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I'm on the board of smallish HOA (townhouses and condos), a few points: 1. 90% of enforcement is a result of someone's complaint. HOAs can be sued by belligere

I'm on the board of smallish HOA (townhouses and condos), a few points: 1. 90% of enforcement is a result of someone's complaint. HOAs can be sued by belligerent owners for not enforcing rules and it will cost everyone in the association a shitload of money. 2. Of those complaints probably at least 80% are totally legitimate grievances because the owner is doing something that's negatively affecting all of their neighbors like say park their RVs in the driveway and then 5 more cars in the shared parking spaces around the neighborhood so nobody else can park when having guests. 3. Every time we decided not to fine someone to force compliance we ended up regretting it - that just resulted in more complaints, sometimes escalations and serious damages, threats of lawsuits, and in the end we had to fine anyway. 4. These days when someone complains i just tell them there's nothing we can do because we really can't and just bug their state legislators, who seems to be living on a different fucking planet. tl;dr - most people complaining about HOAs just have no fucking clue what they are talking about and they never served on the board. Well guess that also applies to every other issue discussed on the internet.

esseph 1y ago
Yep, once again why I will never, ever, EVER, live some place with an HOA.
- dilyevsky 1y ago
  You don't have much of a choice if you want to buy a condo. Also have fun dealing with your neighbors craziness on your own, i'm sure most folks here are well equipped for that judging by comments...
firesteelrain 1y ago
I am on a HOA Board and our fines are so low that it would take a long time before we can foreclose on the property. Most correct the issue but then re offend. The way the rules are written we can’t make it more stringent like some homeowners would like unless there is a majority vote. We can’t even get people to attend monthly meetings or utilize the website.
- dilyevsky 1y ago
  You can't foreclose on hoa fines in my state (CA). You can't even charge late fees as I was explained by our council. It’s totally toothless already even without the $100 cap
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kstrauser 1y ago
Sounds like this is going to be great for you for #1. Now you can get belligerant owners off your back: "look, the state says we can't do anything more to enforce these stupid rules, so take it up with the government." For #2, you can still fine them $100 per incident, which I'd imagine would include every new time a homeowner takes up all the parking, or dares to store their property on their property. For #3, see #1. Now you're off the hook because the state said this is nonsense and you can't be responsibile for meeting their power-tripping demands anymore. For #4, see? Perfect! You can tell them to get bent, because elected representatives said those complainers should mind their own freaking business on how people enjoy their own homes.
- dilyevsky 1y ago
  It can work for a time but just makes everyone pissed at you and in the end if you get sued everyone loses. Those are not powertripping demands those are official rules which required majority vote. Ime folks like you love to say this shit until you’re the one on the receiving end of it
  - kstrauser 1y ago
    A lot of those are absolutely, positively powertripping demands, even if a bunch of people showed up on voting night and decided to enact them. My friend installed a door that had a round arch over it instead of a square arch, and the HOA lost their mind because it wasn't on their list of approved designs. No one was harmed by his choice of doors. It didn't "lower property value". It wasn't a health or safety issue. It didn't prevent his neighbors from enjoying their own properties. It was a victimless crime, and yet still turned into a total fiasco with an insane HOA board who wanted to levy daily fines until he ripped it out and replaced it. It is literally impossible to convince me that such things benefit anyone except the bored sociopaths who charged themselves with enforcement. If an HOA wants to maintain the sidewalks, build a pool, and pick up trash, right on. If that's what the neighbors want, then go for it. But when they want to dictate the harmless ways people can live, I lose all interest. And yes, I lived next door to a guy who liked to park his fishing boat next to his driveway. I wasn't thrilled about it, but that was his right. He bought and paid for a house with a driveway, and if he wants to use part of the pavement he owns to park his own personal boat, darned if I can imagine any right by which I can say he shouldn't be allowed to do so.
pixelatedindex 1y ago
I just think HOAs tend to favor the vocal minority. If you’re really active and just be very nosy, you can have more influence. I would be livid if someone told me (outside of city/state regulation) what I can do and can’t do after I make a purchase worth hundreds if thousands of dollars. I know many who lived in HOAs - one of them got fined for having plants by their condo door, another for putting something on their patio, etc. Who makes up these dumb rules? And it costs $500/mo easy. This is why most people hate HOAs.
jjav 1y ago
> tl;dr - most people complaining about HOAs just have no fucking clue what they are talking about People (most sane people anyway) don't randomly hate things they haven't experienced. That so many people despise HOAs is because they have personally witnessed the horror show that is a HOA.
- dilyevsky 1y ago
  Most people never get fined for anything. Ime it’s very few that actually cause problems and have complaints from multiple other members. Without the enforcement part especially for condo/townhouse properties it’s actually most people who are getting screwed. What you’re seeing in this thread is not most people
  - jjav 1y ago
    > cause problems Let's be very clear that "cause problems" in the context of HOAs means things like planting flowers on their private property that the HOA psychopaths don't like, or painting their house the "wrong color" or parking "unapproved vehicles" on their very own private property. HOAs are a cancer on society and need to be outlawed, except for the very limited case of maintaining common areas.

esseph 1y ago

Yep, once again why I will never, ever, EVER, live some place with an HOA.

dilyevsky 1y ago
You don't have much of a choice if you want to buy a condo. Also have fun dealing with your neighbors craziness on your own, i'm sure most folks here are well equipped for that judging by comments...

firesteelrain 1y ago

I am on a HOA Board and our fines are so low that it would take a long time before we can foreclose on the property. Most correct the issue but then re offend. The way the rules are written we can’t make it more stringent like some homeowners would like unless there is a majority vote. We can’t even get people to attend monthly meetings or utilize the website.

dilyevsky 1y ago
You can't foreclose on hoa fines in my state (CA). You can't even charge late fees as I was explained by our council. It’s totally toothless already even without the $100 cap
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kstrauser 1y ago

Sounds like this is going to be great for you for #1. Now you can get belligerant owners off your back: "look, the state says we can't do anything more to enforce these stupid rules, so take it up with the government." For #2, you can still fine them $100 per incident, which I'd imagine would include every new time a homeowner takes up all the parking, or dares to store their property on their property. For #3, see #1. Now you're off the hook because the state said this is nonsense and you can't be responsibile for meeting their power-tripping demands anymore. For #4, see? Perfect! You can tell them to get bent, because elected representatives said those complainers should mind their own freaking business on how people enjoy their own homes.

dilyevsky 1y ago
It can work for a time but just makes everyone pissed at you and in the end if you get sued everyone loses. Those are not powertripping demands those are official rules which required majority vote. Ime folks like you love to say this shit until you’re the one on the receiving end of it
- kstrauser 1y ago
  A lot of those are absolutely, positively powertripping demands, even if a bunch of people showed up on voting night and decided to enact them. My friend installed a door that had a round arch over it instead of a square arch, and the HOA lost their mind because it wasn't on their list of approved designs. No one was harmed by his choice of doors. It didn't "lower property value". It wasn't a health or safety issue. It didn't prevent his neighbors from enjoying their own properties. It was a victimless crime, and yet still turned into a total fiasco with an insane HOA board who wanted to levy daily fines until he ripped it out and replaced it. It is literally impossible to convince me that such things benefit anyone except the bored sociopaths who charged themselves with enforcement. If an HOA wants to maintain the sidewalks, build a pool, and pick up trash, right on. If that's what the neighbors want, then go for it. But when they want to dictate the harmless ways people can live, I lose all interest. And yes, I lived next door to a guy who liked to park his fishing boat next to his driveway. I wasn't thrilled about it, but that was his right. He bought and paid for a house with a driveway, and if he wants to use part of the pavement he owns to park his own personal boat, darned if I can imagine any right by which I can say he shouldn't be allowed to do so.

pixelatedindex 1y ago

I just think HOAs tend to favor the vocal minority. If you’re really active and just be very nosy, you can have more influence. I would be livid if someone told me (outside of city/state regulation) what I can do and can’t do after I make a purchase worth hundreds if thousands of dollars. I know many who lived in HOAs - one of them got fined for having plants by their condo door, another for putting something on their patio, etc. Who makes up these dumb rules? And it costs $500/mo easy. This is why most people hate HOAs.

jjav 1y ago

> tl;dr - most people complaining about HOAs just have no fucking clue what they are talking about People (most sane people anyway) don't randomly hate things they haven't experienced. That so many people despise HOAs is because they have personally witnessed the horror show that is a HOA.

dilyevsky 1y ago
Most people never get fined for anything. Ime it’s very few that actually cause problems and have complaints from multiple other members. Without the enforcement part especially for condo/townhouse properties it’s actually most people who are getting screwed. What you’re seeing in this thread is not most people
- jjav 1y ago
  > cause problems Let's be very clear that "cause problems" in the context of HOAs means things like planting flowers on their private property that the HOA psychopaths don't like, or painting their house the "wrong color" or parking "unapproved vehicles" on their very own private property. HOAs are a cancer on society and need to be outlawed, except for the very limited case of maintaining common areas.