FAIL Blog

‘Board needed to flex their might’: HOA only approves of one roof color, homeowner tricks them into thinking her color is the correct one, gets away with it

"Be an utterly unethical thorn in [the HOA's] side which can never be removed or retaliated against. I'm not locked in with them; they're locked in with me."

Like what you see? Follow our WhatsApp channel for more.

Posted by Elna McHilderson
Advertisement

  • If you are buying a home, deciding if you want to live in a neighborhood that has an HOA or not is a big decision. Some people prefer it because then they just pay for things like sidewalks and certain home renovations to be fixed through the board without having to worry about it themselves. However, many people hate it because now they are being told what they can and cannot do with their own property. And to own property these days is a huge accomplishment! You should be able to do whatever you want with it.

    Well, this homeowner did what she wanted anyway, even though the HOA disapproved. What was it? A trivial matter of what color she can use for the shingles on her roof. She chose three very similar colors, but the board, for whatever snarky reason, decided they did not approve of her first choice. Did she fight it or argue? Nope. She told them, “Okay” and went with the color she wanted anyway. Why? Because she knew they wouldn't be able to tell the difference once it was installed, and she sure was right. Read the whole story of her sticking it to the annoying HOA below! 

  • Advertisement
  • 1
    "She said 'okay,' then had the roofers install her first color choice and has never heard anything about it from the HOA ever since."
    Via pxhere
  • 2
    Board needed to flex their might I recently traveled to my father and stepmother's house, who live in an HOA. This was shortly after a hurricane came through and they had roof damage. I offered to fly my drone and take pictures of damage for preliminary assessment. My stepmother said the roof was almost twenty-five years old and she recalled the story of needing to get HOA board approval for the color of shingles.
    Via betheliquor
  • 3
    She was asked to bring in three shingle samples, ranked by her choice. The board did not reach consensus on her first choice, but unanimously approved her second choice. She said okay, then had the roofers install her first color choice and has never heard anything about it from the HOA ever since. I thought this was peak uck HOA.
    Via betheliquor
  • Advertisement
  • 4
    The_Elus... • 21h ago Edited 20h ago Nice move, but not one I'd agree with. Their HOA could easily come back and force them to remove the unapproved shingles with full legality to do so. I firmly believe that all HOA's are scum, and so are the companies which accept their money.
    Via The_Elusive_Dr_Wu
  • 5
    I think the best way to keep an HOA in check is something I call "an abundance of compliance". Follow every rule, pay every assessment, respect every choice the HOA can legally make. Deny them any ammo to fire back with. I then treat them like the dirt that they are. Beat them over the head. with the CC&R's, force them to work as much as possible, waste their time, call them on their personal phones after hours, squeeze every cent I can out of the dues I'm paying, etc etc.
    Via The_Elusive_Dr_Wu
  • 6
    Be an utterly unethical thorn in their side which can never be removed or retaliated against. I'm not locked in with them; they're locked in with me. I do hope it works out for your parents though. 104 Reply
    Via The_Elusive_Dr_Wu
  • Advertisement
  • 7
    car_raamrod . 17h ago I had a neighbor do something similar, but tricked the HOA Board into picking the shingle color he wanted. He wanted this one color and they rejected it. He was not happy about it because I don't think there was anything wrong with the color, and it wasn't too similar to his neighbors on both sides of his house
    Via car_raamrod
  • 8
    imo. So he came up with a ploy to trick them. When he resubmitted the packet the second time, he picked another color that he knew they wouldn't approve. The 3rd packet he submitted was for the same color as the first packet but he called it a different color, included the first two rejected colors and, changed the first rejected color to something similar but different enough, and they 10 approved it. Reply
    Via car_raamrod
  • 9
    donutsoft 19h ago My tactic as a board member was to do absolutely no enforcement unless a complaint was made, or lives or property was at risk. If you asked for permission, I had to respond in accordance of what the rules stated.
    Via donutsoft
  • Advertisement
  • 10
    Here either the board hasn't seen it, or they don't care about it enough to make you remove it and start over. Just be careful, because just because it isn't enforced now doesn't mean it can't be enforced later. The fact that you've received clear instructions on what to do may count against you in future. ↑ 3 зд Reply
    Via donutsoft
  • 11
    SaintUlvemann 17h ago • I think the best way to keep an HOA in check is something I call "an abundance of compliance". Compliance alone does not prevent the burden of compliance from exceeding the bounds of reason. Being a thorn might make them want to ease the burden of compliance... as a personal indulgence, to make their job easier. If they instead respond to your thorniness by becoming vindictive, thorniness can backfire and make them want to punish you... which
    Via SaintUlvemann
  • 12
    they might, legally, be able to do, making changes that load you with a high compliance burden. I'm not at all saying you've got a bad strategy, just, this seems like the sort of strategy that is right to use against people who are "uncommittedly judgy". When people have a sort of background, low level of entitlement to other people's time and resources, they might be willing to make new issues banning harmless things, but they won't necessarily be willing to commit time to those positions.
    Via SaintUlvemann
  • Advertisement
  • 13
    If the "uncommittedly judgy" get a few members with reactive, vindictive dominance mentalities, then the whole power landscape shifts. Uncommitted judgers often love having a domineer on their side. (On the other hand, if there are no meaningful differences between your home habits and your neighbors', if there's just nothing they can do to single you out, then it pretty much just doesn't matter how they feel... which can be an excellent lesson for a domineer to learn.) +1 3 Reply
    Via SaintUlvemann
  • 14
    • MiceAreTiny 7h ago So, you go one step further. You get shingles for approval, one in "moire black", one in "anthracite" and one in "estate grey". You like the anthracite but the HOA approves the "estate grey". You take a $100 bill, go to your roofer, and tell him to put antracite on your roof, and make sure that "estate grey" is on the bill. What are they going to do, they approved a sample, this is what you paid for. It is not your mistake that under different light conditions, it seems that
    Via MiceAreTiny

Stay up to date by following us on Facebook!

Tags

homeowner costs real estate agent karens buying land hoa hoa stories hoa fees new homebuyer how to handle your hoa new homeowner hoa scandal HOA board member homeowner homeownership house hunting helpful new homeowners community drama owning a home buying a house reddit karen what goes around comes around entitled people karma homebuyer real estate pay back How To karens in the wild hoa drama justice served entitled karen karma new homebuyers r-entitled Reddit official hoa owning a house karen story new home karma karen housing market entitled people buying a new home hoa members

Also From FAIL Blog

Scroll down for the next article

Comments

Advertisement

Hot Today

Entitled neighbor demands family to extend the wall between their homes or she'll report them to the city, despite the family already having replaced the rotted wall 1
‘Empty everything? You got it!’: Employee cleverly complies with security guard's demands to empty everything in their bag, resulting in line holdup when more employees follow suit 2
‘He got his note’: Employee sprains ankle and requests one day of paid sick leave, boss demands to see a doctor's note and ends up paying a week of leave per doctor's orders 3
'What they don't expect is that my wife...knows their tactics': Cell phone store managers try to upsell customer until he calls in backup 4
'I clock in every day [and] play video games or whatever': Employee automates all their work being able to complete their 8-hour work day in 10 minutes from home 5
'There is no paperwork, I'm just fired': Guy relocates to Japan for a job, only to get fired after one week 6
‘Empty everything? You got it!’: Employee cleverly complies with security guard's demands to empty everything in their bag, resulting in line holdup when more employees follow suit 1
'We notified our managers... We were all told no': Teenage burger restaurant workers call out en masse on prom night 2
'[I] watched him storm out the door': Teenager makes entitled customer's milkshake exactly how he wants it 3
‘They got all huffy and left’: Server goes off on boomer guests after they sit themselves at a table and demand service, despite being told repeatedly to wait 4
'My gut feeling told me to run': First-time homebuyer backs out 3 days before closing after discovering nightmare neighbors next door 5
'Don't sing Happy Birthday to me: Steamrolling employee intentionally embarrasses her coworker, gets put in her place and publicly shamed by HR 6

Follow The Laughs

Terms | Privacy | Security | DMCA Policy
Advertisement