It always amuses me that the US - the land of the free, the home of the brave - has a fair proportion of its people living in homes over which they have significantly less control than basically everyone else in the world has over theirs.
A lot of towns and cities around the world have similar requirements and will start fining you if you let your property. And the majority of HOAs aren’t overbearing, just a way to share costs for common infrastructure and make sure houses aren’t just abandoned or allowed to fall apart by collecting fines.
But petty power attracts petty tyrants and it’s easier to make it onto an HOA board than a town council. So sometimes your worst neighbor has the ability to hand out fines and wields that power with spite and glee.
It always amuses me that the US - the land of the free, the home of the brave - has a fair proportion of its people living in homes over which they have significantly less control than basically everyone else in the world has over theirs.
A lot of towns and cities around the world have similar requirements and will start fining you if you let your property. And the majority of HOAs aren’t overbearing, just a way to share costs for common infrastructure and make sure houses aren’t just abandoned or allowed to fall apart by collecting fines.
But petty power attracts petty tyrants and it’s easier to make it onto an HOA board than a town council. So sometimes your worst neighbor has the ability to hand out fines and wields that power with spite and glee.
But to be fair, there is a portion of people that have more control, basically also about the houses of their neigbours.