Homeowner’s associations have a mixed reputation. Some say it’s evil, while others like it for keeping the community together. They like the way HOA informs about community dues and contracts to help keep up property value. It always brings neighbors closer together.
But the 20 stories that I have shared below says otherwise. These are, in fact, centered around HOA committees run amok. Some talk about faceless tyrannical mini-governments that keep dropping pointless fines in residential mailboxes, while other is about Karen-run communities that spend their days ensuring a homeowner’s grass is the proper length.
HOAs have certainly taken things too far, but some people took it into their own hands to put these little bureaucracies in their place.
The amazing HOA revenge stories featured in this post will quench your thirst for justice. Scroll down and enjoy!
1. Karen And The Cop
Posted by u/dave8814:
Before work, I like going for a five-mile walk with my dog. Since I live in a condo, I walk about a quarter-mile up the road and walk around in a neighborhood.
Well, eight months ago, while I was enjoying my walk, a golf cart with actual lights and sirens pulled up in front of me. This huge old lady gets out and starts yelling before I can even get my headphones out of my ears. Then I got to know that walking dogs isn’t allowed before seven am according to the HOA. Then, I informed her I didn’t live there. Also, the streets were all public, so that she couldn’t do much. She responded by threatening to call the cops and have me arrested. I just told her to do whatever she felt she had to and walked away.
The way I stated facts made her mad. She started following me in her golf cart with the lights and siren going. It continued for about ten minutes until the cops arrived on the scene. I stopped and talked with them for a bit and explained my side of things. At last, I had every right to walk my dog at any time of day or night. The funny thing is they tested the siren, which exceeded noise levels for any time before eight am. Then to top it off, she didn’t have it registered for use on public roads, and the tail lights didn’t work. As I looped back around, the golf cart was getting loaded onto a tow truck, and I just kind of laughed the whole way back to my condo.
2. If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them
Posted by u/MoarSec:
My mom told this story. It’s about one of her clients enacted after being harassed by a tyrannical HOA. The guy is a surgeon and very wealthy. It all started when he bought a piece of property. That’s when HOA started messing with him badly, ripping his trees out, fining him large sums of money for infractions that were baseless. When he would fight them and ask for proof, they would retaliate by screwing with him even more.
The revenge: Since he was a pretty prestigious surgeon and had a lot of money, he decided to buy every piece of property that became available in the neighborhood. It went for over a year of buying property after property. To play safe, he put them in names of different businesses he owned. The HOA didn’t even see it coming.
Then one fine day, he showed up to an HOA meeting. He then said something to the effect of, “Here’s a list of all the properties I now own in this neighborhood, and that makes me the majority owner. I’m disbanding this HOA.” They were stunned, but there was nothing they could do. He defeated them.
3. Birthday Suit Bash
Posted by u/Flynn_lives:
OH, WEE!!!! My good friend had a story.
My friend and her husband moved into this gated community. Since she gardens a lot, she loves having a birdbath in her backyard. So, the decoration makes sense. But when HOA figured out that she had said birdbath in her backyard. Apparently, birdbath = lawn ornament, which was forbidden. She told them she would remove it. A week later, she gets another message saying that it hasn’t been removed (it hadn’t), and obviously, she and the husband put it together that the HOA is snooping in her backyard.
Then, for weeks, she spends her time outside sunbathing in the nude, setting her trap. Sure enough, an HOA narc opens the gate to their backyard and sees her in the nude.
They quickly called the police for privacy violations. The HOA gave up and let her have a birdbath.
She is now on the board of the HOA, and they leave her alone.
4. Go, Fight, Win!
Posted by u/Viking042900:
A couple of days ago, I was given a UGA Bulldogs flag and a flagpole to mount it on my porch. Our homeowner’s association (HOA) restrictions say that sports team flags can only be flown on a day in which the team is playing. I intended to only fly it on Saturdays when the football team was playing. So I put the flag up on a Saturday the Dawgs were playing but forgot to take it down until Monday. On Friday, I got a letter from the HOA stating that I violate the restriction and could be fined. Okay, fair enough, they are correct on this one.
But then I noticed that the observation date was on Wednesday, which was wrong because I had taken it down on Monday. So, I called and said that couldn’t be true because I took it down on Monday. Instead of admitting her mistake, she lied and said that she had seen it up on Wednesday. That’s when I was mad.
I then decided to fight back. So, I printed off a schedule of every sporting event the Bulldogs had in every sport, even club sports, and then proceeded to fly the flag every single day there was any game, match, regatta, etc., which was almost every single day.
I then started getting letters stating I was in violation again. I would call on each one and explain that the water polo team had a match, or the rowing team had a regatta on those days. After about a month or two of this back and forth, they finally gave up.
5. Color Me Colorful
Posted by u/procrastinator3000v2:
This story is of my friend who lived in a pretty big neighborhood with a pretty strict HOA. As he had vehicle, he asked and was allowed to add a garage onto his house. So, he installed a siding garage with cedar planks. While it looked great, his HOA thought otherwise. They told him the by-laws state all exposed walls must be painted. He tried to appeal, but was shot down unanimously. That’s when he decided to check the by-laws further. He found that while it was stated that all exposed walls must be painted. But there was absolutely no mention of any color restrictions.
Fortunately, by the time he was done, each plank was a different primary color. That means there was nothing the HOA could do . They were furious with him, and he laughed.
6. Raise The Roof
Posted by Anonymous:
My family lived under the dictatorial regime of a HOA for about a year and a half…
One day, my dad, who is into ham radios, decided to put up a small but hardly visible antenna on the back of the house. While the antenna was small, its top could be seen from the front, but only just the very top. But the HOA president told him that he had to take it down. My told them he would (although there was nothing in the bylaws forcing him to do so).
Instead of taking down the antenna, my dad raised the antenna is 15 feet taller the next day. He did this in response to the notice. Seeing this, the HOA president immediately put a fine in our mailbox. Also, he gave my dad a stern talking-to at our front door.
What’s hilarious that the follow day, the antenna was raised up another 10 feet with an extension added in. It was so high that it was clearly visible all over the neighborhood. That’s when another fine showed up in our mailbox. Also, for doing this, my dad had to go to another meeting. The members of HOA tried to scare him by giving eviction proceedings if he didn’t take it down immediately. He acquiesced and agreed to take it down.
By now, you might have understand that my dad was in no mood to take unnecessary orders. Well, the antenna was still there, so was my dad. He was waving at the HOA president as he predictably came around to inspect.
In a furious huff, he went to the council, called my dad in. He then told him that they would begin eviction proceedings as he was not only violating HOA rules, but making a mockery of them. That’s when, my dad pulled his ace card. He called my uncle lawyer come in and explain that HOAs could not regulate the use and transmission of ham radios and licensed operators. That is due to their use for emergency communications and transmissions.
My dad knew this all along, but just decided to mess with the HOA regardless. He kept his tower, and the HOA caved in on the fines and punishments. They then realized that they couldn’t do anything. If they want to do anything, they have to take us to court and prove that what my dad had was unreasonable (which it clearly wasn’t).
It’s his favorite story to tell at parties. I still think ham radios are boring, though.
7. Star Wars
Posted by u/Bob__Loblaw__:
For the Christmas lighting, my HOA in Oklahoma required us to hire a professional company and spend at least $500. They even threatened to fine when I refused.
As I’m Jewish, I got a company to put up a huge Star of David in my front yard. They removed the requirement from the HOA rules the next year.
8. ‘Tis The Season
Posted by u/Horiatius:
My mother had put two pink plastic flamingos for decorating the house. But the HOA in my parents’ neighborhood sent my mother a letter to take down the flamingos because “they clashed with the architectural aesthetic” of the neighborhood (upper middle class sort of place).
My mother formally complied, however, she made game flouting the rules after that. Turns out there were no restrictions in the bylaws against any sort of temporary seasonal decorations. Thus, the flamingos come out for every holiday imaginable, redressed for the season. Flamingo witches and mummies for Halloween, pulling Santa’s sleigh for Christmas, football players for the all-important Clemson/Carolina rivalry game. It has gotten to the point where her flamingo dioramas are a neighborhood institution with people looking forward them.
On a related note, costumes meant for small dogs fit plastic pink flamingos pretty well.
9. O Say, Can You See?
Posted by u/somedude456:
One of my coworkers lived in a very expensive and high monthly HOA neighborhood. As they were born in the Netherlands, they had a Dutch flag sticker on their front window (maybe three inches tall). They got a $75 fine in the mail.
Then my coworkers dad read the rules over extremely well. He even went out and photographed over 75 US flags. At last, he went to the head officer and said he wouldn’t be writing a $75 check until the person writes up all 75 of the following addresses, as there’s no exception for an American flag. They dismissed his fine.
10. HOA Gets Wrecked
Posted by u/c3h8pro:
In this particular incident my son was getting tourbled for having a ’50s pickup. He was working on in his garage that he would move outside during the day and put away at night. However, the HOA president had the truck towed from his driveway. Luckily, he got it back, as it was an illegal tow. A few weeks later, the truck was towed again, and the HOA had it crushed (she must have paid extra, they don’t crush a truck in 45 minutes).
He the called me and asked to borrow some cash… got ahold of 20 wrecks and had them put on the street all down his cul de sac. He even took my torch and tanks and cut every tie down and hook point he could find just to make it cost more for the tow man. The cost of the tows almost bankrupt the HOA. He moved a few weeks later.
11. Shedding A Tear
Posted by Anonymous:
My parents built a playhouse for my younger siblings. However, our local HOA claimed it was a storage shed and that it was on our neighbor’s property. Fortunately, my dad knew it wasn’t as he had worked with the neighbor to make sure it wasn’t on his property. To this, HOA’s response was: “It looks like a shed, so it needs to go away.” That’s when my dad went home and hatched a plan.
He convinced all the people on our block to build playhouses, or “sheds.” Most people did. The HOA went crazy.
12. Roaming Satellite
Posted by u/CaptwithCoke:
Its a funny story. So, a neighbor within the HOA had a giant, ugly satellite dish in his backyard. As it was ugly and takes away the value of property, HOA rules says that one cannot have it on their property.
Can you guess what does this guy do? Well, he buys the ugliest hearse he can find, attached the satellite to it. Then he parks it on the street. Seeing this, the HOA board calls the cops on cars every 24 hours (law is your vehicle has to move every 24 hours or you get a ticket/towed). So, to trick them, he moves the hearse along with the satellite every day. This way, he doesn’t get a ticket. And they couldn’t do anything about it.
13. Opening New Doors
Posted by u/findquasar:
When I was a kid, we moved into a subdivision with an HOA. After moving, my father was painting the front door with a gorgeous burgundy since the original color was ugly puke green. Seeeing this, our neighbor (who we call PoodleHead), comes rushing over to tell him he can’t do that. That’s because all colors must be approved by the HOA color board.
After my father apologized profusely, PoodleHead returned to her domicile. After that, my father began putting everything away. He was halfway through the job. At this time, our front door was a wonder of half burgundy and half vomit.
PoodleHead then came back over to tell my dad that he couldn’t leave the door like that. So, he said she told him that couldn’t paint it, either. That means it could either stay like this or she can tell him paint.
Well, the front door color was approved on the spot. The color was still that same when I drove by the house 10 years later and after two ownership changes. Honestly, the color did really suit the house.
14. A Flamboyance Of Flamingos
Posted by u/bewenched:
This story is of our neighborhood HOA trying to making us remove the ivy from our house. The good news is that in the by-laws, there was nothing stating we couldn’t have ivy.
That’s when I put my foot down hard and told them if they made me remove my beloved ivy, I would then put 50 pink flamingos in my yard because there was no rule about it.
They left us alone after that.
15. Yard Of The Month
Posted by u/Aardopossadillo:
I had an HOA that often complained about everything things. Well, I did fix them, however, I was super annoyed. So, I made a sign (very cheaply, white with black text) which said “yard of the month” or something like that. The board really annoyed them and it wasn’t technically against the rules. So, they couldn’t do anything about it.
The funny thing is that they actually made an expensive official sign “HOA OFFICIAL yard of the month.” Nice graphics and nice metal frame. Really official looking.
So, one day when most people were in their house, I grabbed the sign and moved it to someone else’s yard. The yard was obviously terrible and it had lots of weeds, etc. That sign never showed up again.
16. What Is It With HOAs And Pink Flamingos?
Posted by u/naranghim:
Here’s another story that shows HOAs obsession with pink flamingos.
This story is about my friend who lives in a very strict homeowner’s association. They have pretty serious rule about lawn ornaments and decorating. They have banned pink flamingos on their own. Also, for Christmas, they require every house to have a theme. Well, these rules were actually too much. So, my friend was looking for a way to screw with them. Luckily, I found it for him in the Bahamas.
The theme he chose was Christmas in Paradise. He told about it saying it would be bright colors to off-set the dreary winter we were having. They enthusiastically approved it.
Then, he found some plastic palm trees. Also, he borrowed nine of a friend’s pink flamingos and built a sled for Santa. The flamingos had reindeer antlers, and the one in front had a red nose stuck on. It looked something like this.
In addition, he had lights on the house, fake palms, and a sign that said Christmas in Paradise. The HOA couldn’t do anything. That’s because I had found a painting in the Bahamas. The panting clearly inspires the whole setup and bought it for the friend with the flamingo collection, and it fit in with his theme.
17. Cover Up Job
Posted by u/Yellatmejoerogan:
We have a beautiful but old Mercedes Benz parked in our lot. The car didn’t run at that time nor did we could afford to fix it up. Thus, we never renewed the tags on it. Car was really pretty and it was simply parked in our driveway.
But a neighbor called the police/HOA and everyone she could to complain to about our car. The town then approached and aid we must cover the car. Well, we did, but not before painting a bunch of d*cks on the cover in bright neon colors.
18. Stars And Stripes
Posted by u/Printnamehere3:
A guy across town put up a flagpole. The HOA told him the only flagpole allowed was a small flag hanging at an angle on your porch. He took the pole down. He did some research on his contract and painted his garage door in an American flag pattern.
19. Sending A Clear Message
Posted by u/Isthisaweekday:
My mom was always arguing with HOA, and once spelled out “FU” on the lawn in bricks and left it there until they gave her what she wanted.
20. Speed Demon
Posted by u/EBeast99:
One time I was helping my buddy move stuff out of his house. That’s when my mom called me saying there was a emergency with my father and I needed to come home right away. After listening this, I was scared and drove home as fast as possible.
Well, my neighborhood has a 25-mph speed limit. And since we live in a diverse neighborhood, quite a few people don’t pay attention to it. While pulling 30-mph going up my street, I spot one of the HOA enforcers standing on her lawn. She sprint into the middle of the street at the last minute. Seeing this, I slam on the brakes and she runs up to me screaming about how dangerous it is to drive that fast.
I simply gaped at her and said, “Normally, I’d expect a stupid child to run into the street without looking first. Guess I was right.”