HOA’s power trip screeches to a halt as 200 households secretly gather to sign them out of existence
They warned homeowners against posting anything negative about them, or else they would be fined $100 a day.
When the Property Owners Association (POA), an authorized organization responsible for managing shared property within a community, fails to fulfill its duties, people are forced to come together and take action against the board members. That's exactly what happened in a neighborhood in Florida, where over 200 homeowners decided to vote certain board members out of the association, leaving the POA fuming. A homeowner (u/tarheelpixie) posted the incident on Reddit on November 22.
Homeowners were frustrated with the power trips and selective rule enforcement in the community, so they realized they had to take matters into their own hands. Surprisingly, the campaign against the association got a wild response from the owners, as over 200 of them signed to support the recall. Now, the board members who could lose their positions started freaking out. The author explained they were behaving like "wannabe HOA mafia" while threatening people who might be involved in a recall effort. In fact, the association had warned homeowners against posting anything negative about them, or else they would be fined $100 a day. "They’re holding little 'emergency meetings,' whispering among themselves, and storming around the neighborhood acting like they’re about to uncover the mastermind behind the uprising," the Reddit user explained.
Despite trying to intimidate the homeowners, the association couldn't figure out who had started the recall, leaving them pissed. "They keep guessing wrong, accusing the wrong people, and basically melting down because the petition didn’t come from one or two 'troublemakers'… It came from pretty much everyone who’s sick of their crap," the homeowner wrote. Moreover, the author explained that had the association been a little considerate towards the community, they wouldn't have had to face the consequences. "But they did this to themselves. And now the recall is moving forward, whether they like it or not," they added. The homeowner also attached a video where the board members could be seen repeatedly trying to figure out who had started all of it.
Disputes with HOAs or POAs are quite common; in fact, while 18% of Americans, including 27% of homeowners, currently reside in a neighborhood governed by an HOA, most Americans (61%) prefer living in a neighborhood without an HOA, according to a YouGov survey. Moreover, nearly half of the people think HOAs negatively impact the communities they govern.
Meanwhile, the post received an overwhelming response on Reddit, with people sharing their own experiences with associations. For instance, u/noforgayjesus commented, "We had the same thing happen to us; boy, it actually didn't go well for us sadly. If you don't stay on top of them, they will weasel their way right back in." u/rynn458 wrote, "That is great! I wish I could gather enough of my neighbors to do this, but they are all afraid of the board members. We are a small POA with crazy, controlling board members."
u/legal_arugula_2505 suggested, "This is exactly the moment to keep everything tight and boring on paper so they can’t wiggle out of it later. Minutes, notices, ballot language, recall procedure—the cleaner it all is, the less room they have to scream 'invalid' afterward. If you don’t want to pay a lawyer for every little thing, tools like AI Lawyer can at least help you draft consistent letters, demand notices, and checklists so the process doesn’t get nuked on a technicality while they run around playing HOA CSI."
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