Oh, HOAs. The bane of every homeowner’s existence. They promise community, shared amenities, and property value protection. What they often deliver is micromanagement, power trips, and endless, pointless drama. But for one lucky Redditor, an HOA tried to extend its tyrannical reach to his non-member property, and he’s not having any of their bullsh!t.
Our narrator inherited a house a few years ago. The timing was perfect; he had just graduated and the house was close to where he wanted to work. Score! This man is already winning at life.
Fast forward a couple of years. A development company buys a bunch of surrounding property and builds a “semi-gated community.” The fence, crucially, ends “a good few yards away from my property.” It’s not closed all the way, but his house is outside the perimeter. This is a vital detail, folks.
Now, people have moved into the HOA community. And our narrator starts getting “HOA letters.” About fees. About his lawn. About his house paint. Because, of course. HOAs love to tell you what to do.
He, being a reasonable human, tries to email the HOA president to clear things up. No response. Typical.
So, he does what any fed-up person would do: he “crashed the last meeting they had.” He stood up and explained, politely, that his house wasn’t part of their neighborhood and, therefore, “not part of the HOA.”
But the president and board members, clearly high on their tiny bit of power, tried to argue. They insisted he was part of it “because of how close my property is.”
I’m sorry, what? That’s not how property lines or HOAs work. You can’t just draw an imaginary line and say, “Congratulations, you’re now part of our cult!” Luckily, our narrator came prepared. He had “documentation from the development company and the county saying it isn’t.” Mic. Drop.
You’d think that would be the end of it, right? Proof from the county? Game over. But oh no. This is an HOA we’re talking about. The president later emailed him back (conveniently, after he made a public scene) and said that “regardless of the particulars” (i.e., “regardless of the actual laws”), he “should still try to conform to the rest of the community because I was bringing property values down.”
“Regardless of the particulars.” This is peak HOA entitlement. “The rules don’t apply to us when we want them to apply to you!” They want to force him to spend his own money on his own property, which is not part of their jurisdiction, just to satisfy their aesthetic sensibilities and perceived property values. The gall!
Now, our narrator admits he was “very lucky” to get his home, and he doesn’t want to “negatively affect others.” This is the part where the HOA is trying to guilt-trip him, and it’s working a little. He feels conflicted.
So, is he the ahole for not listening to the HOA? Absolutely not. N-T-A. You are not the ahole. You owe these power-hungry busybodies exactly nothing. Not a dime, not a fresh coat of paint, not a perfectly manicured lawn.
Your property is your property. They don’t get to tell you what to do with it just because they drew a fence nearby. They tried to rope you in, you provided irrefutable proof you’re not part of their club, and now they’re just being petty and manipulative. Let them whine about their “property values.” You live your best, HOA-free life, my friend.