# Licenses and Inspection Visit - High Grass! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485 "2006-07-07T12:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/21 "2006-07-10T17:37:00Z")
> [@Bongmaster](#): > > I’d like to educate myself completely before I call him back today so I can speak with some authority. If anyone could help me answer the questions above I’d really appreciate it. I’m guessing the rule is either here or here. And, as a township zoning administrator, let me say this: **do not call up and try to speak with authority!** Be cheerful & ignorant and blame your highschool for teaching about how congress adopts a law but not how local government actually works. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/22 "2006-07-10T17:38:36Z")
Hmmmm. If you’re talking municipal guidelines, Akron, OH seems to have an 8 inch limit on your grass. My lawnmower was broke, so was I, so it took me a few months to get it mowed… actually, I mowed last month, after neglecting it for 8 weeks. Two foot grass in the back yard is a BITCH. Yeah, and homeowner’s associations are a PITA. Honestly, I would probably go to jail if I was subject to one… I don’t suffer fools gladly, and I would likely lose my temper with the first representative or attorney they sent over… either that or play some rather heinous pranks aimed at hosing the property values on the entire neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/23 "2006-07-10T17:58:51Z")
I’ve just recently closed on a house. While looking, a big warning sign for me was whether the neighborhood had any sort of homeowner’s association, as several of my friends have had bad problems with the Neighborhood Nazis in the past. Good luck finding a relatively new house which doesn’t have any sort of HA. I ended up buying a house which does have a CC&R. There are no recurring dues, however, and there’s no enforcement… which means that, although adding a covered deck to my backyard is technically against the CC&R, there’s nobody who can tell me that I can’t do it. I hate jerks who try to tell me what I can and can’t do with my property. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/24 "2006-07-10T18:07:07Z")
Ah, I should add… One of the houses we looked at was actually quite nice. Three bedrooms, decent sized, in a nice quiet neighborhood. Well manicured lawns, HUGE lots (rare, for this area), and in a fantastic location… and the price was suprisingly low. Then I found out why- the HOA dues were $250. PER MONTH. And those huge lots? You couldn’t fence them in. Basically, you got these nice lots… and you couldn’t actually use them for anything. That’s why the houses were so damn cheap. Sure looked nice. A shame the HOA didn’t actually, you know, increase the property values- they ended up lowering the property values. Despite the insane housing market, here, that house is still on the market, three months later. Nobody wants to buy it, or any of the other houses in the neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/25 "2006-07-10T18:37:39Z")
Be careful–the [BTK Killer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTK_killer) was basically an L&I inspector in his town. . . . ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485/26 "2006-07-10T18:42:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Be careful–the [BTK Killer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTK_killer) was basically an L&I inspector in his town. . . . Don’t worry, I’d get first strike advantage! Oh. Wait. You’re talking to the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/licenses-and-inspection-visit-high-grass/363485.md?page=1)