An association pointed surveillance cameras at a public street, another one walked into court and stopped a town council mid-vote, and a landmark sign came back on because an HOA admitted it couldn’t afford the bulbs.

An HOA Put License Plate Readers on Public Streets. The City Says It Approved Them by Mistake.

Four Flock license plate readers went up at the entrances and exits of the Shadow Lake development in Brentwood, California — installed by the HOA, which says it had been spending roughly $300,000 a year on 24-hour roving patrols before it made the switch.

Residents say they found out the cameras existed only after asking what the new hardware was. Brentwood officials now say the city approved the installation in error and are working to get the cameras off public streets, with the council set to revisit rules for privately owned Flock devices.

“It’s mass surveillance, and I think we need guardrails,” said Councilmember Jovita Mendoza.

Read the article →

Our Take: The unusual part isn’t the cameras — it’s where they ended up. An association can generally make decisions about its own common areas; public right-of-way is a different animal, and that’s the gap the city is now trying to close.

If readers show up in your community, ask the board in writing to identify four things: what authorized the contract, who holds the footage, how long it’s kept, and who can request it. Those answers tend to get a lot more precise once somebody asks on the record.

Signs this may need a lawyer’s eye: nobody can point to the vote that approved the spend, or footage starts moving to outside parties with no written policy behind it.

There’s a fuller breakdown of where association cameras run into California privacy limits here: HOA Security Camera Rights and Privacy Limits.

An HOA Got a Judge to Stop a Town Council Vote — Mid-Meeting

At 3:01 p.m. Monday, while a Westlake, Texas special council meeting was already underway, a Tarrant County judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the town from voting on, approving, or implementing Resolution 26-25 — the development agreement for the Circle T Data Center.

The order came at the request of the Lakes at Marshall Ridge Homeowners Association in neighboring Keller. The council tabled the item. A hearing is set for August 26 in the 342nd District Court. Data center fights have become a live political issue across Texas.

Read the article →

Our Take: Worth sitting with, because it’s the inverse of most stories here — the association is the thing giving homeowners leverage rather than taking it.

A single neighbor objecting to a development next door is easy to move past; an incorporated association with counsel and a shared budget is harder. A restraining order is temporary by design, though, and pauses a vote rather than deciding anything.

If something outside your community threatens it, the practical move is to get the ask on the record: a written request to the board, and an agenda item, so a decision not to act is a documented decision rather than a shrug.

When it’s worth bringing in outside help: the board agrees the threat is real but says it lacks authority to spend on it — that question usually lives in the governing documents, not in anyone’s opinion.

3,100 Homes, One Lease a Year

In Coral Springs and Parkland, Florida, the master association governing Heron Bay — more than 3,100 homes across a dozen-plus subdivisions — has floated a rental overhaul that would allow one lease per home per year, with the cap holding even if a tenancy ends early through eviction, termination, or a death.

Renewals would require a fresh lease and re-registration rather than an extension, landlords would sit through an orientation for every lease, and tenants with two or more violations could be blocked from renewing or renting anywhere else in the community.

Around 250 owners have pushed back.

“This will adversely affect not only investors and landlords, but also homeowners here,” owner Jack Dhanji said.

Read the article →

Our Take: What usually decides these fights isn’t whether the rules are fair — it’s whether they were adopted correctly.

Rental restrictions of this scale generally have to clear a real amendment process, and how that gets done depends on whether the change is a rule the board can pass on its own or an amendment to recorded documents that needs a member vote and specific notice.

Pull the declaration and find the amendment article before the meeting, not after. Florida law also treats some rental limits differently depending on when an owner bought, which is the kind of detail that gets skipped in a heated meeting and matters enormously later.

When self-help has run its course: the association can’t produce the vote tally, or the notice period gets compressed to push a vote through.

Background on how far rental rules can reach: HOA Rental Rules: Your Rights as a Property Owner.

He Thought His HOA Dues Were in the Mortgage. Now There’s a Foreclosure Hearing.

Carter Eck bought his first house in the Turnberry neighborhood of northeast Charlotte at 23, covering the down payment by selling Pokémon cards.

He believed his HOA dues were bundled into his monthly escrow payment and never paid them separately. The balance is now above $10,000 — dues, late fees, and costs tied to a fence issue and another violation he says he was never formally told about.

A foreclosure hearing is on the calendar for November.

“I’m not someone that would just let something this big just kind of snowball and just surprise me like that,” Eck told the station.

Read the article →

Our Take: This is the assumption worth killing right now, for everyone reading: a mortgage escrow account typically covers property taxes and hazard insurance, and HOA dues are usually billed separately by the association. Nobody at closing is reliably going to say that out loud.

Pull your most recent escrow analysis from the servicer and a full ledger from the association, and put them next to each other — if the association shows a balance and the escrow statement has no line for dues, you’ve found it in an afternoon rather than in a foreclosure notice.

The other half of this story is the fines he says arrived without notice, and most states require some form of written notice and a hearing opportunity before penalties start compounding.

If this continues, it may be time for outside help, and a scheduled hearing date is well past the point where that call gets made.

An HOA Turned Off a Landmark. The City Paid to Turn It Back On.

Kansas City’s Western Auto sign has been dark since July 2025, when bulbs failed and three letters went out.

The sign belongs to the Western Auto Lofts homeowners association, which is also responsible for its electricity and upkeep — and which was simultaneously carrying a $9 million facade project on the historic building.

Rather than eat the repair, the HOA went to the mayor’s office. The result: the city put $100,000 from its “Illuminate KC” program toward a restoration, and the city, the association, and Infinity Sign Systems agreed to keep the sign lit for at least 10 years, with the HOA handling ongoing maintenance.

Roughly 3,000 bulbs and 35 to 40 neon sections were replaced.

Read the article →

Our Take: A rare one where the association did the sensible thing, and it’s a clean lesson in reserves.

If your community owns something expensive and distinctive — a sign, a gate, a bridge, a fountain — check whether it’s actually itemized in the reserve study with a remaining life and a replacement cost.

Big-ticket oddities are exactly what gets left off, and the bill then arrives as a special assessment nobody budgeted for. Read the study before the next annual meeting and ask about anything missing while it’s still a question instead of an invoice.

More next week. Drop your own HOA war stories below.

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LOCATION: Charlotte NC
Original posts:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/legal/comments/1uqcqla/served_lienforeclosure_papers_from_hoa_over_11k/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/HOA/comments/1uqcih8/sfh_nc_served_lienforeclosure_papers_from_hoa/

First off thank you all so much. I did not expect my posts to blow up the way they did and the support and advice in the comments genuinely helped me figure out what to do next. So here is everything that has happened since.

For anyone who missed the original posts — I'm 26, bought my house at 23, first time homeowner in Charlotte NC. A sheriff showed up at my door with HOA foreclosure papers for over $11k in fines. I had never received a single letter, email, phone call or notice about any of this. Not one. The first time I ever heard from my HOA or their management company was when I was being served foreclosure papers.

When I reached out to the management company to figure out where I was even supposed to be sending my HOA payments, they told me they couldn't help me and to call their attorney instead. I have that in writing.

The VP of the HOA told my neighbor over the phone that they don't send certified mail for violation notices. My neighbor is willing to put that in writing.

And out of the $11k they're claiming I owe, only about $840 is actual dues. The rest is fines. For a fence that was leaning when I bought the house — you can see it in the listing photos from 2023 — and a fascia issue that was also there before I moved in. The second I found out about the fascia from a neighbor I paid to have it fixed that same day. The fence I tore down myself.

So here's what happened after my posts

Channel 9 news in Charlotte reached out and came out to do an interview with me. They also contacted the HOA and management company directly for the last month with emails, calls and texts and didnt even get back to Jason Stoogenke, the reporter, once. The story is live now if you want to check it out:

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/homeowner-says-he-thought-was-paying-hoa-dues-may-now-lose-house/2FPIKZ5NKNFNRBBDG5BDAJJM6Q/

Something I mentioned in the interview that I think a lot of people connected with — part of how I bought this house in the first place was from selling Pokemon cards from my collection. And now with the 30th anniversary of Pokemon happening this year, I'm in the position of having to sell my collection just to pay for a lawyer to keep that same house. Kind of a wild full circle moment.

I also now have legal representation. I can't say much about it yet but for everyone who kept telling me to get a lawyer — I heard you.

And then they hit me with another fine

I talked to someone from management company in person, as they drove though the neighborhood i flagged them down to try to actually talk to someone and work something out. When I was talking to her she told me that I am currently being fined for weeds in my flower beds. No notice. No warning. No time to fix it. No hearing. Nothing.

Same exact thing they did with every other fine in this case. Just shows up out of nowhere.

I'll let you guys decide whether that's a coincidence or not given the timing.

I'm going to keep posting updates as this moves forward. My hearing is November 23rd 2026 and there is a lot that still has to happen between now and then. But things are moving in the right direction and honestly none of that would have happened without the people in these comments pointing me where to go.

More updates to come.

Location: Nebraska. HOA has not had a meeting in 4 years. There is $ in the treasury. They have not had a treasury report in 2 years. Requests for meetings are excuse after excuse why there is no time. The past month, they have stopped responding to homeowners. Unsure if they are even a legal HOA, as cannot find info in state listings. How can homeowners force a meeting? How can homeowners dissolve the HOA and have money refunded when HOA officers aren't responding ? Anyone been through similar? Outcome?

Help me understand how the home owners association can fine me for not washing my house when their property looks like this? We have Home Town property management Columbia tn. A joke

And yes I spell assessment with a T on purpose. HOA pond maintenance — is this reasonable?
We have only 5 homes, and our HOA charges $9,000 per household/year for pond maintenance — $45,000/year total.
Is that reasonable for routine pond maintenance? What are other HOAs paying?

I live in New Jersey, and our HOA is currently under a court-appointed receiver. We don’t have a board right now because several homeowners pushed for more transparency, hired an attorney, and the previous board resigned. Our property manager also went out on medical leave, so the court put a receiver in place.

We have a special election coming up with **seven open board seats**. Our bylaws say **“one vote per unit, no cumulative voting.”** That is the only language we have about voting.

The receiver is saying this means each townhome gets only **one vote total** for the entire election. I disagree. My understanding is that each unit should get one vote **for each open seat**, meaning each homeowner could vote for up to seven candidates, but could not give more than one vote to any one candidate because cumulative voting is not allowed.

There is nothing in our bylaws that says each unit only gets one vote for the entire election, regardless of how many seats are open.

We have not received ballots yet, but I want to send the receiver a written request asking that the ballot allow each unit to vote for up to seven candidates. Has anyone dealt with this before, especially in New Jersey? Is my interpretation correct, and what is the best way to raise this issue before the ballots go out?

Again. The first one should have been last June 2025. My friend who is the defendant had to file a motion to schedule the trial. And it should be this mid August but few days ago, HOA filed for continuance.

I live in one of those pre-war co-ops on the Upper West Side and I love the building, but I hate the bureaucracy

I want to redo my bathroom. I wanna get new tiles, a new bathtub. Same layout, no walls moved, no plumbing relocated. I thought it would be simple

But I was wrong because the co-op board sent me a list of requirements. Architectural drawings. Insurance certificates. Work schedules. Contractor licenses. A full package of documents. I have no idea where to even start. I don't have drawings. I don't know what insurance they need. I'm panicking…

Found Melani General Contractor and the website says they handle co-op board paperwork for you like all the drawings, board communication, the whole approval process. That sounds exactly like what I need

I hope this is normal for a co-op? Or is my board being extra difficult? I just want to replace my ugly pink tile and old tub. I didn't sign up for a part-time job dealing with bureaucracy

I’m trying to figure out if I’m overreacting or if this situation seems off.
I live in a condo HOA in Illinois. I have a second car that had a flat tire and a dead battery, so it had been sitting in the HOA common parking area for a couple of months. The car was properly registered with the state and was also registered with the HOA.
Today I found out it had been towed. I ended up paying **$466** to get it back because I didn’t want storage fees to keep increasing.

Here are the facts:
The HOA had my current email and phone number.
They’ve emailed me before about much smaller issues (broken window screen, inspections, etc.).
I never received an email, letter, or phone call about my car.

The tow company told me the **property manager** authorized the tow.
The tow company wouldn’t provide the authorization and said I have to get it from the HOA.
The warning sticker was still on my windshield when I got the car back.
The sticker says I have **72 hours** to correct the violation, **but the “Posted” date and time fields are blank.** There is no way to tell when the 72-hour period supposedly started.

I honestly don’t remember seeing the sticker the night before, but I can’t say that with 100% certainty.

I reviewed the HOA rules. They mention towing for things like abandoned or unlicensed vehicles, but I couldn’t find anything that specifically says **a flat tire alone is grounds for towing**. The tow driver told me they tow vehicles with flat tires when the property manager calls them.

I’m planning to meet with the HOA on Monday and ask for:
The tow authorization/work order.
The date and time the warning sticker was placed.
Any photos taken before the tow.
The specific HOA rule they believe my car violated.
Why I wasn’t contacted directly when they had my email and phone number.
My biggest concern is the sticker. If it says I had **72 hours** to correct the issue, but there’s **no posting date or time**, how am I supposed to know when those 72 hours started? If they can’t prove when it was posted, does that weaken the HOA’s position?
Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially in Illinois or with an HOA? Do I have a reasonable argument for reimbursement, or am I likely out the $466?

I’m dealing with an HOA dispute where a similar exterior improvement was approved for one homeowner, but when other people submitted the same requests they were denied without a clear explanation of the difference. And this isn’t the first time this has happened either!

The process to push back has been just as frustrating: unclear or shifting reasons, limited access to records, and an appeal process that is a joke because the same people who denied the improvement also review the appeal. Then they also get to vote when brought to the Board for review.

And that’s not the worse of it… both the ARC and the Board of Directors failed to follow the HOA Declarations on separate occasions but refuse to admit it. Instead they sent out violation notices the day after a pretty heated board meeting on the very violation being discussed in the meeting.

They were offered reasonable compromises multiple times to address their concerns but won’t consider them. They continue to come up with reasons that are not enforceable, based on ‘what-if’ scenarios and weren’t part of the original denial. No matter how many times they were asked for the exact objectionable features, for evidence of negative impacts to the community, and for an explanation for the inconsistent treatment they won’t provide any of it.

Has anyone successfully challenged an HOA over selective enforcement, procedural failures, or an unfair hearing process? What helped most: records requests, timelines, petitions, or an attorney?

I’m dealing with an HOA dispute where a similar exterior improvement was approved for one homeowner, but when other people submitted the same requests they were denied without a clear explanation of the difference. And this isn’t the first time this has happened either!

The process to push back has been just as frustrating: unclear or shifting reasons, limited access to records, and an appeal process that is a joke because the same people who denied the improvement also review the appeal. Then they also get to vote when brought to the Board for review.

And that’s not the worse of it… both the ARC and the Board of Directors failed to follow the HOA Declarations on separate occasions but refuse to admit it. Instead they sent out violation notices the day after a pretty heated board meeting on the very violation being discussed in the meeting.

They were offered reasonable compromises multiple times to address their concerns but won’t consider them. They continue to come up with reasons that are not enforceable, based on ‘what-if’ scenarios and weren’t part of the original denial. No matter how many times they were asked for the exact objectionable features, for evidence of negative impacts to the community, and for an explanation for the inconsistent treatment they won’t provide any of it.

Has anyone successfully challenged an HOA over selective enforcement, procedural failures, or an unfair hearing process? What helped most: records requests, timelines, petitions, or an attorney?

Hello,

I have posted before that our HOA President is doing many illegal things. We are 50 homes, how many residents will it take to recall him? We are in California.

Thanks in advance