HOA says Cant fly a flag in my yard

[Jiro]

Just curious, HOA is part of government that run by elected homeowners?

I have constitutional question about local government or HOA limitation on exterior paint colors and any improvements that are not approved by HOA? Have court made a ruling on HOA?

government? no HOA is not part of government.

 

[Mewtilation]

My neighborhood HOA is pretty strict... don't think they'd let me paint my house like that... They would s**t BRICKS! I can't even change the shingle style on my roof... Not that I'd want to... I mean... who cares about the shingle style... I don't personally... I get a lot of benefits with the HOA, so if I have to follow a few measly rules like uniform shingle style, house paint color, not parking my motorcycles in my front yard, not parking in the street and other stupid stuff like that... I will live.

 

[sonocativo]

My neighborhood HOA is pretty strict... don't think they'd let me paint my house like that... They would s**t BRICKS! I can't even change the shingle style on my roof... Not that I'd want to... I mean... who cares about the shingle style... I don't personally... I get a lot of benefits with the HOA, so if I have to follow a few measly rules like uniform shingle style, house paint color, not parking my motorcycles in my front yard, not parking in the street and other stupid stuff like that... I will live.

Where I was, you could not park a pickup truck in the driveway ( didnt matter if it was a classic show truck or brand new model year, trucks werent allowed. I had a truck, a monsterous 4x4...and the kicker is... damn thing wouldnt fit in the garage, it was too tall. But guess what, I fought with them as I wasnt a scrapper hauling junk or anything, it was my daily driver, so I was told it couldnt sit overnight in my driveway, so what did I do... I parked it on the street and claimed it wasnt mine and / or friends visiting....lol

But I did wake the hood up getting out at 4am riding my harley to work every so often, and I loved rapping it too !!!

 

[sonocativo]

Just curious, HOA is part of government that run by elected homeowners?

I have constitutional question about local government or HOA limitation on exterior paint colors and any improvements that are not approved by HOA? Have court made a ruling on HOA?

Its more of a Private Mafia... to boss you around,

 

[authentic]

My neighborhood HOA is pretty strict... don't think they'd let me paint my house like that... They would s**t BRICKS! I can't even change the shingle style on my roof... Not that I'd want to... I mean... who cares about the shingle style... I don't personally... I get a lot of benefits with the HOA, so if I have to follow a few measly rules like uniform shingle style, house paint color, not parking my motorcycles in my front yard, not parking in the street and other stupid stuff like that... I will live.

I believe most of HOA are being strict. They even send me a warning twice for not allowing to use any woodwork in the garage, and I was like what the .... is this apartment or what? The HOA sent me a letter saying that the trash bin and recycle bin are not allowed on the front garage door except on trash pick up day. No personal plants outside of my porch, and many to list. Yet, they clean it up once every month, and I've complained to HOA that a dude use grass cutter and the rock hit my car window, and it cracked. HOA said there's no valid evidence that the landscape dude did it, and then one day I caught him and showed him the window cracked and he said he is sorry, then refuse to accept that he was the one who made a mistake. My car was parked in front of townhouse all day during the landscape duty, it must be him. My gf car got cracked too at another landscape duty day. There's nothing we can do about it unless there's camera or dashboard cam to capture the situation. HOA - dirty pig.

 

[Mewtilation]

Just curious, HOA is part of government that run by elected homeowners?

I have constitutional question about local government or HOA limitation on exterior paint colors and any improvements that are not approved by HOA? Have court made a ruling on HOA?

They usually have monthly meetings where people from the neighborhood can meet up with the heads of the HOA. Certain things are voted on blah blah. You have to get approval from the HOA before doing anything. Say, if I wanted to fly a flag in my yard, I would have to attend an HOA meeting and get approval from the HOA. They would then approve or deny my request. They are headed by various people depending on the particular HOA I believe. I know my HOA is headed by the property owners of my gated community. Since I live in a gated condominium community, the owners of that community head my HOA along with some other snooty people who love to kiss arse. The owners live in the community along with these arse kissers and together have decided since they will never amount to any sort of authoritative power, this is how they will have power... by "leading" ( controlling ) a community of condos... Basically... They're a bunch of sad douche bags who never got their dreams of being in congress or the president... so being in the HOA will do.

And that is what the HOA means to me. Thank you... Thank you...

 

[Mewtilation]

I believe most of HOA are being strict. They even send me a warning twice for not allowing to use any woodwork in the garage, and I was like what the .... is this apartment or what? The HOA sent me a letter saying that the trash bin and recycle bin are not allowed on the front garage door except on trash pick up day. No personal plants outside of my porch, and many to list. Yet, they clean it up once every month, and I've complained to HOA that a dude use grass cutter and the rock hit my car window, and it cracked. HOA said there's no valid evidence that the landscape dude did it, and then one day I caught him and showed him the window cracked and he said he is sorry, then refuse to accept that he was the one who made a mistake. My car was parked in front of townhouse all day during the landscape duty, it must be him. My gf car got cracked too at another landscape duty day. There's nothing we can do about it unless there's camera or dashboard cam to capture the situation. HOA - dirty pig.

Tell me about it... and my parents said buying a house ( well mine is a condo ) same diff... would be fun... Become a responsible home owner they said... it will be fun they said... PFFFFFFFT! :roll: :P Actually, I keep to myself most of the time. My HOA isn't TOOOOO bad since I keep to myself. Most people in my community have families and since this balcony project ( everyone's balconies having to be rebuilt and we all have 3 stories, 3 bedrooms and 2 balconies ) everyone is VERY upset... people are SUPER peeved with the HOA. I understand... I mean, me personally I live alone, so for me to go from 3k sq feet to 1500 is no big deal... but these 3-5 family people... I can understand why they're in every HOA meeting and sticking stickers to their cars and filing class action lawsuits... I just stick to myself... I kill plants so I don't have any... I don't garden... because I'm bad at it... I mainly come home from work, stay inside and keep to myself and my animals. :P I'm not much trouble at all. :P I suppose if I were the outdoorsy type and good at gardening I would have more issues with them like a few of my other neighbors do.

 

[Calvin]

In some HOA, the fees can be ridiculous expensive forcing residents to pay. While it is mentioned that most HOA are strict with exterior of the house (painting, roof, yard), parking. Some of them abuse the power, some are dirty, some are good, it depends on the area. If I were to own a house... it will not be under HOA for sure.

 

[Mewtilation]

Eh, the inside is alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll mine. Mine is pretty lenient as long as you follow their outside stuff as I said. :P Like I said, mine comes with a lot of benefits like maintenance and other junk like that for minimal fees.... so I'll deal with their little "You must keep your shingles and house color the same as everyone else!!!" I don't want a Jess fan experiment... I suppose I could always just call Jess...

 

[Calvin]

This could be your room...

Eh, the inside is alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll mine. Mine is pretty lenient as long as you follow their outside stuff as I said. :P Like I said, mine comes with a lot of benefits like maintenance and other junk like that for minimal fees.... so I'll deal with their little "You must keep your shingles and house color the same as everyone else!!!" I don't want a Jess fan experiment... I suppose I could always just call Jess...

 

[Mewtilation]

That is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle intense there... I do like the purple carpet though... I have dark dark grey carpet ( almost black ) I like it because if there were to ever be a stain it wouldn't be noticeable... I really like that purple carpet... It would clash with every ounce of furniture and everything I own though

 

[whatdidyousay!]

When people buy their houses they voluntarily agree to accept their neighborhood's HOA. If they don't like that kind of arrangement they should buy a house in an unincorporated county area that doesn't have an HOA.

I know that some HOA's are run by unreasonable people (who are elected by the residents), and some of their rules don't make sense but I also know that neighborhoods without HOA's can also devalue and become rundown.

People need to investigate the HOA situation before buying a house, and then decide whether or not they can live with it. If they get stuck with bad leadership, they need to vote them out.

People that brought their historic houses knew they had to follow certain rules , some people are upset that the city is trying to enforce more rules . The city is trying to form a small committee of 5 people that people will have to go to get the rights to work on their historic houses . That mean people would have wait for some bonzos to take their sweet time deciding if they'll give a home owner the 'OK" to work on their house. Contractors are not going to wait around to for a committee to take a vote. People protested against having a committee been formed , I did too b/c I felt if the city got their way they would trying to take control of other people houses that where not historic . My city voted to have four years term for our mayor and now some people are sorry this happen. I voted against this , if a person is doing a good job as a mayor they do not have to worry about getting in again. But if we get a person for mayor doing a horrible we're stuck with them for 4 years .

 

[sonocativo]

Research Mayor Slay... talk about conflicts of intrests... he hires his family for the city contractors ( Hint: Slay's Constructions, Slay's Catering..for all those meetings...ect...)

 

[Reba]

Just curious, HOA is part of government that run by elected homeowners?

I have constitutional question about local government or HOA limitation on exterior paint colors and any improvements that are not approved by HOA? Have court made a ruling on HOA?

I can't speak for all of them but our HOA board members are unpaid volunteers who are homeowners that live in our community and are elected by the other homeowners. The original bylaws and covenants were prepared by the subdivision developer. Once the developer was finished building it was turned over to the homeowners who made some changes and voted on the revised covenants.

Whenever there have been disputes, as far as I know, the magistrate has sided with the HOA covenants. It's never gone above that level.

Now, in downtown historic areas around here there are also architectural review boards that have additional rules. I'm not sure about how they operate. They have different criteria than HOA's do. The historic districts around here impact on tourism, so it's more than just a residential thing.

From what I've read in the news about local disputes (mostly downtown Charleston), it seems that the ARB either wins or sometimes gets a compromise decision. I don't think they've ever lost outright. People understand before purchasing that buying a mansion South of Broad or a townhouse on Rainbow Row is going to come with restrictions from the city.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

Research Mayor Slay... talk about conflicts of intrests... he hires his family for the city contractors ( Hint: Slay's Constructions, Slay's Catering..for all those meetings...ect...)

Our mayor's husband has a band and anytime there is celebration down town the guy get top billing . We have city councilors that brownnose the mayor all the time.

This happen in my condo when I first moved here the head trustee hired his sister in law to handle the books . The guy was able to get work done on his building anytime he wanted to. I called him on this but no one else would.
This happen all time 'conflicts of interests' and it made me sick when it hurt other people.

 

[Reba]

Wow, after reading all the other HOA horror stories, I guess we're blessed with a pretty easy one.

Our fee is $125 per year, and that pays for maintenance of the community common areas and street and entrance lighting. Pool membership is extra, and is paid only by people who want to use the pool.

In some ways, our HOA doesn't do enough enforcing--some yards are getting junky looking and it's getting more difficult to take walks on the sidewalks. That's life.

It's a delicate balance. No one likes restrictions (when they're on them) but no one wants their property value to decline either.

Our HOA doesn't restrict flags, whether they are mounted on freestanding poles or on the houses. The only restriction on what vehicles can be parked on property is that no commercial vehicles of more than two axels are allowed. All vehicles must be parked on paved areas (not the lawn), and can't be parked on the street overnight. We're not supposed to have boats, campers, RV's, or trailers on the property but usually if it can't be seen from the front they don't say anything.

No problems with motorcycles. Our current HOA prez is a trike rider and ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders. Just about every fourth house here has at least one motorcycle.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

Wow, after reading all the other HOA horror stories, I guess we're blessed with a pretty easy one.

Our fee is $125 per year, and that pays for maintenance of the community common areas and street and entrance lighting. Pool membership is extra, and is paid only by people who want to use the pool.

In some ways, our HOA doesn't do enough enforcing--some yards are getting junky looking and it's getting more difficult to take walks on the sidewalks. That's life.

It's a delicate balance. No one likes restrictions (when they're on them) but no one wants their property value to decline either.

Our HOA doesn't restrict flags, whether they are mounted on freestanding poles or on the houses. The only restriction on what vehicles can be parked on property is that no commercial vehicles of more than two axels are allowed. All vehicles must be parked on paved areas (not the lawn), and can't be parked on the street overnight. We're not supposed to have boats, campers, RV's, or trailers on the property but usually if it can't be seen from the front they don't say anything.

No problems with motorcycles. Our current HOA prez is a trike rider and ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders. Just about every fourth house here has at least one motorcycle.

I just got a newsletter from the health department and the fine for not shoveling snow off your sidewalk went from $15 to $50 . And that for each time . That is a lot of money for people on a fixed income and not able to shovel off their sidewalk . My city is really trying to force people out . I spoke to some people that can't afford to live here anymore and they feel the same way that the city only want very wealthily people living here .
A lot of local people been driven out already.

 

[Reba]

I just got a newsletter from the health department and the fine for not shoveling snow off your sidewalk went from $15 to $50 . And that for each time . That is a lot of money for people on a fixed income and not able to shovel off their sidewalk . My city is really trying to force people out . I spoke to some people that can't afford to live here anymore and they feel the same way that the city only want very wealthily people living here .
A lot of local people been driven out already.

That's sad. That's the city government, not a private HOA, so what can you do?

 

[sonocativo]

The whole subdivision where we just moved from I would say every other house is up for sale, being foreclosed on or abandoned in the past couple months. No one wants to follow the HOA, as soon as your grass is a millimeter taller than your neighbors, already a sign will be staked in your yard to cut it or be fined, they want them immacculate, My wifes yard was mud 5 years ago ( hard to grow in clay) but I got a nice lawn going, then should have kicked myself in the ass for it, now we wish it was back to mud as they HOA and neighbors never said anything about it back then... and when its 120 outside they still expect you to have it done then and there or be fined... total asses there. Ive watched a 90 year old man and an 80 year old lady cut their yards in the blazen heat due to this crap... I went to cut it for them, didnt want to see them go that way...Even they have moved already.

 

[Jane B.]

I just got a newsletter from the health department and the fine for not shoveling snow off your sidewalk went from $15 to $50 . And that for each time . That is a lot of money for people on a fixed income and not able to shovel off their sidewalk . My city is really trying to force people out . I spoke to some people that can't afford to live here anymore and they feel the same way that the city only want very wealthily people living here .
A lot of local people been driven out already.

That's sad. That's the city government, not a private HOA, so what can you do?

I wonder what the council's reaction would be if enough people showed up at one of their meetings to protest.

Another thought is how many kids want to earn some money for shoveling for other people and how do those charges compare to the fines for not doing it.