Dog-Shaming Neighbor In Viral Thread Highlights The Total Absurdity Of HOA Rules

• A viral ‘AITA’ thread on Reddit about a person being dogshamed by an angry neighbor has highlighted the absurdity of HOA’s
• Home Owners Associations, or HOAs, have been known to have some of the most outlandish rules on the planet but this dog owner is
• Read more BroBible articles here

If you’ve never had to deal with the wrath of home owner’s association then consider yourself fortunate. At best, HOA’s are frustrating. At worst, they harass homeowners into lifeless conformity by threatening massive fines unless people abide by some of the most asinine rules on the planet.

This article started with a person posting to the popular subreddit AITA which stands for ‘Am I The A**hole?’ In this instance, it sounds like the nosy and gossiping neighbor is the awful one:

The original post on Reddit reads:

My parents moved to a retirement neighborhood, so I moved into their neighborhood after my job required me to move to their state. We have 3 dogs however, 2 of them look almost the same so we would never walk all 3 at once. It worked for 2 years. Well, my body neighbor has been telling everyone we have 3 dogs and b*tching about it on Nextdoor. The HOA asked to investigate. One of my dogs was at the vet so I said go ahead, they walked through the house and the neighbor was outside. She later walked up to me all ug saying “did the HOA find your dog?”

I said no they didn’t, mind your own business bItch. She then went on to Nextdoor to complain again, but the rest of the neighborhood is calling her crazy

A ‘two dog rule’ is arbitrary and pointless. Two chihuahuas are ten times the nuisance of three labradors or really any big dog breed. At the same time, rules are rules and this person clearly knew they were breaking the rules even if that rule was stupid. Do I think they’re a jerk? No, I just think they’re knowingly breaking a pointless rule and an annoying neighbor is harassing them.

That tweet above actually got ‘HOAs’ trending on Twitter. It’s clear that one of the most universally held opinions on the planet is HOAs are awful. This has also led to all sorts of people sharing their awful HOA experiences and the weird rules they’ve been forced to abide by.

https://twitter.com/RealAngelof/status/1429937298293014528

https://twitter.com/DaBuschckah/status/1429964881399214098

All of this brought me to an article that rounded up some of the best Reddit posts about egregiously dumb HOA rules. One was a story about an HOA demanding architectural approval for two potted plants placed near the front door of a house.

Another HOA demanded all garage sales have a dress code that stated polos and khakis must be worn.

The last time I was written up by my HOA it was because there was some dirt on the awning of my garage. I cleaned it that day and then started talking notice of other houses around the neighborhood while I was walking my dog and I’ll be damned if 75% of the other homes weren’t in worse shape than mine. HOAs are for bored people who want to snoop on their neighbors and feel like they’re wielding power.

That same neighborhood with the garage sale dress code prohibited any residents from sharing towels at the pool or face a $25 fine. One HOA mandated that trash couldn’t be put out until midnight before trash day which is coincidentally something a friend told me is in their HOA rules. That same friend said it’s not enforced in their neighborhood which is often the case with obscure HOA rules. They exist to be enforced whenever someone’s in a bad mood and wants to piss off the neighbors.

One of the most outlandish HOA rules I saw mentioned online is one neighborhood demanding a $10 fee for any overnight guests. Imagine a neighborhood trying to charge you for people staying in your own damn house!! ‘No Trampolines’ is a pretty common one.

We actually have that rule in my neighborhood which is odd because my next-door neighbor has a trampoline and hasn’t been called out on it by our HOA while I know other houses have had to take theirs down, including one homeowner who is a local cop and deserves his trampoline if he wants his trampoline.

I think we’ve come far enough to all agree that HOAs don’t need to exist, at least not in their current form. If it was just dues paid to keep the common areas of a neighborhood maintained that’d be fine but there’s so much B.S. that comes along with it. The world’s better off without HOAs.