $7000. bastards stole $7000 from me. I will never be in an HOA again!!
    via u/Trailerparkqueen
  • 12
    Trailerparkqueen They fined me for leaving my garage door open. I was notified by registered mail, with a picture of our garage door open. Literally IN THE PICTURE is a garage door company truck parked in front, with their business name clearly marked on the side- and the guy was replacing 2 slats- at the time of the picture being taken. Yes, fined $50 for having the garage door open while a garage door man repaired it.
    via u/Trailerparkqueen
  • 13
    senrabsinned . After reading these stories I have the best HOA, $25 a year and that is just to cover the cost of having a private company come clear the snow off our streets so we don't have to wait days for the city to do it. Other than that, they don't really care what you do.
    via u/senrabsinned
  • 14
    [deleted] When I lived with my parents back a few years ago, they moved into a very nice, large house in a smallish community that had an HOA. Initially, the HOA told my parents as well as all our neighbors that every month they had to pay a fee. So the first month my parents were billed for the HOA fee and paid it. Then, after a couple months, there were no bills or notices at all that told my parents they needed to pay a fee. They even called to make sure they didn't miss any payments and the
    via u/[deleted]
  • 15
    charge of handling the payments said they were all good. Fast forward a few years and the HOA calls a meeting for the community and tells everyone they're all delinquent on their HOA fees and wanted to charge my parents and their neighbors backpay plus interest. Of course, everyone was extremely upset, especially the couple who were underwater on their house. Anyways the HOA got chewed out and had legal action to deal with, so now they're deciding to use a different company to handle their HOA f
    via u/[deleted]
  • 16
    Its RainingSomewhere So, I lived in a condo building. Nothing fancy. Our neighbor, who was on the board, had birds. Annoying squawking mother 'birds. The HOA has a no pet rule that was put in after she moved in, so her stupid birds were grandfathered in. Whatever. Then she writes up some thing asking us to allow only birds as pets because she wants more birds. I desperately wanted a dog, so I asked her to consider having a pet policy that included common house pets like dogs
    via u/Its RainingSomewhere
  • 17
    and cats because a just bird policy doesn't really make a lot of sense. No. She went with just birds. So I wrote up a rebuttal about all the reason birds are terrible pets (can you imagine several people per floor in our non soundproof units with birds?!) I almost got fined for solicitation because I left a stack of copies of my letter to the board near the mailboxes because they wouldn't allow me to read it at a meeting. Eventually it was found out that our current no pets policy was void becau
    via u/Its RainingSomewhere
  • 18
    actually a bylaw, it was just something they tacked into the paperwork unofficially. So, the lady comes to my door one day and tells me I can get a dog. I'm over the moon. I get a dog like 2 days later. She then accuses my dog of making every single stain on every single piece of carpet in the place, regardless of proof. She sent vague but creepy letters about how we were being carefully watched and how we could incur fees for any damage on the property.
    via u/Its RainingSomewhere
  • 19
    Any time a flower had been trampled on or a patch of dead grass was discovered, it was my dog's fault. It was miserable. We moved out.
    via u/Its RainingSomewhere
  • 20
    throwaway4noreasons Posted this before, but my grandpa got a letter once from his HOA stating that his shed didn't match his house and that he would have to paint it. My grandpa's shed is not visible from the front of the house, not even if you climbed up on the wall and looked over. You have to be physically in the backyard to see it. His next door neighbor
    via u/throwaway4noreasons
  • 21
    had a shed that was visible from the street though, and it did not match his house. So my grandpa called up the HOA and laid into them until they finally hung up on him
    via u/throwaway4noreasons
  • 22
    TannerTwaggs We have a xeriscape front lawn (it's basically just a bunch of pretty rocks) One day, We had been gone at a family dinner all this day They find us $125 for have rocks on our drive way. We were confused at first but then we flipped the paper over and there was a picture.... THERE WHERE THREE ROCKS in our driveway that got tracked there when we left that morning....
    via u/TannerTwaggs
  • 23
    Kylekins47 My parents bought a house in Northern California, and loved the fact that they were in a gated community. The president of the HOA was their next door neighbor, and man, was this lady a grade A 1. I visited years ago, and stayed in their guest room, faces the front of the house. She came home, overheard a phone conversation I was having with a friend of mine, and got upset that "I was using profane language". Instead of simply getting over herself, or maybe even knocking on our door t
    via u/Kylekins47
  • 24
    window, she calls the police for a noise complaint. They show up, realize that it's only me at the house (my parents were out having dinner), and seemed puzzled to why they were called. I was also puzzled, until she walked out to tell her side of the story. I got irritated, and basically told her that she was acting a bit insane. That was a bad decision. From there on out, she was horrible to my parents. My parents were quite people, and never had people over, so there was nothing for her to com
    via u/Kylekins47
  • 25
    come home from a short vacation to see their tree is gone. This wasn't just some little tree, it was an enormous cherry tree, that provided the entire front of the house with shade. They went over to her house, rightfully upset, and asked what happened. She said that when the trees were planted, they were treated in a way that would leave them not producing fruit, as the fruit litters the street. She then also mentioned that it was keeping her from being able to take walks barefoot, because she
    via u/Kylekins47
  • 26
    the block without a large tree, didn't like because this I stepping on cherries.
    via u/Kylekins47
  • 27
    onmymccloud45 The head of my HOA has been watching me whenever I take my dog out. He literally waits by the window in the evenings to see if I take my dog onto the grass by the back of my apartment. This is communal grass, but I have checked the rules many times and NOWHERE does it state dogs aren't allowed on it. I've even seen him let his dog out on that grass and the dog will often do it's business there when he's not watching.
    via u/onmymccloud45
  • 28
    He's left an anonymous, handwritten note taped to my door saying that he's seen me going out there and to stop. I know it's him because he has very distinct writing. The next closest place is the park next door, which is closed after sundown, and park rangers have said not to use it in the dark. Turns out this HOA guy has basically forced all of the other dog owners to use that park anyways.
    via u/onmymccloud45
  • 29
    SecretInsemination Nothing too major, but we get letters every so often in the mail addressing things that aren't to their code. Clovers in the front yard, too much moss in the cracks on the driveway, trash bins left on the curb too long, etc.
    via u/SecretInsemination
  • 30
    ✪ [deleted] Mailboxes and sheds. My friends dad wanted to build a garage kinda shed situation in his back yard and they said it had to be the same brick...the same roof...the same vinyl siding.
    via u/ [deleted]
  • 31
    His solution: he went to the contractors building the rest of the sub and every time they finished a house he would ask for the extra bricks or roofing and stuff. It was a huge sub so it all built up over time. Then he paid the contractors to build his garage and use all the supplies he built up over time. A big win in my opinion. He did the math and it cost him about 15% what it would have if he bought the stuff himself and hired the contractors through their companies as opposed to a side job.
    via u/ [deleted]
  • 32
    Malakai I had a stationwagon (93 mercury sable) Back in 2002. I used daily to go to school for two years. Weekly we would get a letter from the HOA claiming that they do not allow abandoned or non-working cars in driveways. The car wasn't in bad shape, the paint was all intact, it was just ugly. I drove the thing every single day and had to spend months fighting the HOA that no it was not an abandoned or non- working car.
    via u/
  • 33
    This isnt a "neighbor" thing as our neighbors could not see into our driveway. The HOA police would just patrol the neighborhood nightly and report it. I had to fight this for the life of the car, started getting fee's which I would protest. Story 2: My buddies HOA was a nightmare. He would get threatning letters twice a week about weeds in his yard. He would mow the lawn three or four times a week but still weeds would pop up. The reason? The house directly to his left and to his right were
    via u/
  • 34
    empty and not being maintained. As the lawns were attached they would snake their way over to his yard. He could mow his lawn on Wednesday night, and Thursday midday he'd recieve a letter. He ended up going to court over it. In the end he recieved some cash and the HOA had to pay landscapers to take care of the empty houses lawns.
    via u/
  • 35
    Story 3: My current HOA is starting to be a pain. Our trash bins are huge and I was storing them in nook to the side of the house. These are NOT visible from the street as I have hedges, you can only see them if you walk onto my patio/front door walkpath. Still got a letter that they had to be moved. Also I started getting letters due to "tree trimmings". I have African Sumac trees in the front and they're currently dropping leaves every day. All of my neighbors have the same trees. Daily our ca
    via u/
  • 36
    covered by leaves. You could blow out/clean out the yard every day and never get enough of it up to make a difference.
    via u/
  • 37
    [deleted] I got a picture in the mail of my trash cans at the end of the driveway overnight along with a fine. I had to go out of town for work overnight, oh well. Most people don't know that in most places HOA fines are not enforceable so I tossed it out. If they really cared they would have moved the trash cans up the driveway, it was a very short driveway.
    via u/
  • 38
    o_fthemouth I had moved out of my house and converted it to a rental. The HOA required a ridiculous amount of paperwork and had to approve renting the property as well as the people you were renting to. They took forever to do this. You would submit the paperwork once you found someone to rent to, and they wouldn't have processed it by the time the person was to move in, so you
    via u/
  • 39
    either would lose the renter, or you would allow them to move in and then the HOA would threaten to evict them and take the rent proceeds. It was insane.
    via u/
  • 40
    nobodycaresfool Constantly received letters that said: I can't wash car in driveway, when i would only ever Windex my wife's windshield. My neighbors would regularly wash their cars without a hint of complaint. I can't plant a different color flower without prior approval. My landscape was maintained by HOA managed company
    via u/
  • 41
    Complained my garage door was faded after i freakin waxed it to remove the sun fade. Others in neighborhood had dents, blotchy and faded doors. Same complaint about front door. Only a few select had the same notice and most were renters. Complained about parking in driveway, said i had to use garage. I had to prove i had registered vehicles and that all would not fit in garage.
    via u/
  • 42
    Complained about my old muscle car (a frame off restoration mind you) that i couldn't store a non running vehicle on property. I only drive it once a week. It had a $30k paint job and 600hp motor. It was immaculate Complained about tool chests in garage, said i couldn't use my property to do repair work on vehicles. Only emergency repairs allowed. Even in my garage. With the garage closed. And it goes on... IRVINE!!! So glad i left.
    via u/
  • 43
    then immediately put them away when done. She distributed flyers quoting the HOA rule about returning bins from the curb after pickup with pictures of her holding up a wristwatch to show the time of day next to empty bins (which in itself was kind of hilarious). She wrote these flyers (there were at least 3 editions that I knew of) in "FAQ" style - asking rhetorical questions and giving ridiculous responses:
    via u/
  • 44
    Q: what if I need to leave for work before the trash is removed? A: talk to your employer to let them know you need to arrive late on Mondays in order to keep our neighborhood beautiful! She made it clear that she was 'reporting all violators' and expected the association to take action. I think everyone tried to ignore her, but after a year of this the HOA responded. They changed the normal newsletter into an FAQ format with things like:
    via u/
  • 45
    Q: what if I want to tell my neighbors I don't like their trash bins to sit on the curb? A: distributing flyers is a violation of our neighborhoods solicitation policy. Taking pictures of people's trash bins is weird. And asking people to risk their employment is unreasonable. It was like this glorious collection of 'how to behave like a adult' questions and answers that also included some nuggets I hadn't been aware of (someone complained about pregnant squirrels and wanted them sterilized?). T
    via u/
  • 46
    HOA board was hailed as heros. So then, of course, crazy bin lady applied for a seat on the board. Normally there is an 'election' for neighborhood representatives, but they used to struggle to get people to get involved, so applying was basically saying you'd do it for a year. Suddenly HOA politics was a real thing and like 25 people campaigned for positions on the board. Crazy lady lost. There might be a lesson in there somewhere.
    via u/
  • 47
    ✪ [deleted] My father once touched up the paint on his house. He didn't change the color, just put on a fresh coat because the old one was faded. This was a little over a thousand dollar project, and he painted most of the house himself.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 48
    The HOA told him that since he didn't have the color approved before he painted he was in violation, and they did not approve of the color he chose, so he would have to repaint his house again after the HOA agreed to a new color. When he didn't comply they sued him. It took several months to get the case tossed out of court - basically, because the color didn't change from a previously- approved color he was grandfathered. It was just a huge waste of time and money/court fees.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 49
    TK-427 One of my friends in high school lived in a neighborhood with an HOA ....except his parents from owned the house before the HOA moved in refused to join. So his house was one little island of freedom in a sea of oppression.
    via u/TK-427
  • 50
    Newsletter94 The guy who heads ours comes around our condo neighborhood a few times a week. We got a $300 bill for a bush being exactly a 0.5 inch over the edging. He was the one who measured... Tldr: my bushes look like now, but they're not over the edging :)
    via u/Newsletter94
  • 51
    Hadaeris They made us move our pinwheel so it wouldn't distract drivers, now it's fallen over and we don't bother to right it because we can't see it anyway :(
    via u/Hadaeris
  • 52
    paperconservation101 Owners Corps are like less effective benignly evil HOA in my country. Less outright evil more uselessness. So in my apartment tower block, turns out the Owners Corp a) knows we have the Grenfell Tower cladding b) has known since 2016, When a building in our city went up because of the cladding
    via u/paperconservation101
  • 53
    c) doesnt have any plans to replace it. d) kindly asked everyone not balconies.... to BBQ on their Edit: since I'm a renter I was unaware of the BBQ issue until a month ago
    via u/paperconservation101
  • 54
    PsychNurse6685 Ohhhhhhhhhh even share my nerves are shot. They come into "fix" some plumbing issue and end up taking apart my washer and dryer then conveniently leave without fixing it. my god I can't Then when I contact them they say and I quote " we don't work with washers and dryers contact your landlord" I AM THE LANDLORD YOU F FACE. Despite the HOA coming in and it up they refused to fix what they had broken. It
    via u/PsychNurse6685
  • 55
    took 2 months for them to agree to come in to fix their mess. I ended up having to cuss them out which me off because I'm not that kind of person. Still Ugh I off. I still live there.
    via u/PsychNurse6685
  • 56
    purgatori1 In my old neighborhood, we'd need to have our trash curbside by 6:30am mondays. Sometimes the garbage guys came around at 6:31, sometimes as late as 9am. And, of course, we were asked to put the bins away once they were empty. A normal person would take this to mean 'don't leave your bins sitting on the curb for days'. But we had a neighbor with too much time on her hands that started a campaign around how we should all wait for the garbage truck and
    via u/purgatori1
  • 57
    It. I them off to no end, and he made sure to rub it in. Big block party cookouts on the weekends, washed his camaro in his driveway wearing cut offs and no shirt, had a flag pole in his yard. Its a long story, but he eventually organized a mutiny and took the HOA down. It was pretty glorious
    via u/purgatori1

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