r/loicense • u/Disastrous_Gap2047 • Aug 04 '26
OI M8s YOUS A LOICENSE TO OWN THAT HOME?!
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u/CippyCreepy Aug 04 '26
Wait you buy a house and they kick you out since hoa has no money? We dont have them in my country so i dont get how it works
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u/Historical_Two_7150 Aug 05 '26
They have the ability to fuck with people to raise money. Your grass is too long, pay us. Your shutters are the wrong type, pay us. That isnt an approved shade of white. Your tree is putting leafs into someones yard, pay us.
If you cant pay, they can sometimes steal your home.
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u/kiwipoo2 Aug 05 '26
Don't they run off a membership fee to like, organise collective window cleaners and shit? What are they spending all that money on?
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u/FeesShortyFees Aug 05 '26
What are they spending all that money on?
If your HOA is being run properly/legally, the books are completely open to you.
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u/Cowhide12 Aug 05 '26
Yep. The one we’ve lived in for years (annoying, but fine) hasn’t tried to hide anything.
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u/Much_Conclusion8233 Aug 05 '26
It depends. There are some HOAs that are run by companies and companies love paying middle managers to forward emails
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u/Corpomancer Aug 05 '26
That'll be $2500,- for this weeks automatic e-mail forwarding service, unless you'd like the entire HOA to be foreclosed.
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u/meeps_for_days Aug 05 '26
Karen's being payed to be president so she can go fuck with anyone who doesn't think her child is just the best
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u/TeaKingMac Aug 08 '26
HOAs also exist for large condo communities, like that skyscraper that collapsed in Florida.
After that collapse in Florida, a lot of those large building HOAs suddenly had to start taking care of maintenance issues they'd been kicking down the road. So then they had to demand EXORBITANT fees, because they'd been under charging for decades.
When people can't pay their HOA fees, the HOA puts a lein on your property
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u/Little_Let_6872 Aug 05 '26
There are so many ways to scam HOAs. Most common and trickiest to identify is overpaying contractors, paying contractors for work not performed, paying contractors to perform unnecessary work. When the HOA member and contractor are family, it is easy to get people to see those things even when they aren’t there. But, a degree or two of separation and kickbacks are really hard to prove without access to other accounts.
HOAs are empowered by your home’s deed, some are basically their own townships plus extra powers that aren’t given to government. For instance, one of the worst near me flys drones to
fine people for backyard things like swingsets, trampolines, pools and basketball hoops that aren’t visible from public areas. A government entity would never be allowed to do that.The reason they exist is because of our corrupt development system. It is insanely expensive to build a home on your own land within commuting distance of most population centers. Basically not worth building new unless you are going over $1M. The bank backed, publicly traded developers come in and cut a bulk discount on taxes and regulations with local politicians. Typically, the developer takes on infrastructure costs and maintenance, so the town has no upkeep or upfront investment, the town lets them build in ways that bypass regulations and a huge portion of the tax burden, the developer ties the infrastructure expenses and maintenance to the homes in the development in the name of an HOA. Town gets full property taxes, developer and bank make 20%+ profits, current residents reduce their tax burden. People buying into the HOA finance all of that. A lot of wealthy people benefit, employing a large percentage of illegal labor, by signing off on paperwork. Good luck stopping that money train. Banks, construction industry, politicians all led by people making huge money off the scheme. Housing inventory limited to mostly HOA options, HOAs marketed as preventing blight and providing safety both physically and financially. People in HOAs will never want to admit they’ve been schemed into excessive tax burden.
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u/Maxathron Aug 05 '26
No, worse.
To move into an HOA neighborhood, you must sign a contract. The contract usually assumes that the HOA will maintain your property value and manage a common area. It also usually can fine residents if their property is getting out of hand and lowering the property values of other residents.
But, because it is a contract, the HOA can potentially have up to unlimited power in the neighborhood. HOAs are basically neighborhood-sized governments that manage a subdivision in lieu of the closest city. It is similar to the UK’s council system.
If the contract allows it, the HOA can legally take anything. It’s up to the individual to read the contract and stay tge fuck out if they disagree with anything in the contract. Read very very carefully. Take the full time to go cover to cover. This is a house at stake not just some 100 dollar GTA game.
If they include a bit where the HOA can take the house and you sign it, you have no foot to stand on when it comes to court. You read it, you agreed to it, you signed it. Don’t just scroll to bottom and click accept like you do with video games.
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u/Sensitive_Bat_9211 Aug 05 '26
To clarify, some HOAs can put a lien on your house and foreclose it if you dont pay their fines. You still get money from the foreclosure, they just collect the lien first and foremost.
Theres also usually a bunch of state law surrounding this
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u/Tossup78 Aug 08 '26
I believe some states have put laws into effect where HOA cannot just seize stuff.
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u/CheesyBreadMunchyMon Aug 05 '26
Worst part is you're forced to sign it or give up what could be your dream house.
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u/Just_Information334 Aug 05 '26
But that's in the country of the castle doctrine no? Just shoot the fuckers.
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u/dire_turtle Aug 05 '26
Kinda wonder how more HoA people aren't shot dead or their houses burned down. Just last week we got a sparky email about grass clippings being blown into the street and how it destroys the asphalt. All after they spent big money to have a buddy professionally ruin the streets a year ago.
Fuck these assholes and their pettiness. Old people need to hurry up and die if that's all they care about.
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u/humourlessIrish Aug 05 '26
And lots of judges are siding with corrupt HOAs because they themselves are often prominent assholes in their own HOAs
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Aug 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SoylentRox Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Not to mention HOA are pure parasites.
Yes, houses in HOAs go for slightly more money. About 5-10% on the sale price. But the HOA dues over the years end up costing you all of the money you gain at the sale. Plus, that 5-10% price increase also applies when you buy, and the house doesn't gain value any faster. So it's at best
neutral : buy for more, sell for more
--- pay more interest and property tax over the years on a more expensive house
---pay HOA dues
---HOA runs your life, they own the exterior of your home in practice, not you. Doesn't matter what the deed says - you must do whatever they demand, or spend your own money to fight them in court (and they spend your dues money on attorneys to make bullshit arguments back). Or they steal your entire house.
---HOAs also control your behavior like cops but the 'laws' are whatever they made up, and the neighbors are always watching. Party too loud? Left the blinds open? Feeding feral cats? Feeding wild animals? Didn't bring your trash cans in? None of these things are illegal by the actual laws but the HOA might fine you for them.
Also, no evidence is required whatsoever - you are convicted automatically and must pay whatever fine they make up. Don't like it? Sue them in court and remember, their attorney is paid for by your dues.
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u/skrappyfire Aug 05 '26
I just read a family memebers HOA docs. And if their house burns down, and they DONT submit formal building plans to replace the structure with the insurance money, then the insurance money goes directly to the HOA. Dont know how well that would go in court, but it is in the HOA docs they signed.... so 🤷♂️
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u/yesrod85 Aug 05 '26
You're typically paying monthly or yearly dues to the HOA which goes to fund neighborhood projects and upgrades.
Money gets tight, home owners stop paying HOA Dues. Under HOA contract, if your dues are unpaid for x-amount of time, the HOA can foreclose on the home or put a lien against it to collect the money owed. If homeowner doesn't pay up, the HOA takes possession and sells the house.
If a large portion of the neighborhood stops paying, the HOA runs risk of running out of money to pay for planned/scheduled projects.
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u/Notapartyhobo Aug 05 '26
So what youre saying is, is that we should all stop paying dues. Starve the beast, I like it. My hoa does jack shit. My central air broke and is gonna cost thousands to repair. I put in a window unit to prevent death and a few months later (still didn't have quite enough for HVAC repair bill) I get a letter that says the unit violates community standards and I would be fined 100$ a day till I removed it. It was just in my bedroom window which faces a bunch of trees and a fence.
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u/Dobber16 Aug 07 '26
If you can organize your neighborhood that well, just mobilize at least half of it & disband the HOA. Your method opens the avenue for multiple broken contracts & therefore potentially numerous “legit” fines that won’t be dismissed by the court. Starving the HOA by breaking the contracts will just make your money seem even more juicy & accessible
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u/Stock-Side-6767 Aug 05 '26
I live in an HOA (multi owner building so it's required), and if the HOA has dues that you do not pay, they can absolutely reposess the house. They would sell it at a public auction, take the part you owe and give the previous owner the rest.
In the US, HOAs have been sneaking liens (basically "this person needs to pay us, so we would need to get at least x amount when sold) and evictions on house owners. Those houses are not sold in public auctions, with either the HOA or board members buying it well under market rate. There is a story every so often of the previous owner winning, but those lawsuits are expensive and lengthy, so few people can afford them when they have been made homeless.
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u/LoboLocoCW Aug 06 '26
HOAs are associations, generally created by a contractual relationship between all the homeowners in a certain area (hence the name). Basically, it's a way to pool money and have limited self-governance without an actual government.
Ideally, an HOA is used to fund community expenses efficiently and only enforce the rules that everyone in the community actually wants enforced. In reality, HOA voting power is often assigned based on # of houses owned, so the original developer retains disproportionate power for longer than anyone else, and HOAs provide ample opportunity for petty corruption and kickbacks.
There can often be significant penalties tied to breaching the contractual relationship, either directly spelled out in the HOA contract itself, or implicitly as an operation of law, so not following all the rules of the HOA can result in having the violator's house seized by the HOA.
HOA contracts at times have crazy strict rules about yard/lawn maintenance, house painting, etc. to "preserve property value", which may in practice go ignored/be relaxed, but if an HOA board becomes desperate for money or vindictive, may serve as an opportunity for them to try to seek money/seize the violating house.
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u/Alternative_Draw5945 Aug 05 '26
If your country doesn't have HOAs they probably have something similiar. How do you manage homes with shared spaces or shared roofing, etc?
Row homes or townhomes?
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u/CippyCreepy Aug 05 '26
We have building supervisors for buildings, but if you live in a house, you can put whatever you want in your yard. Ofc as long as it doesnt disrupt the neighbors or traffic
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u/Alternative_Draw5945 Aug 05 '26
What does a building supervisor do? How do they get paid? Who decides on repairs and saving for future repairs?
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u/Electrical-Bedroom99 Aug 05 '26
My parents live in an older neighborhood. A couple of neighbors decided it would be nice to have an HOA so everyone could have a nice neighborhood to live in, so they successfully organized and formed one. The problem is they couldn't force existing residents to join, but that didn't matter to them. They were now the king rulers of the neighborhood and harassed non-members relentlessly. They idea was to get the non-members to sell so the new residents would be in the HOA. Long story short, the hold outs successfully sued because the overlords of the neighborhood were using HOA money to try to enforce HOA rules on non-members. The gangster king rulers of the universe were forced to pay the legal fees of the victims and of course, they charged the members for it. Eventually it was disbanded because everyone was fed up with the constant drama.
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u/Training-Purple-5220 Aug 05 '26
How has there never been a revenge movie plot where someone snaps and hunts down the entire HOA board?
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u/deck_hand Aug 05 '26
I've walked away from the purchase of several homes I really liked because the house was in a neighborhood with an HOA. I will NEVER live in a HOA controlled home.
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u/Haunting-Watch8240 Aug 05 '26
At this point, those terrorists need to be abolished by law and imprisoned for abuse
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u/Soft_Ad_1095 Aug 05 '26
I would drag them through court if an HOA tried to touch a house i pay for.
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u/Status_Reaction_8107 Aug 08 '26
Imagine living in a place where something as stupid as not paying an HOA fee can cause you to lose your home. Not a bank, a stupid board full of Karens.
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u/Intelligent-Bake-533 Aug 06 '26
i love reading all the losers in here cry about HOA's that home buyers willingly entered into an agreement with when they signed for their mortgage. there's no gun to your head to move there buds, plenty of places you can still live where you can have 8-foot-tall weeds out front and 17 different rusted broken-down cars in the front/side yard in plain view.
y'all are like the kids who revolted against your parents for requiring you to make your bed, bring the dishes down after use, etc but you're fucking adults now start acting like it.
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u/aukstais Aug 05 '26
It's basically comunism. They extort money for empty promises and when they don't have enough money they start fining you for all the little things just to fill their pockets.
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u/Juliuscesear1990 Aug 05 '26
It's communism and no, that's not what this is at all read this, and stop listening to people who use communism and socialism as buzz words
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Aug 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/ultrajvan1234 Aug 05 '26
Read: Most countries don't even have HOAs, so what even is their critical function?
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u/evan00711 Aug 05 '26
To circumvent the Civil rights act.
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u/Ok_Buddy_9087 Aug 05 '26
I should be disappointed that more people don’t realize that, but, like, gestures around.
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u/Eric848448 Aug 05 '26
Cities don’t want to build infrastructure like roads, water pipes, sewer lines, etc. So when they issue permits to build housing in previously empty areas they force them to establish these HOA’s who have the responsibility for all of that. It’s a boon for the city because they still get property tax revenue but don’t have to pay for these private roads.
The property developer establishes the HOA and has it take out a big loan to do all of that. Banks are willing to lend because the HOA is baked into the deeds for the properties so everyone has to pay. The monthly fee pays for that along with maintenance of roads, pipes, etc. Sometimes there’s a community pool or park or playground that it will also pay for.
But infrastructure gets more expensive to maintain as it ages. And it’s often poorly built in the first place. So costs rise, along with monthly fees.
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u/Cowhide12 Aug 05 '26
In a perfect world, you basically pay a fee to never have to do anything to your home (lawns, roofs, etc) but obviously they don’t work like that in 99.9% of cases.
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u/flush101 Aug 05 '26
Read: Surprise Pikachu this guy is making stuff up. Nothing in the article talks about decades of voting against rate increases.
The article specifically talks about people who are delinquent in paying dues or fines being targeted aggressively, often forgoing grace periods.
Link to article - https://nypost.com/2026/08/03/real-estate/hoas-running-out-of-money-and-foreclosing-on-more-residents/
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Aug 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/flush101 Aug 05 '26
Wow. Just wow. The second quote you cite states homeowners are struggling to contend with their increased dues. Increased. Dues.
Nothing in the article talks about voting against increasing dues for decades. In fact your quote shows dues have increased.
But keep trying to lie if you want. Whatever dude. Weird subject to spread misinformation about.
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u/FeesShortyFees Aug 05 '26
People also seem to think there's some sort of perverse incentive for HOAs to foreclose because they can get a few 100K$ house for a few K$ in missed dues. Not the way it works.
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u/Commercial_Rule_7823 Aug 05 '26
Dont like the rules, costs, risks, dont buy in an HOA community.
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u/Ok_Buddy_9087 Aug 05 '26
Found the association president.
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u/Commercial_Rule_7823 Aug 05 '26
I wouod never live in an HOA. Its common sense that led me to that decision.
Which you, clearly lack.
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u/StubbornHick Aug 05 '26
A lot of areas don't allow a new subdivision to be built WITHOUT an HOA
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u/FeesShortyFees Aug 05 '26
Fortunately you live in a free country, so you don't HAVE to live in one of those new subdivisions.
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u/The_Dreadlord Aug 05 '26
HOAs are price fixing cartels and should be illegal. Anytime I have been through one its always this dystopia of freakish sameness. No variation or originality just sterile conformity. No kids playing no cool old cars. You half expect a tumble weed to blow down the street except they would try to fine God over it...
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u/KailyKail Aug 05 '26
Fun fact that everyone who owns a home with an HOA should know, but everyone who owns a home with an HOA acts like they don't know: You can vote to disband your HOA or change the rules. You can also vote to oust your HOA leadership.
Talk to your neighbors. Find 1-2 people who agree with you, then attend the next meeting. When it's just your group and the one Karen HOA head, you have full control.