'Their house was the wrong color': HOA forces couple to repaint their freshly painted house, couple chooses brightest paint possible

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 4, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

What's the craziest color you'd consider painting your home? Neon pink? Lime green? Electric yellow? There are so many possibilities, as one couple found out while they were challenging their HOA.

This HOA member was truly a busybody with nothing better to do than critique other people's life choices. Joan was the "busybody president" who made a lot of assumptions about her neighbors. She was rather unkind in accusing her neighbors of keeping a renter in their home against HOA policy. Well, that "illegal renter" was an elderly mother who'd moved in with her daughter. She couldn't live by herself anymore, and needed help from her daughter to have a better quality of life. So instead of kicking out some squatter like she thought she was doing, Joan the busybody was targeting a sick elderly woman. Is that really the best way to spend the HOA's time and money? This woman seems truly unhinged, as you can read all about in the story down below. 

Up next, read about some people who got very petty revenge on their exes, like one person who was excited to take "all of the knobs and handles off of everything—TV, dresser, stereo…" That's just diabolical! 

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  • 01
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    via Karl Hedin on Unsplash

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    It's the Great Pumpkin, Vindictive HOA President LOC Lots of backstory, so tl;dr at end. I've told a shorter version of this story in the comments, but it's probably worth its own post so we can all hate on HOA's some more. I babysat (and elder sat) for the neighbors down the street who committed this malicious compliance, so I was there to hear the ranting as this whole mess went down.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 03
    We'll call my neighbors Liz and Dave. They were nice folks who ran afoul of the homeowner's association (HOA) when the busybody president, who lived next door to them (we'll call her Joan), got it in her rotted turnip for a brain that Liz and Dave had taken in an illegal renter. Renting out rooms was strictly against HOA policy. They had not rented out a room. Liz's elderly mother had moved in with them after breaking her hip and being unable to live alone anymore. Joan sent them a very threaten
    via u/[deleted]
  • 04
    Joan did not believe that "story" and had the HOA lawyer start sending them certified letters about their continued violations with ever increasing insane fines. This went over poorly. Liz and Dave got their own lawyer to fire back a cease and desist letter. After many increasingly aggressive back and forths, it all culminated in an association meeting where Liz, Dave and Liz's mother came in with ID and birth certificates, and basically made Joan look like the pimple on the backside of humanity
    via u/[deleted]
  • 05
    Cut to the following fall. Liz and Dave needed to repaint the house after making some siding repairs post-hurricane. They carefully checked the bylaws for approved paint colors and picked out a fairly bland shade of something between brown and tan. They gave the painters the color info listed in the bylaws to the painters and painting happened.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 06
    Less than a week after their house was painted, they got another certified letter from the HOA lawyer stating their house was the wrong color. They fired back evidence they ordered exactly what was in the bylaws. Well, after many back and forths it turned out the approved color and the swatches on file with the board no longer matched because the manufacturer had changed the colors in their line slightly due to some kind of formula change. Their house was a few shades darker than it should have
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    Liz and Dave were taking no chances on the second try. They got the swatch set from the HOA. For some reason it made no distinction between approved accent colors (most houses in the neighborhood had brightly colored doors) or house colors. They decided that if they had to paint their house a second time, Joan, the dog that caught the car, could live next to the most garish option they had. It was pumpkin orange. The painters asked multiple times if they were sure. They were very sure. You could
    via u/[deleted]
  • 08
    tl;dr HOA president accuses a disabled, elderly mother of being an illegal tenant, involves lawyers and publicly embarrasses herself. In revenge, makes massive issue of a minor paint color error. Winds up with a pumpkin orange house next door.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    yamaha2000us +2. If this were an elected position, I would have attempted to have her removed. Especially if I was retired and had time on my hands. Citing the needless legal fees on the association.
    via u/yamaha2000us
  • 10
    [deleted] She was ousted the next election, but it didn't stop her from filing endless complaints that the board was required to investigate and showing her a at meetings. Thankfully the investigations were super lame unless it was a legit safety issue.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 11
    ulyssesphilemon ⚫ The best way to fight petty HOA tyrants is to use the state laws, declarations, bylaws, and association rules against them. They are rarely in full compliance themselves.
    via u/ulyssesphilemon
  • 12
    AllMyBeets When I was house hunting rule one was no HOA. I was firm on that. No way in ham I paying someone else to tell me what to do
    via u/AllMyBeets
  • 13
    [deleted] I feel you. My current place doesn't have one, and that was on my must have list when I went hunting too.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 14
    Sturmundsterne +3. I had the same rule, wife overruled because she wanted our now current house. So I ran for (and became) HOA President, and we don't do st except keep up common areas and send the occasional reminder letter to cut your foot high grass please. Zero fines issued in two years.
    via u/Sturmundsterne
  • 15
    anomalous_cowherd +2. A guy living in a very old house in a pretty village near me decided to paint it a light colour instead of the dark brown it had been for years, but the local council was full of jobsworths who went to court to say he had to repaint it 'more in keeping with the tradition of the building'. So he found a painting from the 1600s when it was first built - and painted it bright blue with strong green windows. They didn't have a leg to stand on! Now everyone loves it and anyone t
    via u/anomalous_cowherd
  • 16
    G metal2187 I joined our small HOA board for the sole purpose to help prevent dumb s like this. Our HOA is made up of 5 small neighborhoods in my area, none of which are directly connected besides the builder. I signed up because the management company was sending letters for the most nit picky c and I wanted a say to protect home owners from being harassed over petty rules. First HOA I've ever been a part of
    via u/G**metal2187

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