HOA tried to ban wheelchair ramp husband built for his wife — and got taken to court
The HOA called it an unauthorized alteration that disrupted 'architectural harmony.'
In a post on Reddit, one man shared how his 31-year-old partner, a wheelchair user after a spinal injury, was nearly trapped inside their townhouse when their HOA refused to allow an accessibility ramp. Posting under u/lemonpoppiez, the 33-year-old explained in his (now deleted) post on September 21, which gained 24k upvotes, that the property has two steps at the entrance, making it impossible for his partner to leave independently. To fix this, he installed a removable, ADA-compliant aluminium ramp with the property manager's verbal assurance that it "should be fine," but the HOA saw it differently.
They fined him for making an "unauthorized alteration" and gave him seven days to remove it. He formally submitted a request for accommodation, attaching a doctor's letter, specifications, photos, and even an offer to paint the rails to match the building. Twice, the HOA rejected the request on "aesthetic" grounds and escalated with daily fines. That's when he pushed back and hired a lawyer and filed for injunctive relief along with attorney's fees. Neighbors called him "litigious" and suggested he should have worked it out "politely," but he wasn't apologizing for defending his partner's rights.
He concluded, "A ramp that makes a home usable is a reasonable accommodation, not a lawn gnome the board gets to vote on. We provided documentation, offered compromises, and followed the process; they answered with fines and a clock. If a policy blocks a disabled person from entering and exiting safely, the policy needs to move, not the person. I won't apologize for enforcing rights that let my partner live, not just exist."
The issue goes far beyond one HOA dispute. A federal housing study from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found that nearly 40% of households with a person who has accessibility needs, come with stairs and no ramp or lift. Only 14% report having one installed, and just 5% plan to add one in the near future. Besides, renters, younger households, and those in large metro areas more often reported that their home was less well adapted to their accessibility needs than homeowners in smaller or rural areas.
Readers praised the couple for fighting back and expressed their opinions against the HOA’s blatant discrimination. u/Automatic-Truth-4220 wrote, "After all of the stories I've seen and heard, I would never live in an HOA. If they tried to offer me a brand new home and an HOA, I would take it and then turn around and sell it and get out of there without even living in it. But I would be smart enough to take it for free just so that I could sell it." u/mocha_lattes_ said, "Contact ADA lawyers. They will eat this shit up, and you two will hopefully get a nice paycheck from it. Edit: FHA is the law being broken here. I was tired when I wrote this and put the wrong thing. ADA, website, and lawyers can also have resources that will help, though."
u/Only-Peace1031 added, "Sorry? Your neighbors are saying you're litigious? Tell them to keep their opinions to themselves or you'll sue them for slander, lol. NTA, but the neighbors are." u/blushfang chimed in, "You offered compromises, you provided documentation, and they responded with fines. They forced this lawsuit, not you. Calling you litigious is just their way of shaming you for not rolling over and accepting their discrimination. Good on you for protecting your partner."
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