HOA began fining residents using a new rulebook — one homeowner checked the original covenant and got enough votes to put the entire board on notice

One Florida-based homeowner (u/Additional-Sky1336) was baffled after their HOA cited them for a change they said they never made. A snapshot captured from their house clearly shows that the door has not been painted; the HOA has sent them a notice claiming that they painted the door black and that black doors are not permitted. Exasperated by the confusion, the homeowner is now planning to attend the next HOA meeting and raise the issue at the next HOA meeting. Their October 30, 2026 Reddit post has been upvoted 5,700 times.

But it's not black

“The front door has been painted black without prior ARC approval. Black is not an approved color in the [area name] paint book,” the HOA wrote in an October 28 notice, citing the category of “Architectural Control Board.” The notice asked the homeowner to repaint the door in accordance with the Association’s architectural guidelines. However, the photo shows that the door is clearly not painted black but is chocolate brown in color, with a “Happy Halloween” wreath dangling over it.

No response

“My door isn’t black, and I haven’t painted it in the four years I’ve lived here,” the homeowner specified in the post. In the comments, they added that the door was the same brownish-red shade used on many other homes in the neighborhood and said the color was specifically approved. They also quoted the ARC’s rulebook, which states that the color should be between brown and beige. “So since my door is brown, it falls squarely into that brown-to-beige range,” they wrote. Yet, they wouldn't be surprised if the HOA imposed a fine on them. The homeowner said they emailed and called the management company about the notice and were eventually told to submit a photo of the door as part of an appeal.

But they pushed back on that framing, arguing that they were not appealing a valid violation — they believed the notice itself had been issued in error. If the issue remains unresolved, they said they plan to attend the next association meeting and raise it directly. So they are now planning to dress up in khakis and a polo, attend the next association meeting on November 19, and hand out all the violations they have found in the area. They said they might livestream the meeting if permitted. “If this isn’t resolved by then, I guess I’ll be there,” they said. The homeowner also noted a second violation notice or enforcement step was expected on November 27.

Common HOA violations

According to the Community Associations Institute, there are about 373,000 HOAs, condo associations, and cooperatives in the U.S., governing 29.6 million homes and 78.1 million people. FixMyHOA lists landscaping and lawn-care issues as its most common violation category at 28%, followed by parking at 18% and architectural modifications at 15%. The site also says fewer than 5% of HOA disputes reach court.

Case of mistaken identity

Commenters largely sided with the homeowner, with some joking about the color mix-up and others sharing stories of mistaken HOA violations. u/understanding_is_key shared, “This is similar to when the HOA sent us a fine for installing a fence without approval. It was a photo of our neighbor’s fence. We had not installed one.” u/lavishnessok6635 joked, “Take it off the hinges (quite simple to do). Bring it with you to the next HOA meeting.”

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