# Inspired by Chastain's Neighbor Rant--come Rant about your Homeowner's Association!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166 "2002-11-17T15:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/21 "2002-11-19T00:05:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zenith \* > \*\*BTW, one of the likely lawn-care snitches has kids who play in the street despite a nice city park in the neighborhood. I fully sympathize with Chastain. \*\* Obviously, they have their kids play in the street so they aren’t playing in the chemical-soaked lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/22 "2002-11-19T02:40:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AmbushBug \* > \*\*I live in a community where we homeowners have apparently agreed to not park our cars on the street in front of our houses. The CC&Rs are sufficiently thick, that it’s usually a surprise to the homeowner when they find out about it. > > Or to allow our guests to do the same - it’s driveway or garage only (not yard, either, of course). > > One or two neighbors on a different street have been fined for people they didn’t know parking in front of their houses - as far as I know once this was explained they didn’t have to pay. > > Further explanation: our streets are not narrow; apparently this was a regulation thought up by the then “builder’s” association in order to keep the community more sale-able looking. And there’s no town ordinance against it, so the police can’t ticket or tow street-parked (non-abandoned) cars. > > Now that the association has moved into elected owner control, perhaps this rule will be changed. It’s not popular. > > AmbushBug > sub If needed, my guests or I shall park in front of the neighbors’ houses. It’s not in the CC&Rs: just not in front of my own house.[/sub] \*\* Unless the HOA is responsible for the upkeep of the street, and not the city, this is totally public property. A “fine” for this offense should be laughed out of court if challenged. The HOA has no jurisdiction. If you have wide enough streets, and it is legal, why not permit street parking? This sounds like excessive, snooty crap that the HOA has absolutely no jurisdiction over. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/23 "2002-11-19T14:56:56Z")
I’ve seen write-ups on a couple of parliamentary procedure sites claiming that HOAs have a nasty habit of running out of control. It seems to me that an HOA starts as the builder’s effort to make sure community facilities get maintained and the houses all sell for a tidy profit, then once the houses are all sold the HOA morphs into an exercise in power trips and bad ways to run a business group. There are state laws governing HOAs. According to the sites I’ve read, such laws often require an annual meeting open to the HOA’s community, open business meetings, and possibly open elections. The laws may require or prohibit several other things that an HOA may tend to, um, forget. **dwc1970** , the FCC issued a ruling a few years back regarding certain home antenna installations (amateur radio and small-dish satellite TV are two of the installations addressed in the ruling): State & local law, plus HOA rules, must provide a reasonable accomodation for the antenna installation. This is a federal ruling that explicitly pre-empts local ordinances. I think the ruling was called “PRB-1”; check with the American Radio Relay League ([arrl.org](http://arrl.org), I think) for help. When you take the issue to your HOA board, be nice, be polite, be firm. So just what is it with HOA boards that they’re seen as trying to annoy their community? Are there any Dopers here who are on an HOA board? ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/24 "2002-11-19T15:11:55Z")
Little Elm,actually is where I live.It’s not like it’s a SUPERDUPER community…houses run from about 100’s to the 120’s…nothing major. And as for my flowerbeds…we had fully intended this past spring to plant flowers. On the same day we replaced the dead tree and bushes in the front yard,we bought mulch and green thingies™that go around the area we cleared out around the bushes. We just never got around to planting flowers and pulled whatever weeds happened to grow in the beds.Eventually our grass crept up in there too,which I guess is why the HOA went ballistic.But…they are also pussies in that they’ve never followed up on making us put ANYTHING in the flowerbeds.They sent letters but nothing has come of it and I expect nothing ever will. Zenith–I totally understand.We aren’t of the Lawn Cult either but a lot of our neighbors are and although we haven’t gotten notices because our grass was too high,we have gotten dirty looks from others because we let it go for two or three weeks at a time. It’s a good thing they can’t see into our backyard.At one point this past summer,we let the backyard go for something like six weeks before we mowed simply because we didn’t really have the time.So I feel for ya,dude. IDBB (whose husband will foreafter be known as ConvertibleMan) ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/25 "2002-11-19T17:20:44Z")
I like my “association” better. I kinda let the grass get too long (like 2 feet too tall). I can’t start the damn motor on the lawnmower, and hadn’t thought to ask the neighbor to start it. The management guy came over and said “Mow it or I’ll send my kid over this weekend. He charges $10.” I had the $10 ready to go, but the kid never showed. It was like a free pass. If his kid won’t do it (don’t blame him), I don’t have to either. This is my backyard though, my neighbor mows the front yard because it is connected to his yard. (My part is about 2 ft x 2 ft) ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166/26 "2002-11-19T17:30:22Z")
You lucky dog.ConvertibleMan would only go out and mow the front when I told him he either would mow the yard or forego sex for the next month!😃 IDBB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspired-by-chastains-neighbor-rant-come-rant-about-your-homeowners-association/137166.md?page=1)