r/HOA

My partner works in city A. I used to be remote but am starting a job in city B about 1.5 hrs away. We are moving to try to keep both of our commutes under an hour.

If we could dictate the universe, we would move to a community without an HOA. Unfortunately, the area between city A and city B is almost entirely new developement (as in, the whole area was rural nothing 10 years ago, urban sprawl from city B encouraged developement in the burbs and every house for sale is directly being sold by the development company that built it), and so basically every house is part of an HOA.

We know that even a "good" HOA is 1 vote away from becoming a bad HOA. We know that a lot of the advice is either going to be "a 1.5 hour commute is better than an HOA" or "dont take a job in a new city if it requires you to live in an area with an HOA". For sake of having a discussion without disclosing why the current situation is unavoidable, please set those feelings aside.

If you absolutely, unavoidably, HAD to live in a community with an HOA, what steps could you take to minimize the hell? What signs would you look for in the community that the HOA isn't a faux fascist dictatorship?

Any tips are appreciated. Thanks!

Hi! I've never lived in a condo/townhome before, and after not having luck with SFH in my city, I'm looking at a few condo/townhome. The one in particular that has my interest, the layout of the bathrooms do not make use of the space efficiently. Things I'd want to do is move the position and location of the toilet and tub to give more moving space. This would mean some pipe work.

I'm guessing I'd need approval, but what I'm curious about is if these things usually get approved or denied? I wouldn't want to buy then find out I can't do this. My understanding is I can get access to HOA docs during the escrow, but do I also get permission to ask HOA specific questions?

Edit: Reading some comments, it seems there's a difference between condo vs townhome. I'm not too sure if the unit is a condo or townhome, since one of the unit in the community is listed as a condo (probably realtor mistake), but the other a townhome. All units within this community are multi floors and only share neighbors on the side.

Original Post

I live in a condo in Brooklyn and am an owner here. We had a fire/flood event last year and I explain in the original post why the public adjuster’s actions have seemed very suspicious to me. In short, I believe they have inflated the scope of the damages.

Since my original post, the public adjuster, which represents the condo, sent me a cease-and-desist letter. In a post on our building’s messaging app, I voiced my frustrations and wrote that “it seemed like a scam.” Around the same time, I sent an email to the board and our property management company, using similar language, and asking why no independent third party had assessed the damages and scope. Someone on our board forwarded my messages to the adjuster—I assume because they’re frustrated I keep asking questions.

I’ve already filed a report with the New York City Department of Finance, which oversees public adjusters here.

Now, however, another owner says she has a video that she recorded with their iPhone camera looking out the peephole of her apartment after the public adjuster’s inspectors visited her unit. In it, you can hear them discussing how much money was coming in from the scope of the job and how a lot of the projected repairs were unnecessary. She obviously heard them say this with her own ears at the time.

This seems insane. I’m really not a troublemaker—just a curious skeptic and former journalist who has no problem making a nuisance of himself. My apartment has no visible damages and I’ve not been sent anything in the 7 months since the event that proves there are damages. We’ve all asked for moisture reports and other concrete evidence and have been sent none. But I still may be forced to vacate my apartment so they can demo and rebuild it. I’ve also seen neighbors move out, upending their lives over this situation. It has caused a lot of chaos. Lastly, part of me is pissed that they sent me a cease-and-desist letter.

What should I do?

Our HOA management contract says the board must have a single point of contact to give "directions and instructions" to the CAM.

However, our CAM interprets that to include "all emails, inquiries, questions, and requests for information".

As a director, I can't even ask for a project update, request a document, or ask how a process works without going through one board member, who decides what gets forwarded, if at all.

Is this common, or is a single point of contact usually limited to actual directives like "send this violation letter" or "schedule the repair"?

I would like to advocate to my city councilmember to introduce an ordinance that would allow people in condos/townhouses in HOAs greater *liberty* to secure their property and reduce energy costs.

Does anyone know of a city that has done this? I would like to present my councilmember with dummy language that they can review/customize.

Our current condo HOA only permits security cameras and does not allow security screen doors, but crime and trespassing have grown in recent years. Our HOA rejected an ARC request to install security screen doors/security screens (high-end, non-descript!) that match the property. We would like to install a security screen door for both security reasons and so that we can open the back door for air circulation. Their solution to the crime is to form a crime committee and call the cops. We've tried to reason with them that a preventive approach is more cost-effective, but we have been ignored. We also live in a major city with a million people—the police are not going to respond to a trespassing call.

The state of Texas permits homeowners in single-family communities greater latitude to protect their properties/reduce energy costs, but condo communities of a certain size are not included in state legislation.

Appreciate any info anyone has. Thank you in advance.

I was wondering if anyone has been in this situation and has any guidance. We are new condo owners and our washing machine just flooded, and caused damage below. We will likely be going through insurance because of the liabilities involved but it was caught quickly so I was wondering if anyone has any advice on navigating how to decide when to follow through with a claim and that process.

We also are wondering if filing a claim, do we need to wait before touching anything? It would be nice to go ahead and get this washer repaired and carpet cleaned up but I don't want the adjuster wanting to inspect the washer or something like that.

Thank you!

I’m posting this as a warning to other residents in any building managed by Sea Breeze because this has become a serious safety issue.
Last night, an unauthorized person followed a resident into the building, forced their way in behind her, and could not state what unit they were visiting. They were asking for water and did not appear to have any legitimate reason to be inside the building. There was no security present, so I had to confront the person and get them out myself.
This is not the first time something like this has happened.
Last summer, an unauthorized person pulled the fire alarm and I ran into him in the stairwell. That situation could have ended badly.
Another time last summer, an unauthorized person was sleeping in the lobby and appeared to be stealing a cart full of resident packages.
That is three separate incidents where unauthorized people were inside the building, and in every case there was no meaningful security response.
Residents are paying HOA fees and are supposed to have a safe, secure building. So where is the security? Where is that money going? Someone is going to get hurt if this keeps happening.
I’m posting this so other residents are aware, especially anyone entering any building managed by Sea Breeze. Please be careful, don’t let anyone tailgate in behind you, and report anything suspicious immediately.
Sea Breeze and building management need to explain what security measures are actually in place and what they are doing to prevent this from happening again. Seabreeze is negligent as they come. One of the only things my 50k a year in HOA covers is security. Where is the money going?

My association regularly had every year's financials audited for the first many years after inception. In a couple reports we received guidance which served as useful advice. The auditors never discovered anything concerning.

For the past several years our boards have neglected to schedule any audits. I'm hesitant to ask/bother the board about it because even if there are issues (which, I want to be clear, I don't suspect), I don't have confidence that a standard audit would catch anything. Maybe I'm right or perhaps simply lacking confidence in a relatively cheap audit.

Have your audits ever revealed anything concerning where action had to be taken or perhaps it turned away prospective buyers? Thanks for sharing. Perhaps your experiences will encourage me to request my board to resume our previous practice.

Have you ever heard of a board members being asked to front payment out of personal funds for the HOA? That feels highly inappropriate to me and I can't understand why the management company and non board member owners in my community think that's an appropriate thing to ask of board members.

You know you board is corrupt, and the management is giving them their blessing. You’re also on the board. What would you do? Are you in similar situation? Give us your thoughts please.

[FL][TH]I am the VP of our 5 member HOA board. Quorum of board believes it is okay to vote on issues by email. Another board member and I do not. Property manager says it is okay and we can ratify in next meeting. We only have 4 managed meetings annually per property manager contract.

I suggested we do meeting w/o PM but that was shot down.

I suggested doing a spending resolution with unanimous written approval instead of email approval. That was shot down.

The 2 dissenting board members have asked for a legal opinion, but everything I have read says casting a vote by email is not acceptable.

Does anyone in this group have experience with the HOA named Associa AZ. I’m mainly looking for issues you had, and how you got resolution (short of moving out) to your issues. I’ve dealt with many HOAs over my lifetime, but I find it so incredibly hard to believe that one can be quite so inept/ineffective at what they do.

Hey yall, been recently having some issues with our management company and have started the process of looking for another company once the contract is up, but I figured since we'll be in transition anyway I look into the possibility of saving everyone a few grand a month and trying to self-manage.

Does anyone have any resources for what all we'd need to know before [potentially] making the plunge? Particularly Direct-To-HOA friendly services for handling autopay (if they exist), ways to loop into local law updates to make sure we're compliant, or other methods/services/notes to be aware of.

I know management companies are very useful, just looking into the feasibility and how much extra work I'm asking for if we end up going this route. We'll hold a vote before doing anything, so no need to give me that spiel either lol.

Thanks in advance!

Location: MA

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I live in a neighborhood that has a Landowners Association (LOA). I moved in when it was just the LOA and then the neighborhood expanded as subdivisions were built around it and annexed by the LOA. These subdivisions have their own homeowners associations (HOAs) and governing documents.

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Residents of these subdivisions have to pay into the LOA as well as their own HOA. The LOA’s CC&Rs is known as the “Master Declaration”.

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My issue is with one of the subdivisions that I’ll call the Grover Park Subdivision. In that subdivision there is a green space named Grover Park. Grover Park looks like a public park, and there are no signs, gates, or other indicators that its use is restricted only to certain individuals. The residents and Board of Trustees of the Grover Park HOA have been policing the use of Grover Park by approaching anyone using Grover Park and demanding to know where they live. They claim that Grover Park is for the exclusive use of the residents of the Grover Park Subdivision, as they are the only ones paying for the maintenance of Grover Park.

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This is not true. The Master Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) indicate that any property annexed becomes Association Property and is subject to the Master CC&Rs. It also indicates that all property owners of the LOA are entitled to the use of any Association Property in the annexed subdivision, and that assessments will be adjusted for a proportionate share after each annexation. The Grover Park CC&Rs also has a blurb stating it is subject to the CC&Rs of the Master Declaration.

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In addition, I have also found out that Grover Park was actually zoned as a “common open area” in their development and site plans, which the authority that approved the plans defines as “the area of publicly accessible land shared by surrounding dwelling units. This open space may have paths, landscaping or other amenities. In a private housing association, the Common Open Space is maintained through homeowner association or condominium fees.” This means that not only is Grover Park available for use by the residents of the LOA other sub-HOAs, it is also available for use by the public.

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I have also learned that the “Private Road: No Thru Way” sign that was installed at the entrance of the private way Grover Park is misleading (and potentially illegal). Not only is there a through-way, but a public access easement was also recorded to provide for public access to this private way. The sign interferes with the scope of the easement.

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I want to mention that I have already tried to clear things up with my neighbors in a friendly manner. I had reached out to the Grover Park HOA and the Neighborhood Association (originally created as a voice of the residents of the neighborhood, but now has more of a social role in the community, even sending out a newsletter earlier this year) for clarification about the use of the park. I emphasized that I was not trying to get unauthorized use of the park, but it was unreasonable to expect people to know that the use of an unmarked piece of land that looks like a park in the middle of the neighborhood is restricted. I asked that there be signs put up if Grover Park is indeed a private area so that future conflicts between neighbors can be avoided. I also asked that people be mindful of how they approach others and that they do not approach children. (This was before I found evidence indicating they do not have the right to restrict the use of Grover Park.)

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Unfortunately, my neighbors were dismissive and unhelpful, which is what led me to look into things myself. My discoveries lead me to believe they were not operating in good faith.

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I plan to reach out to my city’s Inspector of Buildings and the Zoning Enforcement Agency. I have the following documents:

- Master Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs)

- Amendment to the Master CC&Rs declaring the annexation Grover Park

- Grover Park’s CC&Rs which indicates the Grover Park Subdivision is subject to the Master CC&Rs

- Zoning plans that were approved recorded at our county’s Registry of Deeds indicating the Grover Park was zoned as a "common open space".

- Zoning and Land Use By-Laws from the local government agency that has the definition

- Public Access Easement Agreement for the private way

- Photos of the misleading sign

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Is there any other authority I can go to about this? I want this to be formal and by the books.

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I’m also curious if I can do anything about the residents and trustees approaching people using Grover Park. They seem to think the lack of signs justifies their policing the use of the park (I have this in writing) rather than a lack of signs indicating that Grover Park is available for public use.

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My goal is that the misleading sign gets taken down, people stop policing other people's use of common spaces, the neighborhood association announces in their next newsletter that they were mistaken about Grover Park being a restricted park, and every power-tripping asshole eats shit.

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Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

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Mixed apartment and town home HOA (about 150 units) in Colorado. An existing tennis court needs to be replaced or removed. My understanding is that a replacement is about $100,000 and removal is about $20,000. There is a small pool, hot tub and about 5 community garden slots adjacent to the court. I see tennis courts in many other communities in the area, but they are almost never used. Looking for ideas for things to do with that space. Something that would be used by many residents and might even increase the value of the residences a bit.

I got the name of a handyman from my neighbor and hired him to do some work at my boyfriends condo. I’m not at all sure why but this contractor just started telling my boyfriend about how the HOA president at my complex pocketed 18k off of a recent project that was done and is giving him details about how he’s going to make 30k off of waterproofing that’s about to happen as well. He even gave my boyfriend copies of the invoices. The invoice that I’m assuming was submitted to our HOA for payment was $75k, the Invoice the contractor showed my HOA president was for 48k and the best part is I called up the contractor directly and he said he quoted the job at 25k but was never paid and wrote it off as a loss since he didn’t get a contract signed.

This is insane and I don’t even know what steps to take. My boyfriend is still with the contractor and I’m asking him to get as much info out of him as possible.

I have had two different HVAC companies come for service calls when my HVAC either completely shut off or stopped fully working. My strainer keeps getting gunked up. Contractor cleans it and puts it back in. The next day the HVAC slowly cools the apartment less and less (temp. keeps increasing higher than what I set it at). "If the building doesn't do something about the loop this will keep happening (clogged strainer). I can take the strainer out but you run the risk of completely destroying your hvac and will need a new one if we do that." 

Two different contractors have now said the water loop system is dirty and needs to be emptied/cleaned. Under any circumstances could the blame or responsibility be directed toward me, the unit owner?

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this.
We've had HOA board members come onto homeowners' properties and issue violation notices for things that aren't even addressed anywhere in the CCRs. When you actually read the governing documents, the "rule" they're enforcing simply doesn't exist. It feels like they're making decisions based on personal preferences instead of what's actually written or what's best for the neighborhood.

What's even more frustrating is that this doesn't just affect existing homeowners. There have been new home builders who were forced to stop construction after the HOA demanded major design changes after the house was already framed. I'm talking about things like changing the orientation of the front door or relocating the garage doors—changes that should have been addressed during the plan approval process, not after framing is complete and the home is nearly ready for drywall.

These kinds of last-minute demands can cost builders and homeowners thousands of dollars and cause significant delays. If the plans were approved, why should someone have to redesign major structural elements because a board member changed their mind or has a personal preference?

Has anyone successfully challenged an HOA for enforcing requirements that aren't actually in the CCRs or for making arbitrary decisions? If so, what was the outcome? I'm interested in hearing how others have handled situations where it seems like the board is creating rules as they go instead of following the governing documents. They also keep making changes to the CCRs based on arguments they have with people just so it gets them in the right.

I’m in California and dealing with an HOA dispute over EV charging in a condo garage.

I have an assigned parking space near an existing 120V outlet. The HOA does not want me using the outlet directly because it is tied to common-area electricity, which I understand.

To address that, I submitted an architectural application with a licensed electrician’s proposal to install a 120V charging receptacle with a revenue-grade submeter. I would pay for installation, permits, maintenance, removal/restoration if needed, and all electricity used based on the meter.

The HOA denied the application, but the first denial letter did not provide any actual reason. It said the application was not in compliance with the CC&Rs, but the section where the specific reasons were supposed to be listed was basically blank.

After my attorney sent a demand letter, the HOA/property manager said the original denial letter was incorrect and then produced a different denial letter with the same original denial date. This new version says the proposal was denied because it would draw from common-area electrical infrastructure through a submeter, and that the “standard practice” is a dedicated circuit connected to my individual unit meter.

My attorney has requested the metadata, drafts, and records for the newly produced denial letter to determine when it was actually created and approved, but the HOA appears to be stalling on that.

There has also been interference with the charger itself. The charger was unplugged/removed more than once without clear notice or a hearing, even though the dispute was still ongoing. I’m documenting everything and trying to avoid direct confrontations.

My concern is that California Civil Code §4745 appears to protect EV charging access and does not seem to specifically require a dedicated circuit to the owner’s individual meter. The HOA has not identified a specific code violation, safety issue, capacity issue, insurance requirement, engineering report, or CC&R provision that prohibits the submeter approach.

I have already had an attorney send a demand letter, but I’m trying to avoid spending much more on legal fees if possible.

My questions:

1. Can a California HOA require a dedicated circuit to the owner’s unit meter if a revenue-grade submeter would allow full reimbursement for electricity?
2. How much does it hurt the HOA if the original denial gave no reason and the detailed reasoning only appeared after an attorney demand letter?
3. Does “standard practice” matter if they have not identified a specific legal, safety, code, or engineering issue?
4. Does unplugging/removing the charger during the dispute strengthen my position, or is that treated separately?
5. Would IDR, mediation, or asking the city building department for code clarification be good low-cost next steps?

I’m not looking for formal legal advice, just practical input from people familiar with California HOAs, EV charging disputes, Civil Code §4745, architectural denials, or condo electrical setups.