There has to be a limit to their power, and I imagine it lies in the land of physical and/or material damages.
They can't mandate that you leave your daughter's curtains open at night, or that you must leave your front door unlocked when no one is home (which is virtually the same thing as in the OP).
HOA loses this one, but it'll take a lawyer so really everyone loses this one.
Except the lawyer, I suppose.
I lived in a condo with an HOA "lite" (condo association) a number of years ago. It wasn't as strict (not gated or anything), but it was annoying at times. It had its pros and cons.
The pro was that it forced people not to be trashy...if your place was visibly or audibly disruptive, you'd get written up for it, which actually made for a pretty nice neighborhood because there were rules & because you had to pay the 'HOA' fee every month, so people who didn't want to abide by the rules generally didn't live there.
The con is that there is always at least one Neighborhood Nazi - you know, that kid in school who would always tattle about every little thing to the teacher, they seem to grow up & love living in HOA's. I got a stern written warning from management for having left a kickball on my deck for a week...which was surrounded by trees & not readily visible to people who weren't actively poking their nose around into other people's business. The rent wasn't too bad (only about $100 more than my previous noisy apartment with the condo fees, because it was in the middle of nowhere), but dumb little incidents like that kept happening & I eventually moved. Like, one person kept complaining about their paper mail getting stolen (no proof) & everyone ended up having to shell out an extra $400 that year to help pay for the installation of locking mailboxes. Bleh.
And that's a huge problem with HOA or condo associations, there's always someone who that will look in your backyard, measure your grass, check to see make sure if ANYONE has any violations. Your BBQ isn't covered, that nosy person will tell the HOA and you get a fine.
I will never live somewhere that tells me how I can have my house. If I want to paint my house grey, I will paint it grey. If I want to change my front door, garage door, or windows, I will do it.
And that's a huge problem with HOA or condo associations, there's always someone who that will look in your backyard, measure your grass, check to see make sure if ANYONE has any violations. Your BBQ isn't covered, that nosy person will tell the HOA and you get a fine.
This. It's none of the HOA's business how you use the space within your home.Why should it even matter if there's more than one family in the same house. These kind of rules are retarded.
Why cardboard cutouts? Just go with real nude people, you have the right to be naked in your own home. Hire a bunch of 70 and 80 year old nudists to have a party in your garage. I can't imagine how this idiotic overreach of power wasn't struck down by a restraining order within 10 seconds.
Another fun thing to do would be to make up some flyers for a "nude gay party" at the HOA president's home, and put them in every mailbox. The party does not actually have to happen, just having the flyers going everywhere would be enough. Maybe even put ads in the paper.
Fuck em.
When they try to punish you, fuckem again.
Then fuckem with a lawyer when they try to make shit serious.
That's probably what I'd do, just stack some cinder blocks and build a wall, but since they're just stacked, then it's technically not a "built" wall, you're just storing cinder blocks in your garage. So construction related rules don't really apply. They might come up with a rule that you can't store construction materials in your garage, fine, replace the blocks with something else. Just keep screwing around as they add more rules. I imagine it costs them money in legal fees etc to make new rules so it would hurt them more than you, and you get a work out in the process.
There needs to be rich people who buy houses in HOAs for the sole purpose of trolling them. That should be a thing, like make it a reality show or something. Actually make it into an ongoing game show, multiple trolls buy in the same HOA and their goal is to become the HOA president. I would watch that.
That. It's that simple. Every HOA starts with good intentions and laudable goals. Most of us want to live in an area that neighbors can't have 5 rusted out pickups on cinderblocks in the front yard and "Afternoon Delight" blasting at 120 decibels on an endless loop. But there's no way to achieve it in the real world. The only people who could be trusted to apply common sense rules and enforce them in reasonable ways won't take the job and the people that want the job are the ones that can't be allowed to take it. So you will without fail end up with the biggest idiots on Earth passing new rules to inflate their own power so that they don't act in the benefit of anyone but themselves. Whoever passed this particular rule should be publicly disemboweled and their corpse put on a stake as a warning to the next HOA president.
I commend you on this position. Really I do. But I loath, no hate, those that want this but intentionally move into an HOA community and then act trashy.And that's a huge problem with HOA or condo associations, there's always someone who that will look in your backyard, measure your grass, check to see make sure if ANYONE has any violations. Your BBQ isn't covered, that nosy person will tell the HOA and you get a fine.
I will never live somewhere that tells me how I can have my house. If I want to paint my house grey, I will paint it grey. If I want to change my front door, garage door, or windows, I will do it.
Err you know you pay for everything hoa does right?
You agreed to live by their rules and signed it. No lawyer is going to be able to help you much.
You cant force someone to do something illegal or dangerous just because they signed a contract. The law protects citizens against that kind of crap. Leaving your garage door open all day clearly presents multiple risks to homes and residents.
That article led me to this gem.
http://www.kcra.com/article/suspects-farting-shuts-down-interrogation/13518162
"And my back door is open too."I like it. Put a line in the ad "I'll leave my garage open for you, come on in!"
Yes, lots of risks. Security and risk of theft aside, garages are not weatherproofed on the inside and any driving rain would easily destroy interior walls, lead to mold and other health concerns, cause structural damage, etc. On the rain factor alone this would get hit with a restraining order the second it was challenged in court.