'They charged me $500 for leaving a glass cup on the BBQ': 20+ HOA horror stories

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 17, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

When you want to be charged several hundred dollars for decorating your home as you wish, the HOA is your organization. These notorious corrupt groups seem to love handing out massive fines for tiny little violations. Home Owner's Associations, or HOAs, are groups of people who are supposed to look out for the well-being of their community. But instead, they seem to spend an awful lot of time messing around. 

For example, one person's HOA horror story involved them painting their house a new color. The HOA came by their house to complain that this freshly painted house had to be coated in a whole new layer of paint. Why? Oh, well because the house was painted a greenish-brown instead of the "yucca brown" the HOA required. That story, which you can read below, was also one of those cases where corruption was ruining the HOA for everyone. It turns out that someone was getting kickbacks for repainting the houses! How very shady of them. 

After you check out these horrible home owner's associations, read about the bridezilla who insisted one of her bridesmaids change almost everything about her appearance, with friends adding that the bewildered bridesmaid "was being stubborn." 

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  • 01
    F TR
    via Trayan on Unsplash
  • 02
    What's your "nightmare HOA" story?
    via u/bookluvr83
  • 03
    The_Pip My dad lives in one of those weird Over 50 communities. He was a member of their equivalent to an HOA. He was asked what mulch to get for the properties. He thought it was a nothing decision so he picked one. His email was flooded with complaints about how the mulch was Too Dark.
    via u/The_Pip
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    Flooded, legit angry hate mail. They actually did go buy new mulch, it was crazy. TL;DR: Your HOA has to deal with your BS too sometimes. They still typically and 90% of them have no justification for even existing.
    via u/The_Pip
  • 05
    rbf2000 My at-the-time girlfriend (now wife) rented a townhouse with friends in a community that had an HOA. There was a parking reserved for guests of the tenants. Ironically, parking was always an issue for my wife and her roommates but always simple for me - I just popped on the visitor's pass and was good to go in that lot.
    via u/rbf2000
  • 06
    I spent the night probably once or twice a week, and one day I awoke to find my car missing. After some ace detective work, I found out that my 10-year-old (at the time) 5-speed manual transition Honda had not been stolen, but just towed. When I reached out to the HOA, they told me that there was a provision in the bylaws that said a car could only be parked in a visitor's
    via u/rbf2000
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    spot for a maximum of 72 hours and that a board member submitted my car to a list of cars to be towed due to "abusing" a visitor's pass. They argued the language in the bylaws was such that the total amount of time that a car may be parked in the visitor's lot was 72 hours, non-consecutively (i.e., if you park there once a week
    via u/rbf2000
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    for 10 hours each week, on the 8th week we are in violation of the policy). This in opposition to the clear purpose of the provision, which is to prevent people from storing their cars in the lot. They summarily denied my request at the next HOA meeting to recover the $150 towing fee.
    via u/rbf2000
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    Long story short, I sued them in small claims court and got back the towing fee plus court costs (plus, they engaged a lawyer, so I feel good about wasting some of their retainer as well).
    via u/rbf2000
  • 10
    naigung I would sit in my yard with my dog between 4 and 6 pm every Friday for 3 months. Why? Because the HOA would measure my grass every Friday. My lawn guy was the best and I refused to switch. However, he could only come on Saturday. HOA let us choose which day we inspected. Everyone voted
    via u/naigung
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    for Saturdays. They secretly vetoed it and came Fridays but CLAIMED it was Saturday they were coming. To prove this, I sat with my dog every Friday waiting for him. He would park, wait a while, then go to another street and measure there. My street was the only one who didn't receive fines for breaking the agreement. It became a party when everyone figured out what I was doing.
    via u/naigung
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    People would cook out in the front and we would all go throw on coals and food as needed. I got reported for something or other after the 3 month marker, so I brought my supercut 3 months of time stamped videos and submitted them to the HOA distribution list before I went to meet with them. There were 40/50 people there because we had organized a day to go and air grievances. It was
    via u/naigung
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    maybe the best time I ever spent with any HOA.
    via u/naigung
  • 14
    gimp2x Upscale beach neighborhood, Repeatedly refused my solar panel application, sighted the location of them as being an eye sore (top of the back side of the house....not visible from street) and fought me at four different meetings, delaying my installation, ultimately cited. the state law and they immediately backed down
    via u/gimp2x
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    and amended their covenants- ps, a clothes line is a "solar collection device" and they cannot deny you use of that either, so if you want to play dirty- hang a bunch of beach towels in your yard!
    via u/gimp2x
  • 16
    OPS_Mom_and_D... I lived in a neighborhood with a park in the center, located directly behind my back fence. The entire neighborhood was managed by the same HOA company, but the neighborhood was officially set up as two different HOA communities. Even though it was on the other side of my fence, the park was designated as part
    via u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad
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    of the community I was not in. On multiple occasions, the irrigation system in the park broke and completely flooded my backyard. Three or four times over a span of a few months, I woke up to literally a foot and a half of water. Over time, my brick fire pit literally sank into the ground an entire layer of brick, water came into my kitchen on two of the
    via u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad
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    occasions, and every time my home's foundation looked weaker and weaker after clean up. I called to complain to the HOA each time. The flooding almost always happened on a weekend, and it wouldn't be until Monday that they came out, leaving my home. flooded for a minimum of two days each time.
    via u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad
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    After the third or fourth complaint, I finally reported them to the BBB and the Water Authority, and I sent a video to the local news. The next business day the head of the HOA company called me furious. Despite all the pictures and videos I'd sent, she said she was convinced I was making it all up. When I pressed her why she thought that, she specifically said it was
    via u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad
  • 20
    because "The park can't be flooding your house. It's not even part of the same HOA community you live in!"
    via u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad
  • 21
    scottevil110 We've only been part of an HOA for the last few months, and it's already living up to every stereotype I ever had in my head. They held our once-annual meeting with very little notice, and like 6 people showed up. They elected a new "association" and immediately decided to spend $700 on dog
    via u/scottevil110
  • 22
    receptacles, even though like 4 people have dogs, and the whole neighborhood is one street. This sparked an incredible amount of drama. One guy on the HOA decided he was going to get super defensive when people started questioning this decision, and it quickly devolved into him just taunting people on Facebook because he was
    via u/scottevil110
  • 23
    on the board and they weren't, and if they didn't. like his authority, they should change the by-laws. Then someone left a bunch of dog in his driveway. Then he resigned from the HOA. No word on the dog receptacles. This has all happened in the past 3 days.
    via u/scottevil110
  • 24
    kukukele Lived in a high-rise in Chicago that had an HOA full of old people with too much money. Fortunately, I was only renting, but I was curious to learn about the HOA and they were gracious enough to let me sit-in. The condo had just built a brand new outdoor patio for
    via u/kukukele
  • 25
    grilling, etc. The powers- that-be didn't like the shade of red of the cobblestone brick that they laid for the area, so they allocated $1M to redo the entire area with new brick. There were a few attendees who were young professionals who protested, but they were heavily outvoted by the contingent of wealthy old
    via u/kukukele
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    people who felt this was a justifiable use of funds. Outrageous.
    via u/kukukele
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    Jmpa87 Mother in law was fighting stage 4 ovarian cancer a few years ago. Had no desire to take down our Christmas lights. We were constantly visiting the hospital, was very touch and go. Had a child under 1. Was a very emotional time. HOA compliance officer constantly would stop at our house at all hours of the day.
    via u/Jmpa87
  • 28
    We had security cameras so finally after reviewing the footage we called the guard shack to see what the emergency was. We were told that Christmas has been over for 3 weeks and we need to have our lights down before the end of the month or he would fine us $25 a day for the first week, then $50 each day after that. We explained
    via u/Jmpa87
  • 29
    the situation, and the guy said well it's not my problem take your lights down. My wife exploded on the Went to the next board meeting and let loose on the board and general manager. Turns out it wasn't a HOA policy. The guy worked for the security company that was hired to work the main entrance guard shack, and would get a bonus if he would patrol
    via u/Jmpa87
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    and hand out fines for HOA violations. This would just drive around and make up his own rules and fines and by the next meeting was fired, and a new security company was hired when the contact was up in the summer. Everything worked out in the end. fired, MIL cancer free for over a year.
    via u/Jmpa87
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    S Ipplsay Was told to have 10 year old trees removed (which was apparently approved by the board we found out like all landscaping) because in the winter they turn brownish and lose the leaves. Also got a notice asking how long we'd have a Toyota Tundra truck in our driveway over Xmas. Cousin stayed with us 2 nights.
    via u/S***pplsay
  • 32
    PsychNurse6685 They charged me $500 for leaving a glass cup on the bbq. I was My blood boils just thinking about it. I have so many other horrible stories like my wall was flooded inside and they refused to fix it even though it was a HOA problem. I pay $617 monthly. F bastards
    via u/PsychNurse6685
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    jeffbarge My dad was telling me a story about their HOA this week. A homeowner in their neighborhood passed away, and hadn't yet paid their HOA dues for the month. AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE, the HOA president approached the mourning family and asked what their
    via u/jeffbarge
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    plans were for paying the back dues, and for paying any dues until the house. was sold. Simply amazing.
    via u/jeffbarge
  • 35
    pigeonshark My family has been part of one for maybe 5 or 6 years now, and they We had to cut down a tree when we first moved in because its roots were cutting into the sewage pipes and backing up all our drains. To do that, we had to get approved to cut it down and that took a few weeks.
    via u/pigeonshark
  • 36
    So we couldn't take a shower or flush a toilet for like 2 weeks. They also keep telling us to power wash our driveway, so we did once. We haven't done it again, but they think we did??? They also keep raising the fees and giving no reason for it. I would expect that if they were adding things into the neighborhood or fixing
    via u/pigeonshark
  • 37
    something, but they just took out a few fountains from the lakes and they don't keep outside lights on anymore so they should be saving money. Also you can only paint your house certain colors and I don't think you can use sidewalk chalk in the neighborhood either.
    via u/pigeonshark
  • 38
    boatloadoffunk A friend of mine lives year around in a luxury condo with a view of a popular ski slope. His buddy a few doors down is the HOA president. Just the two of them for the majority of the year. Nice and calm. Then when ski season starts, hold on to your hat. The east coast millionaires don't shut the with their complaints when they live. there for three weeks.
    via u/boatloadoffunk
  • 39
    elSenorMaquina My parents modified the front porch, and now it was different from the other houses in the block. Once it was done, a middle aged lady comes out of nowhere (I had never seen her before, nor she ever talked to us before) to kindly warn us that we had just lost the right to vote on HOA or some like that since we did an "unauthorized
    via u/elSenorMaquina
  • 40
    modification". We replied with the equivalent of "K, thanks". And, once again, we haven't seen her ever since. It's like she crawled out of her lair to inform us that we lost a right we didn't even use, as if it were a huuuge major offense. that.
    via u/elSenorMaquina
  • 41
    RaxDomina Other way around, my mom was the president of the HOA for her backwoods little neighborhood. Maybe 30 people lived there. Everyone used one well. The well had a problem once so no one had water. It was 800 dollars for a temporary fix or 2000 for a permanent fix... My mom had a meeting where out of
    via u/RaxDomina
  • 42
    the 30 ppl 5 showed up. No big deal, those 5 people funded the 800 dollars to get it fixed since they've been without water for almost a week. No one would spilt the cost and dues were so low it didn't cover them so those 5 people paid for everyone's well. Well in preparation for the actual fix she tried to raise money but only got half
    via u/RaxDomina
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    away there when it broke. My mom went door to door asking for everyone's share before they'd fix it. It was like 50 dollars. It was another week without water. No one would pay for the well they all used. Finally around half of the neighborhood raised the money to fix it. Later they all had a huge BBQ at my parents house but the people who didn't pay weren't invited
    via u/RaxDomina
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    WhiskeylsntEnough Oh boy do I have a good one Obligatory not me but my best friend. My best friend, S, grew up in Suburban Arizona. His family owned their home and rarely had problems with their HOA other than it being generally facist. It all started with some cardboard boxes. S and his
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
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    sister, at the ripe age of around 6 or 7, wanted to make a fort in their front yard, their dad being the great guy he was helped them build a cardboard box fort for them to play in. Being kids, they played in the fort for a couple hours and proceeded to get distracted elsewhere. Not a day later they received posted notices on the door and phone calls informing.
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
  • 46
    them they need to clean the "unsightly" garbage out of their yard or be faced with fines. It wasn't a huge deal, but left the family a bit jaded towards the HOA. Fast forward a handful of years later, S's dad decides he wants to paint the house. Now if you don't know most HOAs have strict rules on the color and send templates for you to pick off of. He said the templates
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
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    ranged from tan to slightly different tan. S's dad finds a color he likes that's more of a greenish tan and sends it, paints the whole house. The HOA proceeds to have a melt down because they painted their house out side of the allowed color spectrum. S's dad says no way it's basically the same color I'm not repainting my entire house. So the HOA hires a contractor to come down
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
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    with a paint color tester and posts notices on their door with a detailed analysis of how his color is yucca tan and doesn't fit the spectrum and if they don't repaint by the end of the month they will be fined. Instead of folding, S's Mom finds out when the next meeting is and discovers no one votes, the same dude as been president of the HOA for way too long, and their is
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
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    some shady I going on in terms of contracting. So she walks around the neighborhood the next few weeks "campaigning" and runs. She wins by a landslide. Largest turnout for and HOA meeting since its inception. Apparently everyone was also sick and tired of the but just bent over.
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
  • 50
    So S's mom is elected president and dicovers that the previous regime was doing the ole hookup my son-in-law by contracting his company and pay him stupid amounts of money to water the sand wash that She quickly ends all Rather than change any rules other than a few stupid ones. The S Family office just decided to refuse to enforce any of them.
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
  • 51
    S's mom goes years as president. Recently she decided and didn't show up to the election and someone else got elected. Now the new guy is trying to enforce the old rules, but everyone is so use to the freedom there is a war going on. Tldr: HOA act like shady douches and Mom wins via democracy
    via u/WhiskeylsntEnough
  • 52
    elevenghosts Like two days before I bought a condo, I was told that I would be blocked from moving in unless I paid the first month's HOA dues. So the morning of the closing, I went to the management company's office and dropped off a check. I moved in without issue and then continued to pay my dues on time each month.
    via u/elevenghosts
  • 53
    Like 4 years later, I got an invoice for $800+. Apparently, they never cashed that first check. So when I paid the next month, they credited it toward my first month and assessed a late fee. This continued for 4 years where every month's check was credited to the previous month. I got in a huge argument with the accounting office and they
    via u/elevenghosts
  • 54
    TheRealCBlazer My HOA and their management company had a scam where they would not cash any dues check you sent them, no matter when you sent it, until after it was due, so they could add late fees. I would send the checks via Certified Mail, with delivery confirmation and return
    via u/TheRealCBlazer
  • 55
    receipts, received with days. to spare, and they still wouldn't cash them. Payment via their website never worked. I would call and try to pay by credit card over the phone, and they would just hang up. I handed the check to them in person... They still waited and charged a late fee.
    via u/TheRealCBlazer
  • 56
    Then they refused to sign the closing paperwork when I sold my house. The delay almost cost me the sale. I'm honestly not sure if they were scumbags or just criminally lazy. Both are infuriating.
    via u/TheRealCBlazer
  • 57
    Arch27 My mom's been going through a lot of stupid HOA I recently. Two and a half years ago she needed a new storm door, and contacted the HOA to get the proper paperwork for the request. Seven attempts and three weeks later, after getting zero reply from the HOA she decided to just go through
    via u/Arch27
  • 58
    with it by contacting the contractor the HOA uses and having them install one of their standard doors. She needed the door changed because the one in place was broken, and didn't want to risk having to endure them installing in late fall/winter. This past November, the HOA contacted her saying
    via u/Arch27
  • 59
    her door was in violation of their standards and that she was required to change it before January. She contacted a lawyer over it, - and long story short - she has to change the door. I told her that the HOA can go themselves because she tried to do it their way and they never responded. On top of that, who didn't notice the door in TWO YEARS TIME? It's obvious
    via u/Arch27
  • 60
    it's not the same as the doors on the other condos from as far back as you can see her unit.The real story here is that the guy in charge of the HOA is a power-tripping enforces the by-laws who whenever he feels like it. Complete "big fish in a little pond" scenario, but he's really a small fish in the smallest pond. Pushing around a 65 year old retiree -
    via u/Arch27
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    over a $300 door (which for some reason they told her was nearly $4,000?) is bush league
    via u/Arch27
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    -OldAndInTheWay- They sued me for thousands of dollars in late fees. The day after Christmas. I was told my dues date was the 15th when I bought the house. Paid the 13th for a year or more. It was actually the 1st of the month. Turns out the admin at the management co. input my
    via u/-OldAndInTheWay-
  • 63
    previous address, an apartment, when setting up my account, so I never saw a late notice. Explained the situation, they said "No exceptions". I couldn't afford a lawyer to fight it.
    via u/-OldAndInTheWay-
  • 64
    fiv... I swear to god my HOA has a camera pointed directly at my house and hired somebody to watch it 24/7. Plumber came in to change my toilet and put the old one on the sidewalk next to his plumbing van while he was working for about 30 minutes. Got a letter from the HOA a week later that said "Owner will remove
    via u/fiveSE7EN
  • 65
    toilet from front yard". How dense do you have to be to not see what was going on there? Oh my toilet garden idea isn't allowed? muppets. Although these omnipresent have "neighborhood watch" signs posted all over, nobody was J watching when my motorcycle was stolen from my driveway the one time I
    via u/fiveSE7EN
  • 66
    didn't pull it up onto my patio. So, for my next motorcycle, I was sure to pull it onto my patio (behind a gate and out of sight) every time I rode. It was only visible from the street for about 15 seconds while I unlocked the gate and came back out to push the bike. Got a letter that said "Owner will remove motorcycle from patio". YOU
    via u/fiveSE7EN
  • 67
    kiasrai My story is more of an almost nightmare. My husband and I were looking for condos forever but no place had a garage space (we live near downtown), which is our #1 item on our list of needs. One pops up that is everything we could have asked for, it was $10k (total of about $140,000) over what we wanted to spend but it was PERFECT.
    via u/kiasrai
  • 68
    We ask the realtor to look into why it was suspiciously affordable, considering the neighborhood, size, condition, etc. Turns out, the building was doing some exterior renovations and it was going to be costing each unit, out of pocket, $60,000. Holy. In the month after we
    via u/kiasrai
  • 69
    had viewed that condo, 7 more units from that building went up for sale because everyone was trying to jump ship.
    via u/kiasrai
  • 70
    MIKETROUT This isn't quite a traditional HOA story but I still think it is interesting. So at my school they closed off a fence letting kids go out one way, to walk home. Because of this my walk home was extended like 5 minutes, but it was still annoying. However one old dude named Frank let me walk through his yard to
    via u/MIKETROUT
  • 71
    dramatically slow down the time of my walk home. Then he died (RIP) and his son liked me and gave me cookies, and then said the HOA said I couldn't do it anymore. I'm still a bit bitter but the cookies were very good so it all evens out.
    via u/MIKETROUT

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