> You don't need these laws I don't want to go around proposing a HOA-style contract with every single person in earshot / downwind every time I move, and hope

> You don't need these laws I don't want to go around proposing a HOA-style contract with every single person in earshot / downwind every time I move, and hope we can come to terms I can afford. > it's easier to force people to abide by rules that you can't get them to voluntarily agree too The issue is that some people's concept of "ownership" means "I can do whatever I want on this property, even if it imposes a high cost on others". You can pick your scenario, from "My home, my 3am drum practice" to "My home, my burning of this pile of nuclear waste". There's no magic way of assessing the "true" costs to me by your actions next door, so we need these laws. If you live on more space near less people, then you need less of these laws, maybe none! I understand (and agree) that for every "My neighbors yard is a literal cow pond" there's some Karen who is mortified at the shade of off-white I painted my house. There are also unlimited historical cases of the government misusing these laws to keep poor/minorities out. The reality is there are a lot of selfish assholes out there, and so laws help give you a little recourse when one moves in next door. I don't feel unreasonable saying I want to sleep from 11pm-7am, and be able to sell my house some day with a value based solely on the greater market and what I do to it, not the crazy guy down the street. That said, I live in a very dense city. I'm not moving to rural Alabama and expecting to impose that on anybody 2 miles away.