# Condo board, you're a pack of nosy, lying bastards. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302 "2005-01-29T18:11:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/41 "2005-02-01T21:04:04Z")
No condo association here, but we’ve got plenty of anal neighborhood covenants. Largely, they’re ignored, until one neighbor gets into a tussle with another and they start calling one another on violations. We’re getting set to do some major renovation work in the spring. Most neighbors are quite friendly, unless you count the one directly across the street who has plenty of free time to cause trouble. We heard through the neighborhood grapevine that she was planning on raising all sorts of issues having to do with our planned work. So I pulled a copy of the neighborhood covenants and let the most gossipy neighbors know that if she started trouble, she’d have to yank down the rather expensive PVC fence she installed a couple years back, take down the visible TV antennas (broadcast and satellite) on her roof, move part of her driveway and take care of a bunch of other minor violations. By and large, these little details seem to matter only to people who have excess time on their hands. I can understand if you have a car up on blocks in your front yard in an otherwise attractive neighborhood, but once the rules get overly anal, all they seem to do is cause knock-down-drag-outs between neighbors who should be busy doing other things. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/42 "2005-02-02T01:12:34Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Ready for the jaw-dropper? The divorce was finally settled, I sold off all the cars and quietly went about my business. Paid off the ex’s debts, then paid off the house and went back to renovations. (It’s pretty prominent, being slam in the middle of the district.) The very same Officious Assholes who harrassed for so long had the unmitigated brass-faced _gall_ to ask/demand that I let them use my house for public tours on behalf of their association. Okay, I wonder: Is there a class you can take to learn that kind of unashamed chutzpah? Is it an inborn trait? If it’s a genetic trait, can we revive the old eugenics programs to try to eradicate it? If it’s trained - can you just learn how to do it on demand - not all the time, of course, just from time to time, when dealing with other officious idjits. Either way, **Veb** , you’re now my hero. Such calm in the face of unbelievable gall is waaaay sexy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/43 "2005-02-02T04:25:55Z")
“take down the visible TV antennas (broadcast and satellite) on her roof” Don’t go there. The FCC has declaired such rules null and void, any action on that front would be a non-starter. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/44 "2005-02-02T04:39:42Z")
> [@The Vorlon](#): > > “take down the visible TV antennas (broadcast and satellite) on her roof” > > Don’t go there. > > The FCC has declaired such rules null and void, any action on that front would be a non-starter. mmm… can’t pass a **law** prohibiting them. But a restrictive covenant is a **private** contract, running with the property. ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/45 "2005-02-02T05:18:21Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > mmm… can’t pass a **law** prohibiting them. But a restrictive covenant is a **private** contract, running with the property. There is actually legislation restricting what property managers, landlords and HOA’s can veto in terms of antennas - you can have specific types of antennae in specific areas and they can’t do anything about it, even if it was written into the lease (ie. My landlord can’t actually keep me from having satellite here, as long as the dish is in a private use area, and so long as I don’t damage or modify his property irreversibly) More complete details are available here: [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html](http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html) ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/46 "2005-02-02T14:12:35Z")
**Random** I dug out the damn thing and it looks like what you described. It says something about with two-thirds approval of the owners. Since, WAG, 90 percent of the owners regularly give the old nose thumb to it, I’m guessing it’ll never happen. This is a still developing area, so every couple of years some newbie tries but always gets shot down. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/47 "2005-02-02T16:06:35Z")
> [@Venoma](#): > > There is actually legislation restricting what property managers, landlords and HOA’s can veto in terms of antennas - you can have specific types of antennae in specific areas and they can’t do anything about it, even if it was written into the lease (ie. My landlord can’t actually keep me from having satellite here, as long as the dish is in a private use area, and so long as I don’t damage or modify his property irreversibly) > More complete details are available here: [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html](http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html) Interesting… Until we got cable, we kept our antenna in the attic like (almost) everybody else in the neighborhood. I’m not sure when the last neighborhood spat over roof-mounted antennas was, but my across-the-street neighbor is the only one I know of in the neighborhood that has one. Even if that one breaks down, I’ve still got her nailed on the fence, driveway and a bunch of other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/48 "2005-02-02T16:24:02Z")
Ugh, like **KSO** , I’m on my condo board. And it’s been like sand in my craw. There are three of us. The president just quit because he got a new job and is too busy. The VP is always travelling, so he’s never around to talk to. And apparently he doesn’t check email often. And then the woman who works at the property management company is driving me mad. We’ve been trying to schedule a board meeting for about 2 months. Every time I’m on the phone with her, I want to yell “JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED ME TO DO SO I CAN DO IT AND MOVE THE FUCK ON!” So in our case, the board isn’t nosy. It’s too goddamned busy to deal with things. Like the guy who wrote to us and said his downstairs neighbor has called the cops on him, knocked on his door at 5am, and then tried to bribe him with gifts. I’m not sure I understand that whole thing… Community living! It’s a damn shame a single family home is way out of my price range. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302/49 "2005-02-02T18:37:55Z")
> [@scout1222](#): > > So in our case, the board isn’t nosy. It’s too goddamned busy to deal with things. I think I speak for everyone in the thread when I say that your neighbors prefer you to be busy! Of course, if I was trying to get something done for which I needed the approval of the board, and they were unresponsive, I’d probably pit them for that, too. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/condo-board-youre-a-pack-of-nosy-lying-bastards/287302.md?page=2)