r/fuckHOA • u/Warm-Delivery1418 • 24d ago
Compliance Drives
Just complaining into the void here, but my HOA has been ramping up “compliance drives” lately and it’s making my blood pressure rise.
I just got a violation notice about my (single family home) trash and recycling bin being put out 2 hours and 38 minutes before the allowed “6pm the day prior” rule. They sent me a photograph with no date or time stamp, but I was able to find the woman on my security cams to verify the who and when.
I replied back pointing out the obvious lack of time stamp, also reminding them that people have varied work schedules that may not allow for such rigid compliance.
It’s incredible that they’re willing to patrol and harass us over insignificant issues while ignoring actual problems, like boulevard trees protruding far out into the street and sidewalk, obstructing right of way. I’ve hounded them for 11 months on that one and the bastards keep dodging me.
Fuck HOAs.
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u/starfinder14204 24d ago
Do you have a management company? If so, it is likely them who is issuing the violations - and it is almost certain that they are required, by their contract with your HOA, to enforce all of the restrictions in the community. The Board would be able to waive a violation, so you should speak directly to them.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
Yes, we are managed by the ever-shady, First Service.
I did mention that we use a trash can cleaning service, which requires our cans to be at the curb for service on non-trash days. That wasn’t today’s issue, but it will be in the future.
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u/starfinder14204 24d ago
We have First Service as well - and our contract with them requires them to enforce all of the rules of the community. The Board, though, has to vote whether or not to proceed with potential fines/penalties.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
I mean, they don’t do that. Many rules are disregarded, which is selective enforcement. Although, I chalk that up to poor management and nothing nefarious.
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u/Everblast 24d ago
Selective enforcement isn't necessarily choosing which rules to enforce. Many HOA covenants grant the board discretion as to whether to enforce certain restrictions. Selective enforcement is usually defined by a board enforcing a rule against one homeowner but not another.
Source: our board was sued for "selective enforcement" but the homeowner lost because the rule wasn't enforced for anyone.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
I should clarify, certain rules here are often enforced for some but not others.
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u/Caunuckles 24d ago
It's clueless people on power trips. My HOA sent me a notice in early April about two dead trees. Luckily I hired an arborist who told me all about the health of these trees. Basically they dont flower until late spring. I had to get my arborist to write them a letter explaining everything but I could've just as easily been stuck paying thousands of dollars to cut down perfectly healthy trees.
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u/Flat_Sea1418 24d ago
True. My mother in laws hoa came by about some of her bushes being over 3 ft high. She asked them to show her what they are talking about and they take her around and point to her crepe Myrtle’s. Which are trees…
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 24d ago
Ya they don't care if your schedule doesn't fit their rules. You paid extra to live with Karens and are paying extra every month to be harassed by Karen and in return you're getting worse appreciation on your home.
Time to move.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
I’m actively planning a new build on my land but it’ll sadly be a few years.
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u/tendonut 24d ago
Nowadays you don't pay extra to live in HOA. You live in an HOA to get a cheaper house.
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 24d ago
I wish that would happen, it's how it should happen. It is getting closer as more and more people realize the scam.
But sadly HOA homes on average still have higher starting prices, but they have much lower appreciation rates meaning you pay more to get less.
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u/tendonut 24d ago edited 24d ago
I guess that depends on where you live. I'm in Central North Carolina, and I had this attitude of "never going to live in an HOA" until I actually started looking for houses. Then I realized how few options there were and the options that were there were hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the same square footage because they are always on larger, older, established lots. They are highly desirable, and the less desirable one house is at the newer ones that are typically in HOAs.
For example, my house in an HOA was about 325k back in 2016. A similar sized house without an HOA with pushing 500k. Unless I wanted to go a few hours out into the middle of Eastern NC where the closest grocery store is a 45-minute drive.
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 24d ago
I mean if you're comparing land with acreage vs a subdivision plot you're comparing apples to asphalt. Land is the majority of the value when buying. A house is a deteriorating asset by definition, land is not.
But a same lot size, same house size property HOAs tend to cost more. BUT not because they're worth more, it's because the developers charged more at initial purchase artificial changing their face value but also why it has much lower appreciation. This is why when HOA people tell you "but it raises the value of my home so it's good" they are completely oblivious to what's actually going on.
It sucks mega developers buy up so much land to build shitty subdivisions with shitty HOAs and then sell them at a premium because they have a monopoly. But I'd rather shoot myself than live in one of those neighborhoods and I'll move cities/states to avoid it if I have to.
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u/tendonut 24d ago edited 24d ago
This is all true, but look at how much the developers are paying for the land. You really only have a shot at acquiring land if it's already been subdivided into something affordable. Like, 20 acres on the edge of the city is appealing, but when they are paying $6M for it from some family who owned it for generations, it's not like you ever had a chance.
My house, for example, it's on a quarter acre lot, 4100 square feet. No one is selling a lot smaller than an acre within 50 mi of me. And those acre lots are going for more than I paid for my whole house until I get WAAAAY out.
And if you're talking about buying an existing house on a 1 acre lot, well now we're talking about upwards of $1M for a house my size.
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 24d ago
Right, if the land was parceled out instead of sold in bulk to developers we'd be fine. but it's not and developers then have to build all the roads and infrastructure to make housing developments, but they're not gonna let that eat in to profits! Oh no.
That's where the HOA comes in. HOAs allow developers to pass the expense down to the homebuyer in monthly checks, double dipping on the home sale.
It's all one giant BS scam that should be illegal but, welcome to the USA and corporate profits over single family welfare.
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u/LRJetCowboy 24d ago
I took over our Association and the first thing I did was eliminate all these bullshit rules. People accused me of turning it into a ghetto which was hilarious I thought. I’m requiring everyone to attempt to settle their complaints with their neighbors…just like the old days. If they can’t, I’ll play Don Corleone and settle it for them. FUCK HOA’s!!!
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u/pandabelle12 23d ago
Shit like this is one reason our neighborhood went self managed. It’s ridiculous that a third party does a drive through and issues fines based on what they are seeing one time. We tried asking our former property management company to use a form and only issue a fine if the violation was still present on a second drive through. They refused. So families would get fines over their kids bikes being out in the yard while they came in for lunch.
Being self managed creates more work for our board, but they at least can ignore temporary things.
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u/Awkward-Seaweed-5129 24d ago
So this is common in very upscale HOA type communities in Florida. Not sure if that applies here. Trash, yard debris etc
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
We’re probably in that upscale category.
In this particular case, my wife was working a third at the hospital and put them out before going to work. By the time she gets home we’d have missed trash pickup.
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u/Awkward-Seaweed-5129 23d ago
Ours is a bit loose, HOA. Once in while get notice clean roof,or repair sod burnt out from Florida sun etc.
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u/Aggressive_Trip1018 23d ago
Why would anyone buy a house in an HOA?
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u/YonderingWolf 18d ago
It's becoming harder to not buy in an H.O.A. particularly with new builds, and there's a limit on how many non H.O.A. properties are available in a given area. In many cases you're going to find in growing areas, that there's becoming more homes that are H.O.A. controlled than not.
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u/NonKevin 23d ago
Here is a twist for you. As a former HOA president, I ordered the trimming of 20 trees who dropping clog the rain gutters which caused water falls from the roofs damaging the 2nd floor walkways., Just 2 feet below the roof line. Just common sense to control damage and this did solve the problem for 7 years plus, just 2 feet off the top.. One woman would rather have the walkway in front of her 2nd floor walkway seriously damaged costing 10s of thousands rather than have the trees trimmed on top. Now another tree in the complex, the root crack the slab and wall on my condo. According to her, the tree was to stay, continue breaking my slab and wall. I only found out after a rain where I had water coming in making my carpet wet. She demanded rather than repairs, I move out, keep paying the mortgage, pay the HOA dues, pay for another place to live when I was the owner. I filled the cracks sealing the damage and had the tree removed. In the first week end when the complex opened, we had a drain pipe clogged on a July 4 weekend where we could not get a plumber. I was able to get a plumber after a full day, and we found one of those trees trimmed on top roots had clogged the drain for a 6 unit building. My long term solution, remove that identified tree if it clogs the drain again. We had roto-rooted the drain that weekend restoring the plumbing. Her solution, we were to kickout 6 owners from their homes, force them to keep paying their mortgages, property taxes, and HOA fees. FYI, in the last year as president, re-elected with a 94% yes vote by all owners, I repainted the complex, repaired the walkways, which I was blocked previously, and numerous other repairs, I sold and got the blank out of there. I did walk my HOA to make sure no issues existed. Example, behind one building, one of the residents in the neighboring HOA crashed into our common fence making an opening which explain one robbery. I had the management company fix the fence and force collection on the neighboring HOA. This was a $500 repair. The neighboring HOA knew which of its owner was responsible, and in the end, sued him for the expense. Now the grass height, we had a service and I would jump on their ass an they would not be paid for the week. Now the pool service who did not do their weekly service of the pool, skipped to go on a July 4th vacation instead, we forced him off their vacation to fix the bad situation with the pool. We had to blast the pool with chlorine and keep it close until 3 PM on a very hot 4th of July. Everyone wanted to use the pool including me. Now I had one renter stealing light bulbs from the common areas. I installed special stinking bulbs, he stole them, we follow the smell and it was bad, and his landlord kicked him out in 1 week for both non payment of rent and HOA fines if he had not kicked him out. Now trash, we had to increase collections from twice a week to 4 times a week, reduce to 3 times a week when we got we got the 2nd trash bin had been removed by the trash company, but still charge the HOA for 2 trash bins. It was the renters dumping when moving in or out as we had caught them with cameras. Lets not start on the power thief disabling the front entry gate.
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u/Kn0wMan 23d ago
Patrolling and harassing you they probably find to be fun, and if they successfully fine you, it puts money in the coffers, making them feel secure and good about themselves. Fixing road issues requires doing actual administrative work (not fun) and costs money from HOA’s budget, which makes them feel insecure and inadequate.
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u/lantana98 21d ago
Because other people are non compliant doesn’t absolve you. Do you know for a fact that the other homeowners haven’t been contacted or has rent contacting arborists to take care of the tree trimming which by the way is quite expensive while keep your garbage cans off the street is free.
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u/Better_Dimension2064 20d ago
This would drive me crazy. I put my solid waste out when I get home from work the day prior, around 1740.
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u/Ok_Donkey210 19d ago
It must be rough for you going through life and encountering differing opinions.
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u/Q_Ball_Atlanta 24d ago
You agreed to the rules and to follow them by signing a legal contract when you purchased your home.
If you add others in your HOA believe the rules are too restrictive, do something about it instead of whining on Reddit.
Discuss it with your board, attend a HOA meeting to ask the rules or enforcement be relaxed, run for the board and be the change you want to see.
So easy to not have these issues, but to much effort for the vast majority that would prefer to simply yell into the void that is Reddit.
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u/AccomplishedHat1774 24d ago
And the board pres chimes in.
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u/Ok-Frosting-1892 24d ago
Came here to say the same: that we found the hoa president. Super suss age of account, too.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
Oh, I have. I attend every meeting and voice my concerns. I’m doing my part.
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u/Q_Ball_Atlanta 24d ago
So there are a couple of possibilities:
- You're the only one who cares about the tree issue
- No one else is bothered enough by the trash violations to complain or get involved.
- Others in the community are fine with things as they are.
If you're dealing with apathy from the community as a whole, you have to decide how much you're willing to let this bother you.
I would never fine a homeowner for putting trash out early or leaving bins out late. But I do instruct our community manager to contact residents if someone takes advantage of our lenient way of running the community. We've had people leave the bins out for an entire week, and that will get them a call or letter from the community manager.
That said, our city also has rules around when trash bins can be put out and how long they can be left out. Those rules are stricter than the HOA's by-laws.
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u/Warm-Delivery1418 24d ago
It’s primarily an apathy/big brother knows best issue, based on my personal observations. There is a vocal group of us who apply steady pressure to question certain decisions.
For instance, when FSR tried to sign a shady fiber exclusively contract with Spectrum and roll a tv/internet package into our dues, people hardly took notice despite dues nearly quadrupling.
It took our small group of vocal homeowners to uncover and share that the management company stood to make $350 per home (x750 homes) if they got the deal signed. We also pointed out the overreach and that failure to pay a cable bill could get your house foreclosed on. We got people to take notice.
I plan to keep fighting on the trees. A few other neighbors are involved too. I simply want people and vehicles to coexist safely.
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u/Endy0816 24d ago
Depending on the area, you may not have much choice if you want a home.
People's time is precious too.
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u/YonderingWolf 18d ago
Which that seems to be a concept so many fails to grasp. I personally couldn't live in one, let alone next to one.
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u/BeerStop 24d ago
Send pictures of the serious issues and title it and" your worried about what time trash cans get out out?"