'It's important to stay involved in your community': Neighbor uses an anonymous HOA form to report himself for having long grass, so "Sandra" has to go all the way to his house with a ruler to measure every week

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Oct 16, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

It's not going too far if they were already extremely annoying. 

HOAs, the homeowners associations, are, to some, the most important government body, regulating what neighbors do to maintain the neighborhood as perfect as possible. To others, they are the most annoying entity; they are always trying to bother people over the dumbest things. If you search online, you will mostly find people complaining about it or trying to buy a house without one. We cannot judge them; unfortunately, this association is known for its controlling manners and horrible ways of managing situations. We can find stories in which neighbors were charged a lot of money for the most irrational things, like taking out the trash outside the timeframe or an imperfectly groomed front yard. Yes, you heard me right; these associations can charge you for breaking one of the rules. But not everything is so bad. They are also the ones that we have to thank for not having a dirty neighborhood. 

In my neighborhood, we had a situation that lasted years: a homeowner would leave their dog unattended, walking alone through the neighborhood. All the neighbors were really worried about it at first; nobody was taking care of the dog during the day, and a tragedy could have happened with all the cars that go through those streets, especially because we have a school nearby. That worry soon turned into anger towards that owner, as her dog would usually break things it found on the streets. When someone took out the trash, the dog would immediately jump on it and destroy it, and then the other neighbors would have to pick it up and clean everything. 

This kept happening for a while —a very long while. Everyone tried to accommodate it to avoid the dog destroying more trash, but it was impossible to keep living like that. One day I snapped; I was tired of cleaning the street every day because of a dumb owner who couldn't take care of her dog. I went to her house to try to talk some sense into her. The conversation started with me calm and her uninterested in what I was saying, which made me extremely angry. I ended up screaming at her —all this was happening in the middle of our street— and other neighbors started to look at us. Finally, she went back to her house, leaving me talking on my own. It worked out; she started to stop letting her dog run around unattended, but I never knew if she understood me or was afraid I would scream at her again. I wasn't going to do all that again. Whatever the case is, it worked. Maybe with an HOA, this could have been managed in a better and calmer way. 

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  • 01
    Kyle My HOA once charged me $75 because my trash can was visible from the street for approximately six minutes. So now I use the anonymous form on their website to report myself for having grass that's too long. Sandra has to walk all the way over with a ruler and measure it once a week. It's important to stay involved in your community.
    via Particular_1961NY
  • 02
    A neighborhood seen from the top.
    via Avi Waxman

    A neighborhood seen from the top. 

  • 03
    Mean_Initiative_5962 I'd probably do it daily, each time for something different and equally annoying to measure. Possibly involving another ped neighbour.
    via Mean_Initiative_5962
  • 04
    angrydeuce Heh HOAs, never again. Literally was one of my deal breaker requirements for my current (and last) home, "no HOA". I lived in an HOA once where a retiree marked on his cane what the maximum allowed grass height was and he walked the neighborhood daily checking everyone's grass. Same place once gave us a 30 dollar fine for trash cans just like the
    via angrydeuce
  • 05
    picture, we were 6 hours late bringing them in, because we weren't home until late. Clearly a capital crime. Never again. Id rather live in my car.
    via angrydeuce
  • 06
    thetan_free It's amazing to me that HOA exist at all. Yet alone America - the Land of the Free and one that prides itself on rugged individualism. It's weird. You'd expect it in Sweden, but even they're like "nah - that's over the top."
    via thetan_free
  • 07
    Synapse Don I must be the luckiest HOA member in the world. I've had a home in an HOA for 18 years and everyone has been super nice. They come over, chat when they see me outside, bring their dogs by so I can play with them and pet them. Have never given me threats or fines, I've invited them into my home when I've done any remodeling just because I'm upgrading with quality remodels and they asked to see. The
    via Synapse Don
  • 08
    members of the board that I know have all been incredible. I once had a window leak through a window pane and wall, and start pouring into my basement and the HEAD of the HOA came over to help inspect the damage and helped me find a trustworthy company for repair. I read all these horror stories about HOAs, and most sound AWFUL. But, in mine, for almost 19 years, it's been the best experience.
    via Synapse Don
  • 09
    ElectricFaceVictory Wait,.. what? Australian here... is going on here? Hoa? Home owners association? Why is someone patrolling other people's houses and what what what??
    via ElectricFaceVictory
  • 10
    Standard-Contest-949 Why would anyone ever want to live in a HOA? And can they really enforce these rules? Like can't you just say, f you take me to court.
    via Standard-Contest-949
  • 11
    Houses built wall-to-wall in a neighborhood.
    via Zac Gudakov

    Houses built wall-to-wall in a neighborhood. 

  • 12
    pm_me_train_ticket As someone from a much freer country that doesn't have HOAS, where does the $75 go? Presumably these associations aren't being run for profit, so do proceeds from fines just accumulate in some holding account to no-one's benefit?
    via pm_me_train_ticket
  • 13
    alxcsb I keep hearing about this HOA bulls 75 dollars fine for some stupid little thing. What happens if you don't pay the fine? Are they legally allowed to fine you? How does it all work?
    via alxcsb
  • 14
    foxontherox It is beyond my level of comprehension that people choose to voluntarily live under HOAs. Why would you want that?..
    via foxontherox
  • 15
    OhTheHueManatee I read about someone who had fully paid for his house in his community. Shortly after the community established an HOA and he refused to join. According to the post if the bank still owns your house they can make you join (often will cause they see it as a protecting their investment) but if the house is paid off you have to agree and are not obligated to any way. He made it a point to blatantly violate all the
    via OhTheHueManatee
  • 16
    picky needless stuff. They couldn't do sh but would still send him violation noticed and send people to his house. He ended up taking them to court for harassment. I know it's petty but that sounds enjoyable as HI to me.
    via OhTheHueManatee
  • 17
    holodeck_jizz_mopper I'd have that chick getting in all her steps by noon everyday
    via holodeck_jizz_mopper

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