They're supposed to protect property values and keep people from letting their houses go to crap or prevent people from painting their houses say...Pink. I grew up living in one and my parents never had any problems. However, some people get on the board of an HOA and go on a power trip.
The following story is about a guy who lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. The kicker is that his house wasn't built as part of the neighborhood and existed before the neighborhood was built. So, he wasn't subject to the rules of the HOA.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Many
years ago I bought a house in a neighborhood with a very restrictive
HOA, however the property I bought preexisted the HOA and was not
included in the HOA or restricted in any way.
One of my neighbors seemed to take great offense at the fact that I was not a part of the HOA and did not have to abide by the overly restrictive rules.
From the time that I moved in to the house he started giving me grief. First it was HOA notices that I was under no obligation to follow. When that failed he began to harass me at every opportunity.
For months on end this guy would call in noise complainants anytime I had guests over, no party just guests. He also habitually called in code complainants, and generally harassed me and my family in many other ways. For months he made my life hell.
Finally one night while friends were visiting we got a knock at the door. It was a police officer responding to another noise complaint. WTF? we were just sitting around playing cards. This was the last straw. I decided to get him back.
I formulated a plan.
First you must understand that this was about 30 years ago, there were no cell phones in general use and the average citizen did not have access to the easy communications that we enjoy today, or my plan would have never worked. I have been into radio my whole life so my car and house were well equipped with two way radios. Next, it was fortuitous that my house was in a development that had only one road in or out. Also there was a convenience store on the corner that always had plenty of cars in the lot for me to blend in with.
We put our plan into action on a Friday night. We established an alibi with a close friend in town who would swear that we were at his house playing cards all night.
Next I opened the windows and placed my speakers for my sound system up in the windows facing my neighbors house.
We then cleared a hiding place in a closet with a clear view of the driveway. I then got in my car and drove to the store parking lot and found a spot that gave me a clear view of all cars entering or leaving the development.
Once we established that communications were good it was D-hour. My wife turned on the stereo to rock music at full volume rattling the neighborhood. Also every light in the hose went on. The music was so loud I could hear it at the store over half a mile away.
We waited....
Sure enough in about 30 minutes a police car turned into the development. I radioed my wife. Working together, she and her sister quickly turned off the stereo, pulled the speakers from and closed the windows, turned off the lights and then quickly hid in the closet.
The police arrived, pulled in the driveway and found an apparently empty and dark house. Windows closed, doors locked, curtains open, lights off, driveway empty. My wife and her sister sat silently in the closet while the officers knocked on doors, shined flashlights in windows, and walked completely around the house.
Eventually they decided the house was empty and left. I watched them exit the development and head back towards town.
We waited about thirty minutes and repeated the procedure. Windows open, speakers up, stereo on full blast, lights on. About 15 minutes passed before the police returned. Radioed my wife. Windows closed, speakers down, lights off. Once again the police went to my house.
They tried every door, and spent more time looking in the windows. They even sat in the car out front for about 20 minutes before leaving. About 15 minutes after they disappeared towards town. We repeated the whole procedure once again. This time it was less than 5 minutes before the police returned. This time they had their blue lights on. Oh crap!
The police pulled into my empty driveway, but immediately backed out and went to my jerk neighbor's house.
They were there for more than 30 minutes. My wife couldn't hear everything that was said but there was shouting and cursing.
Eventually the police left, my wife radioed me and I returned home.
Two days later my neighbor's name appeared in the local newspaper as having been charged with misuse of police resources, filing a false report or something like that. I don't remember the exact charges. Hey its been three decades ago.
But after that night I never received another complaint, visit from the city, or police as the result of him. And the other harassment stopped."
One of my neighbors seemed to take great offense at the fact that I was not a part of the HOA and did not have to abide by the overly restrictive rules.
From the time that I moved in to the house he started giving me grief. First it was HOA notices that I was under no obligation to follow. When that failed he began to harass me at every opportunity.
For months on end this guy would call in noise complainants anytime I had guests over, no party just guests. He also habitually called in code complainants, and generally harassed me and my family in many other ways. For months he made my life hell.
Finally one night while friends were visiting we got a knock at the door. It was a police officer responding to another noise complaint. WTF? we were just sitting around playing cards. This was the last straw. I decided to get him back.
I formulated a plan.
First you must understand that this was about 30 years ago, there were no cell phones in general use and the average citizen did not have access to the easy communications that we enjoy today, or my plan would have never worked. I have been into radio my whole life so my car and house were well equipped with two way radios. Next, it was fortuitous that my house was in a development that had only one road in or out. Also there was a convenience store on the corner that always had plenty of cars in the lot for me to blend in with.
We put our plan into action on a Friday night. We established an alibi with a close friend in town who would swear that we were at his house playing cards all night.
Next I opened the windows and placed my speakers for my sound system up in the windows facing my neighbors house.
We then cleared a hiding place in a closet with a clear view of the driveway. I then got in my car and drove to the store parking lot and found a spot that gave me a clear view of all cars entering or leaving the development.
Once we established that communications were good it was D-hour. My wife turned on the stereo to rock music at full volume rattling the neighborhood. Also every light in the hose went on. The music was so loud I could hear it at the store over half a mile away.
We waited....
Sure enough in about 30 minutes a police car turned into the development. I radioed my wife. Working together, she and her sister quickly turned off the stereo, pulled the speakers from and closed the windows, turned off the lights and then quickly hid in the closet.
The police arrived, pulled in the driveway and found an apparently empty and dark house. Windows closed, doors locked, curtains open, lights off, driveway empty. My wife and her sister sat silently in the closet while the officers knocked on doors, shined flashlights in windows, and walked completely around the house.
Eventually they decided the house was empty and left. I watched them exit the development and head back towards town.
We waited about thirty minutes and repeated the procedure. Windows open, speakers up, stereo on full blast, lights on. About 15 minutes passed before the police returned. Radioed my wife. Windows closed, speakers down, lights off. Once again the police went to my house.
They tried every door, and spent more time looking in the windows. They even sat in the car out front for about 20 minutes before leaving. About 15 minutes after they disappeared towards town. We repeated the whole procedure once again. This time it was less than 5 minutes before the police returned. This time they had their blue lights on. Oh crap!
The police pulled into my empty driveway, but immediately backed out and went to my jerk neighbor's house.
They were there for more than 30 minutes. My wife couldn't hear everything that was said but there was shouting and cursing.
Eventually the police left, my wife radioed me and I returned home.
Two days later my neighbor's name appeared in the local newspaper as having been charged with misuse of police resources, filing a false report or something like that. I don't remember the exact charges. Hey its been three decades ago.
But after that night I never received another complaint, visit from the city, or police as the result of him. And the other harassment stopped."
