Wildly Petty HOA Stories That Make Us Wonder How This Is Even Legal! Defund the HOA!

Here you will find some crazy homeowners association horror stories and how the victims gained petty revenge. In the comments, there’s even more stories of HOAs who let the smallest bit of power go to their heads and lashed out at people for extremely ridiculous reasons. Here are even more tales from inside HOAs:

1. "My best friend lived in a neighborhood for a short period of time with a very strict HOA. One of their most ridiculous demands was that on trash day all city trash cans must be removed within 30 minutes of trash pickup otherwise there would be a fine. Trash pickup was at 10 a.m. when most people were at work and couldn't move their trash cans." —marisak4212bc09f

2. "The HOA came to my house right when we moved in at 6 a.m. to let me know that we chose the wrong garbage company to pick up our trash. 6 a.m." —Alex, Facebook

3. "Our HOA has a decree against sidewalk chalk. SIDEWALK CHALK! This was especially apparent during the pandemic when kids were kept at home and looking for something to do. HOA rules make no sense half the time and are HEAVILY slanted against the underrepresented on the board because the same old nosy busy bodies are the only ones who want to be on the board. Literally saw one lady wait for a mom and her two young kids to come back from a walk to tell her to clean up the sidewalk chalk outside their garage door. I’ll just never understand." —marceedavis

4. "My HOA tried to make me rehome my dog for no reason. Most recently, they tried to fine me for late fees because they didn’t cash my dues check for several months. I closed that account and moved my money, not knowing they hadn’t cashed it, so the check bounced. Yeah that sounds like you should’ve cashed it when you got it. Your problem. Not mine." —Jourdan, Facebook

5. "I lived in a townhouse outside of D.C. that was part of an HOA. No one had repainted in years so my roommate got a can of hunter green paint, the same color our front door and shutters were, although very faded, and repainted. One neighbor walked by and told us how nice it looked and complained about how no one ever spruces up their house. Another neighbor came over, eyes down the can of paint and left. A few days later, we got a nasty letter about how we were in violation of the HOA rules for using the wrong BRAND of paint."

"Not the wrong color. The wrong BRAND! We were given a week to fix it or they would come out and paint over our house numbers on our two reserved parking spaces so anyone could park in our spots. Short of high school, this was the pettiest thing I'd ever seen in my life. We got another nasty letter a few days later. 

Clearly some whackadoodle was driving by our house every day looking to see if we repainted yet then going home and keyboard warrioring their heart out." —c449114c2a

6. "Our old HOA had rules about how many plants you could have in your window, what type of blinds you could have, how many decorations could be visible from your windows, what you were allowed to have on your balcony, etc. I once got an 'official notice' for hanging a wet towel over the back of the chair on the balcony for less than an hour to dry after going to the pool." —Danielle, FB

7. "My former HOA called me 'selfish' when I asked for a handicapped parking space. They would not assign me a space. I could not wait to move out of that place." —ringgit

8. "We went back and forth with the HOA about the 'weeds' on my property until I realized they considered my hedges weeds. Eventually, they re-labeled it to 'unauthorized landscaping' or something to make me remove them. That was a $400 fine in the meantime."

"All correspondence with them must be conducted through letter, not phone, email, or in-person for THEIR privacy and safety. The HOA management company isn't even headquartered in my state, they operate outside of Las Vegas for some reason. They weren't a thing when I bought my home, they just came through a couple years ago." —zkye

9. "I put a baby gate up during the day when I’m outside with my dogs to keep them in the backyard and then put it up every night. I’ve gotten several 'temporary fencing' violations for a baby gate. HOAs are horrendous."

10. "My mother was in the hospital dying from cancer when she received a letter from the HOA of her condo complex that her patio curtains needed to be white, not blue." —shannone4935dbf97

11. "One day we got a note on our front door from the HOA telling us to remove the well. We didn't have a well, nor did any house around us, so we disregarded it. Then the following week, we got another letter stating that the well was an eyesore and needed to be removed because we can't have wells on the property."

"We literally walked around the whole house searching for this well. We called the number and said we had no well. A month later, we get another letter with an envelope fining us for not removing this nonexistent well. I mean, they literally had to see our house to keep putting the notices on the door. They could see there was no well.

So one day we were walking in a complete other section of the subdivision and there was a house that had the same address numbers as us, but a different street name. There was the well. But it wasn't a well. It was a freaking ornamental garden planter with beautiful flowers coming from it. It was also no bigger than a foot tall." —askaspie

12. "HOAs are the absolute worst. I moved out of my townhouse because they decided we couldn’t have more than one pet in our homes and I had two. They said they’d fine anyone who didn’t comply and wouldn’t hesitate to take out liens against homeowners in retaliation. Instead of fighting it (in retrospect, I wish I would have been more bold), I decided to sell my home." —Katie, Facebook

13. "My parents were moving out of their home and got a storage pod for their move. It was there less than 24 hours before the HOA received a complaint and had to notify my parents that it needed to be moved. The whole point of a pod is to move everything yourself (usually within a week). It was ridiculous." —gflo30

14. "My old HOA banned us from putting up 'Hate has no home here' signs. We got so pissed that we ended up making it into a door hanging, since they couldn't do anything about door hangings during the holiday season." —anicanepa

15. "My aunt and uncle had a problem with their garage door a few years back that led to them needing to get a replacement. Their house is an approved HOA color but it's not really a color you can get for a garage door, so they bought a white one and figured that was okay because it matched the trim on the house. Almost immediately they got a letter from their HOA threatening to put a lien on their house for not having it painted the same color as the house, plus it was supposedly an unapproved change and style of door."

"This was not something included in the HOA rules, and when they asked about it they were given the run around until they threatened to take the HOA to court.

Turns out it was one of their neighbors who has always had a grudge about them and decided to try power tripping on the HOA board when he noticed they had a new garage door. He ended up getting kicked off shortly after." —torbielillies

16. "The HOA we currently live in is pure chaos, so wishy-washy. We had a wrecked car parked in our driveway for a couple of days. Mind you, we had told the HOA of this because we were not sure what to do with the car and the insurance was doing a claim on it. Anyway, the HOA went back on their permission even though we clearly had it in writing. Got a fine for having a car 'illegally' parked in our driveway."

"The neighbor next door has a car parked on the street with expired tags that they have not moved since we moved in and the HOA does nothing. Another time, we were refurbishing a couple of furniture pieces in our driveway since it was easier to drag them in and out of the garage. We put up a small tent to give us some shade, granted this tent was up for about four hours, an automatic complaint from the HOA. The neighbor a few houses down has a bigger tent to protect his cars that cover the entire driveway. After those two instances, I went into the office and fought, bringing in pictures and times of all the violations." —ninabell1206

17. "Our HOA once fined us because a board member thought we left the pool gate open, when it was someone else’s kids who did. Along with the notice of the fine, a note was included stating that my husband was seen at the pool with two women (implying he was hooking up with two women), but the women were me and our neighbor/friend. We fought it, and didn’t have to pay, but it was still laughable."

18. "The HOA where I used to live held a meeting to fine me over my un-mowed yard. I had broken my ankle and was in a boot." —Aimee, Facebook

19. "On Thanksgiving Day, my neighbor (who is part of the volunteer patrol) called the cops on my family because they parked in front of MY house for a few hours. Everyone got tickets, and we got a fine for having cars parked in the street for an 'extended period of time.' Don’t worry, when said neighbor went on vacation I placed 25 plus plastic flamingos in her yard and proceeded to call the HOA every day until they got back. What can I say? Sometimes karma needs a hand." —nataliem43e77faae

20. "My mum's boyfriend hung up a Canadian flag over the garage. The HOA went after them saying no flags. He complied because he didn't want to fight. Then he noticed others had these decorative flags hanging (like the ones that say SPRING IS HERE!) and decided to read through the rule book and double check. Sure enough, no rules about flags. HOA prez flips their tables and starts in on him. There was, like, a year-long feud between them until Mum's boyfriend decided to run for HOA president himself and won." —Carrie, Facebook

21. "They denied my first request to expand my deck because they thought I would have 'wild parties at all hours' with the extra 10 feet we wanted to add to it."

22. "HOAs are unreal. There's been a long-running dispute at my parents' association. The association covers basic landscaping, some standard shrubs and perennials, trimming and mowing, etc. Owners can add additional greenery to their garden beds if they want. This one woman insists that she wants flowers provided to her like the ones in so-and-so's yard. That those people paid for on their own. How can this be so hard to understand?" —seppoyank

23. "My HOA towed and fined me because my car had a flat tire one morning. Absolutely absurd."

24. And finally, "We built a house in a neighborhood and had to have the HOA approve the blueprints and check the construction progress periodically. They signed off on everything. The week after we moved into the completed house, they told us the back of our house was 1.5 feet too close to the property line. When I reminded them they had signed off on everything, they told me that wasn’t their problem."

"When I asked what they expected us to do about it, they said, I shit you not, that we needed to have the back of our house moved 1.5 feet inward. I looked at that woman like she had lost her damn mind, started laughing, and then immediately called a lawyer. We had to go to court and everything. Needless to say, we didn’t have to tear down the back of the house and move it. 🙄🙄🙄." —pinkypie1

Y'ALL make sure to FIGHT BACK and DEFUND THE HOA! Cause nobody tell us HOW to live OUR lives!