New HOA rep threatens to fine a homeowner for a shed approved in writing two years ago, even though the deed does not even ban sheds in the neighborhood: ‘Should I wait for them to fine me and respond then?’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Apr 16, 2026 9:45 AM EDT

HOA disputes have a specific energy that is unlike any other kind of conflict. It is not quite a legal battle, and it is not quite a neighborhood argument. It is somewhere in between, governed by documents that nobody fully reads, enforced by people whose authority has unclear origins, and occasionally inflamed by a random resident on Facebook who has very strong opinions about sheds.

Look, I don't own a home, and before I read all these stories, I thought owning one basically means you have nothing to worry about anymore. But hey, looks like, like every other thing in life, it's just a passage to a whole different set of problems. So, I could say, I got 99 problems, but owning a home and dealing with HOA, ain't 1.

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  • HOA saying sheds not allowed, but HOA approved my shed permit two years ago.

    House was built in 2021. We built it. We always planned to build a shed. I can't remember if it was in the closing documents or in the homeowners portal online, but I there were
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  • different schedules for different things -- e.g., "Schedule a" for fences, "Schedule b" for sheds/outbuidings, etc.
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  • Anyway, I found "Schedule B," which listed shed requirements. It had restrictions like setbacks, siding must match house (e.g., not plywood), must
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  • have a peaked roof, must have shingles not metal roof, etc. Seemed reasonable.
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  • Fast forward to 2024. I decided it was time to build the shed. I emailed the HOA contact: "I want to build a shed. What's the process?"
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  • She emailed me back "Schedule B" as an attachment and application information.
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  • I filled out the application, making sure my plans aligned with "Schedule B."
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  • About a month later, I go. a response: "Your shed is approved. This is a conditional approval. It must follow the
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  • restrictions in Schedule B, attached." I have the approval letter in an email and hardcopy.
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  • I built the shed. It follows "Schedule B." (In fact, I custom built it, frankly to higher standards than the house with respect to trim, fascia, roofing details, venting, joists, truss spacing, etc.)
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  • Now, fast forward to the last two community newsletters, each included the note: "Keep in mind that sheds are not allowed in ANY lot in [subdivision name]. We
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  • know that some have been installed. Violation notices and fines will be issued soon." The lady sending the newsletter is
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  • not the HOA representative who approved my shed (along with a few other HOA permits I've applied for).
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  • I'm like, ? Then I check the community Facebook group. There are people asking about sheds.
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  • There's one guy who rails against them: "sheds NEVER increase property value" "sheds are ALWAYS an eyesore" "ANY shed
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  • The shed hater on the community Facebook page deserves his own moment of appreciation. This is a private citizen, not a board member, not an HOA representative, just a neighbor who has decided that sheds are a moral issue. Sheds never increase property value. Sheds are always an eyesore. The all-caps certainty is doing a lot of work for someone who has no actual authority over anything. This is what happens when a person discovers a local Facebook group and realizes they can treat it like a pulpit.

  • will just decrease your neighbor's property value and are NOT ALLOWED anywhere," etc. This is just a resident, not someone with the HOA or on the board.
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  • So now it looks like there's a) a new HOA lady who has decided sheds aren't allowed and she's going to fine the few of
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  • us who have them and b) there's a shed going nuts on Facebook with his anti-shed propaganda.
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  • The actual situation underneath all the noise is pretty straightforward. A homeowner asked the HOA how to build a shed, received the official requirements, submitted an application, got written approval, built the shed to those exact standards, and then two years later received a newsletter saying sheds are not allowed anywhere in the subdivision. The person who sent the newsletter is not the same person who issued the approval. The deed restriction only prohibits sheds within 25 feet of the golf course. The shed in question is about a quarter mile from the golf course.

  • This is not a close call. This is a paper trail situation, and the paper trail goes one direction.

  • Then, I check my deed on the county's Recorder Office's website. It directs me to "Instrument #####" for my restrictions. I download. "Instrument #####."
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  • There is one reference to sheds: "Sheds or other structures are not allowed to be built within 25 feet of the golf course."
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  • I do not live within 25 feet of the golf course. I'm about 1/4 mile from the golf course.
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  • The new HOA representative appears to have made a policy decision based on a reading of the rules that is directly contradicted by the deed itself and also by the approval letters her own organization issued. The enthusiasm for fining people is running slightly ahead of the research into whether fining people is actually permitted.

  • I've never fought with an HOA before.
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  • Should I respond to the notice in the community newsletter and tell them they are wrong per a) my shed approval from them and b) the language in the deed restriction?
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  • Should I wait for them to fine me and respond then? If so, what should that response be, a letter from an attorney (I don't mind hiring one) or something else?
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  • Building a shed better than the house it sits behind, following every rule, keeping every document, and then getting threatened with a fine anyway is the kind of outcome that makes HOA attorneys very easy to justify paying for.


    The paperwork is not on their side. It is on the shed's side.

  • Should I launch a counter information campaign
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  • tldr: HOA just publicly stated that anyone with a shed on any lot in our subdivision is going to be fined. I have not yet been
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  • applied for and received approval for a shed using an application from the appropriate HOA representative. My shed
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  • follows my approval conditions. Also, deed restrictions only prohibit sheds on lots neighboring the golf course; my lot doesn't. What should I do?
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hoa neighbors house neighborhood homeowner entitled people
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