4 ms·

I’m sorry, the height of your grass is actually policed, by the police?!

db48x 6y ago
He is being a little hyperbolic there. If you are a member of an HOA, and the HOA votes in a rule governing the height of your grass, then the HOA can enforce the rule with fines. If you don’t pay the fines, the HOA can put a lien on your house. It would be quite odd for the police to be involved at any point. A lien just means that the house cannot be sold without paying the lien holder. Liens are actually quite common; any house bought with a mortgage also has a lien put on it for the balance of the loan. This forces you to pay off the loan if you sell the house. If the house is put up for auction due to a foreclosure, I think a lien holder could recover their money from the sale price, or even gain ownership of the property. At that point the police might be involved in order to evict the former owner. But the HOA’s lien cannot cause a foreclosure, I think. That requires either defaulting on your mortgage, or a tax lien put on it by a municipality, state, etc. Honestly, a town or city could make ridiculous rules about the length of your grass as well, and you would have just as much trouble or more. There are certainly enough horror stories told about HOAs to make a person wary of them. If all they do is manage property owned in common by the residents, then they’re usually fine. When properly run they are the most boring type of government ever invented. All they have to do is clean the pool regularly, mow the grass from time to time, or save up enough to buy a new roof for the building every couple of decades. Meanwhile the city you live in probably sold hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds to buy a new football stadium, which earns hundreds of millions in yearly revenue. Naturally, they gave the owner of the stadium all that money and a tax break to boot, just to attract them to the area. Sales taxes went up a bit because of the increased tourism, but not enough to cover the bond payments, so your property taxes probably went up too. The mayor’s cousin’s construction company made a pretty penny building parts of the stadium, and his wife earned a bundle as a motivational speaker giving talks at conventions funded by the company that sells the concessions. Which is worse? Certainly you always need to keep on top of what your HOA is doing, but you can’t ignore what your town is doing either.
danpattn 6y ago
I used to live in Scottsdale, AZ. They can fine you up to $3,000 a day if your yard isn't up to code. They say debris could be hidden in the yard and someone could get hurt. I don't know if the police would get involved though.
- neolog 6y ago
  That seems extremely unlikely in practice.
- db48x 6y ago
  Ouch. I guess I can cross that town off my list. Personally, I think trespassers should take personal responsibility for the risks that they take.

He is being a little hyperbolic there. If you are a member of an HOA, and the HOA votes in a rule governing the height of your grass, then the HOA can enforce the rule with fines. If you don’t pay the fines, the HOA can put a lien on your house. It would be quite odd for the police to be involved at any point. A lien just means that the house cannot be sold without paying the lien holder. Liens are actually quite common; any house bought with a mortgage also has a lien put on it for the balance of the loan. This forces you to pay off the loan if you sell the house. If the house is put up for auction due to a foreclosure, I think a lien holder could recover their money from the sale price, or even gain ownership of the property. At that point the police might be involved in order to evict the former owner. But the HOA’s lien cannot cause a foreclosure, I think. That requires either defaulting on your mortgage, or a tax lien put on it by a municipality, state, etc. Honestly, a town or city could make ridiculous rules about the length of your grass as well, and you would have just as much trouble or more. There are certainly enough horror stories told about HOAs to make a person wary of them. If all they do is manage property owned in common by the residents, then they’re usually fine. When properly run they are the most boring type of government ever invented. All they have to do is clean the pool regularly, mow the grass from time to time, or save up enough to buy a new roof for the building every couple of decades. Meanwhile the city you live in probably sold hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds to buy a new football stadium, which earns hundreds of millions in yearly revenue. Naturally, they gave the owner of the stadium all that money and a tax break to boot, just to attract them to the area. Sales taxes went up a bit because of the increased tourism, but not enough to cover the bond payments, so your property taxes probably went up too. The mayor’s cousin’s construction company made a pretty penny building parts of the stadium, and his wife earned a bundle as a motivational speaker giving talks at conventions funded by the company that sells the concessions. Which is worse? Certainly you always need to keep on top of what your HOA is doing, but you can’t ignore what your town is doing either.

danpattn 6y ago

I used to live in Scottsdale, AZ. They can fine you up to $3,000 a day if your yard isn't up to code. They say debris could be hidden in the yard and someone could get hurt. I don't know if the police would get involved though.

neolog 6y ago
That seems extremely unlikely in practice.
db48x 6y ago
Ouch. I guess I can cross that town off my list. Personally, I think trespassers should take personal responsibility for the risks that they take.