Is this legal? (3 Viewers)

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from John Oliver on HOAs

long watch but worth watching - HOAs are even more nightmarish than I realized

NSFW

 
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My wife is president of our neighborhood HOA and it is a nightmare. People complain about everything. They won't just talk to their neighbors, they want the HOA to handle it. Dog barking? Call the HOA, grass unkempt, call the HOA. There was one incident where they thought the neighbor was possibly growing weed. My wife said that's not an HOA problem because there's nothing in the By-laws about it :D Another called our house at 1 in the morning because they thought they heard someone in their backyard. I answered and told them to call the police and not the freakin' HOA.

We were redoing the pool house and one neighbor called the STATE and got them involved which cost the HOA nearly 50K and we had to jump through so many hoops, inspections, submission of reports. The pool was shut down for a year. Every inspector asked us why we contacted them because it wasn't necessary but now that they were involved they had to make us follow everything to the letter. We live in a small rural community so state inspections never happen except that this neighbor kept calling them. We had to be classified as a public pool which led to more regulations, separate handicap bathrooms, etc. It was ridiculous.

HOA's are a pain but can be beneficial. Some HOA are way too uptight but you'd be surprised how much of it is other home owners just being a bunch of whiney, needy babies. She off the board in 1 year and is counting down the days.
 
oysters said:
My wife is president of our neighborhood HOA and it is a nightmare. People complain about everything. They won't just talk to their neighbors, they want the HOA to handle it. Dog barking? Call the HOA, grass unkempt, call the HOA. There was one incident where they thought the neighbor was possibly growing weed. My wife said that's not an HOA problem because there's nothing in the By-laws about it :D Another called our house at 1 in the morning because they thought they heard someone in their backyard. I answered and told them to call the police and not the freakin' HOA.

We were redoing the pool house and one neighbor called the STATE and got them involved which cost the HOA nearly 50K and we had to jump through so many hoops, inspections, submission of reports. The pool was shut down for a year. Every inspector asked us why we contacted them because it wasn't necessary but now that they were involved they had to make us follow everything to the letter. We live in a small rural community so state inspections never happen except that this neighbor kept calling them. We had to be classified as a public pool which led to more regulations, separate handicap bathrooms, etc. It was ridiculous.

HOA's are a pain but can be beneficial. Some HOA are way too uptight but you'd be surprised how much of it is other home owners just being a bunch of whiney, needy babies. She off the board in 1 year and is counting down the days.
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What are the benefits, if you don’t mind my asking
 
Keeping the areas tidy. No cars up on blocks, campers parked for years , no over grown yards or trash laying about. Plus the fees pay for the tennis courts, pool and maintaining common areas. Ours is not bad. My wife shoots down lots of complaints and very infrequently has to send the dreaded letter. A few liens have been placed but that is for people very delinquent on dues.
 
If you had to name the state where a Vietnam war veteran almost lost his apartment for owning the wrong kind of dog; in which a ring of thieves made off with millions of dollars of residents’ money they were obligated to look after; and where a family was threatened with legal action over decorative garage door hinges, intuition would lead you to Florida.

Such absurdities from homeowners’ associations (HOAs) abound where the nation’s highest concentration of condominium developments, gated communities and upmarket resorts blend seamlessly with an abundance of petty bureaucracy and outright crookedness.

But now, thanks to a bill promoted by a Republican state congresswoman and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last week, things are about to change.

On 1 July, there will be unprecedented new curbs on the power and excesses of HOAs, the ultra-local panels of government that decide what color your front door should be, and how clean you need to keep your mailbox, in pursuit of high standards of maintenance and aesthetics.


No more can residents be cited or fined for trivial transgressions, like leaving their trash cans out beyond collection day, or having holiday lights and decorations still hanging long after the last visitors have returned home – at least without 14 days’ written notice, a hearing and appeals.

Anyone seeking to become an HOA board member will be required to be trained and regulated, a blow to Florida’s army of overzealous and autocratic apparatchiks who revel in controlling even the smallest details of residents’ existence.

“These associations tend to be full of Karens who don’t just want to speak to the manager, they want to be the manager,” said Craig Pittman, a veteran journalist and popular culture expert whose book Oh, Florida! chronicles the extremes of the nation’s quirkiest state.

“They want to micromanage what everybody does and dictate who can park where, and what kind of Christmas lights you can put up. Basically anything that is different from what anybody else does, you’re not allowed to do it. It’s all about uniformity……..




www.theguardian.com

Curbing the Karens: Florida reins in over-mighty homeowners’ groups

The state’s homeowners’ associations (HOAs) are notorious for petty bureaucracy – including threats of eviction for the wrong kind of dog or decorative garage door hinges
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
UpHere said:
i know i'm supposed to dislike this guy... but this seems kinda awesome
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Well, it's usually better to make up your mind, not to do what you're "supposed" to do.
 
Optimus Prime said:
This seems like a terrible idea, can they even enforce this?

I asked years ago about how much power HOAs really have and more than one person said something along the lines of

"More than you think they do and less than they think they do"
========================================================

There are a lot of reasons to rag on homeowner's associations.

When they're not making you get rid of your World War II Sherman tank, they're forcing you to keep your garage doors open all day in a bizarre quest to root out illegal tenants.

Ah, the peace and quiet of the suburbs.

Fox 40 reports that the residents of Auburn Greens in Placer County, California were shocked to find notices taped to their doors informing them that their garage doors must be kept open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, effective immediately.

The punishment for violating the rule is a $200 fine and an administrative hearing.

The unwanted open door policy reportedly came about after the homeowner's association discovered a neighbor was letting tenants live in their garage.

Obviously, many residents have security-related concerns about the new rule, which offers no alternative means of protecting their belongings during the day. Some are ignoring the edict in protest, while others are getting proroactive................

http://www.thedrive.com/news/17496/...y-forcing-residents-to-keep-garage-doors-open
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If that's the HOA I'm dealing with, I'm moving my arse out.
 

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