HOA Horror Stories: Homeowners Who Fought and Came Out on Top

By Donald Sjoerdsma

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans — about 67 million — live in a homeowners association, condominium community or cooperative, according to the Community Associations Institute.

HOAs offer some real benefits, but the downsides can be dramatic when officials enforce unpopular rules or strict interpretations. Residents who refuse to obey their HOA can be fined, sued, threatened with jail time (though not necessarily convincingly) or even lose their home.

“These [HOAs] today have a lot of responsibility,” sometimes filling the role once occupied by municipalities, says Evan McKenzie, the author of “Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government” and keeper of the Privatopia Papers blog.

“Their covenants cover all aspects of people’s lives, yet nobody is training them, there are no qualifications [to being on a governing board] and there is no institutional support to speak of.”

Yahoo Real Estate recently reported on a Missouri HOA that took one of its families to court over a backyard swing set stained purple — even though the HOA’s own appeals committee had already overturned a fine against the family, the Stouts. A judge ultimately ruled against the HOA, but only after thousands of dollars had been spent on both sides.

The Stouts are hardly alone. Here are a few more examples of HOAs that might have taken their rules a little too seriously.

HOA fines California woman for removing her lawn during a drought

In 2014, with California experiencing a lasting drought, Fran Paxson did what she thought was best: She replaced her lawn with drought-resistant plants and ground cover so she would use less of the area’s water.

There was only one problem: Her homeowners association didn’t approve. They wanted Paxson to restore at least 25 percent of her yard to grass. When she refused, they fined her $50 a month.

Paxson would be part of the last wave of HOA residents in California to suffer such consequences. The Contra Costa Times reported that a new law went into effect Jan. 1, 2015, stating that HOAs can’t prevent residents from modifying their lawns to make room for drought-resistant plants.

HOA prevents family whose house burned down from rebuilding on their own property

In January 2014, the Mitchell family lost their home and all of its contents in a fire. They moved into an apartment while swiftly taking actions to build a new house on their property. There was only one thing stopping them: Their homeowners association.

The HOA said the house the Mitchells had selected would not fit into the community, which was built in the early 1960s. The board encouraged the Mitchells to reapply with a different design, but the Mitchells expressed doubt that their designs would ever be accepted.

Finally, in September 2014, the Mitchells got what they wanted.

Sort of.

The Bay Area Citizen reported that, after months of “muddling through” the board’s approval process, the Mitchells got the go-ahead to rebuild on their property. The success came several revisions into the process, however, chipping away at the home the Mitchells really wanted. One proposed blueprint, for example, had been rejected for not having the right brick color, while another was turned down for being too narrow.

After receiving final approval, Jason Mitchell told the the Citizen, “Now hopefully we can get on with our lives.”

HOA tries to evict famous pet pig

This Vietnamese pot-bellied pig from Spring, Texas, is a bit of an Internet celebrity, and even had a live cam capturing his everyday moments.

>Wilbur Sardo’s thousands of Facebook fans, however, couldn’t shield him from his homeowners association.

The controversy came down to semantics: The Sardos saw Wilbur as a “household pet,” but the HOA considered him “livestock,” which isn’t allowed in the community. They wanted him removed from the house within 30 days.

Who was right?

The Sardo family sued the Cypresswood Community Improvement Association—and won. The district court judge ruled in the Sardos’ favor, saying the evidence indicated that Wilbur’s breed was clearly not used for commercial purposes. The judge also issued a general warning to HOAs for ignoring their “responsibilities not to infringe too much on homeowners’ use of their land the way they see fit.”

Wilbur was safe at home for good, and last we checked, he was closing in on 5,500 likes.

A Colorado HOA considers trapping and killing a community’s rabbits

The Wildgrass Homeowners Association of Broomfield, Colorado, was frustrated by critters nibbling their way through the vegetation and landscaping, and felt it had no choice: They had to kill all the rabbits.

Residents received a letter from a pest control company outlining a plan to “remove” the rabbits from the neighborhood. Many residents assumed this meant the rabbits would be relocated, but when Sally Tasker pressed a board member for details, she discovered the real plan: to trap and execute the rabbits in accordance with Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s rules for certain types of “nuisance wildlife.”

Capital punishment was the last resort: The HOA had tried to deal with the burgeoning rabbit population in many nonlethal ways, including buying plastic predators to scare the rabbits away, according to the Broomfield Enterprise.

Ultimately, Tasker worked with the HOA to get relocation permits from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the pest control workers who once were going to kill the rabbits instead helped trap and transport them. With Tasker footing the transit bill, the bunnies were off to their new warren in nearby Creative Acres.

More homeowner horror stories:

• Man Saws in Half His Neighbor’s (Allegedly) Encroaching Building
• ‘Burglar’s Dream Come True’ Costs $32
• Stickers Proclaim: 'No Californians’