HOA Tries To Impose Rules On Non-Member To Take Christmas Lights Down

Published December 8, 2021

I've made it clear in the past that I'm no fan of homeowner's associations and I'm far from the only one who feels that way.

After all, so many of them have proven themselves to be surprisingly powerful breeding grounds for power-tripping busybodies who seem hell-bent on putting their rules before even the most basic considerations for human decency.

And when their aggressive enforcers are convinced that even the most petty of their neighborhood's affairs will negatively affect their property values, that lends a relentless zeal to their concerns about the length of your lawn or how you decorate your house.

But if that isn't annoying enough on its own, one man's story of holiday humbug illustrates that some HOAs will push their rules even when they don't actually apply.

Although the man we're about to hear from lives in a neighborhood that has a homeowner's association, his house was built before it existed.

Reddit | JediWithAnM4

As such, he explained in a Reddit post that he is exempt from both the HOA and its rules and this fact has been verified by a real estate attorney.

However, he also said that the HOA has a long history of not appreciating this fact and the most recent incident he's been through with them serves as a perfect example of how they tend to react to him.

On November 30, he was visited by a woman who told him that the Christmas lights he put up to delight his nieces and nephews violated the HOA's rules.

Wikimedia Commons | Rhododendrites

Apparently, this was both because he put them up too early for their liking and because he had more up than they were willing to accept.

As he replied, "I told her that we been over this before that I am in no way beholden to their policies and don’t care."

So while he liked enough people in that neighborhood that he wasn't going to put up more lights out of spite, he also had no intention of following the rules of an association he didn't belong to.

As a result, he told her that he would not only leave them up, but leave them on until Christmas.

Universal Pictures via YouTube

But as he described, this didn't stop her from trying.

In his words, "She told me that me breaking the rules upset other members and that I should respect their rules even if I don’t follow them because I technically live in the neighborhood."

She also gave him a flyer regarding their rules about lights, which he promptly threw in the trash before telling her to get off his property.

However, he's apparently having second thoughts now and wondering if he should have tried to meet her halfway.

Not only did most of the commenters who read his story tell him he wasn't obliged to do that, but they strongly advised him not to.

One user asked, "What part of 'I’m not a member of the HOA' does she not understand?" which led another to say, "It kills them that somebody could possibly exist that isn't beholden to their rules."

And as for why the man shouldn't buckle in this situation, another person laid out the potential consequences for doing so.

As they put it, "Don't you dare agree "out of respect" or for any other non-legal reason to ANY of their rules. If you do that, you may set up precedence in behavior that could potentially make you legally bound to their rules."

h/t: Reddit | Alternate_chaos5150

Filed Under:

People & Society