http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1X1ncbAjh_CcoLS1hd3tqVgdDvQD9CFEQBG0

Yes and like most of them the rules are not specific but require approval which can change day to day depending on the mood of the approver.

Such is the case in this story, if you read it, you see there is no rule against flagpoles, it’s up to the discretion of the board. So your contention that it’s too bad he decided to live there is moot, since there is no rule against doing what he wants to do.

If HOAs were limited and specific, that would be better. But most put power into the hands of people to make decisions. These people have no accountability, which is the problem with giving them discretion over your choices.

There’s a lot of room between quasi-legal, tyrannical entities like HOAs and ‘do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’. For example, criminal and civil laws, for which there are things like due process and transparency (certainly more so than in HOAs).

Can’t let this one go…there are MAJOR differences between HOA’s and NA’s, and the latter has NO “effectively governmental powers.”

A HOA is a legal entity with specific rights in property. YOUR property. And to some extent oh my yes they can indeed tell you what to do (more commonly, what NOT to do) with your property. Love ‘em or hate ‘em (and you can do both) you agree to those terms when you buy the property, and the HOA agreement is part of the sale document and the deed. HOA’s have their uses, and yep, some of them are run by idiots and power-whiny meddling pinheads with an overwrought sense of self-importance. If you find yourself in one of those, your best options are to either [a] move; or [b] lead a revolution and take over the HOA board.

This is why it’s a Really Good Thing to do your own due diligence on a property before buying it. Which includes reading the HOA laws and by-laws, and even asking your potential neighbors what they think of the HOA.

A Neighborhood Association is a completely voluntary organization that in general has ZERO (zilch, nada, none) legal powers to tell neighbors what to do or to demand pre-approval of otherwise legal activities and property mods. It cannot tell you what color to paint your house, whether or not you can put up that flagpole, or what shrubs you can plant. Generally the most an NA can do is use the existing system (city inspectors, police, etc.) to get existing city/county regulations and ordinances enforced against habitual violators.

This is a Good Thing, as anyone who’s had a real problem neighbor can attest. Single nieghbors making complaints aren’t exactly priority, but NA’s speak with a larger voice.

The pinheads in this particular HOA who decided their catch-all clause let them keep a MOH winner from putting up a flagpole are idjits and assholes. When a MOH winner asks if he can put up a flagpole and there is no specific rule in the HOA laws against it, the proper response is “YESSIR! May we invite the HOA to the first raising?”

The proper response if there IS a specific HOA rule against it is “Let’s have a meeting and see if we can get the HOA to grant a variance.”

What kind of problems? My parents are being threatened with a lawsuit because the house numbers on the mailbox are too large and they refuse to change them. There was a change in the regs that stated all house numbers should be no larger than one half inch, while my parents’ numbers are 2 inches high. You might ask yourself “What’s the big deal?” It becomes a big deal when the ambulance driver has to spend time driving around the neighborhood because he can’t read the f’ing street numbers.

The other issue, admittedly far more minor issue came about during campaign season. Oddly enough, complaints were only valid against one candidate’s signs. Then again, it is Warren County, OH, so the parents weren’t surprised. They’re now waiting for complaints when they expand the vegetable garden next year.

But I live in urbia.

I don’t have a dog in this race, but I do have a quick story. A guy bought a house out south, in a HOA neighborhood. He repainted the house fairly shortly after moving there, it was not a shocking color but they apparently had a proscribed palette of about eight colors people could choose to paint their homes. He went, ‘umm, ‘kay.”

The next week he painted his house ALL the colors of the HOA’s list. One clapboard, a different color. All around the house.

HOA came back at him and he said, “you told me I had to limit myself to those colors. I did it, you all get to pay if I have to paint it again.” (don’t know how well lawyered up he was. He won.

The house was painted that way (striped) when I was in high school and didn’t get repainted until after it was sold a few years ago. They used a light color and in the afternoon summer sun you can still see that it’s striped underneath.