Why do HOAs get away with fining homeowners for things they let their own management slide on?

Last month my neighbor got a $200 fine for having a small patch of brown grass near his mailbox after that heatwave we had. Meanwhile the HOA board president has had a broken sprinkler head spraying water onto the sidewalk for like 6 weeks now and nobody says a word. I called the management company to ask about it and they just said they'd "look into it" but nothing happened. It really ticked me off because it's not like the guy with the brown grass was being lazy, we all had trouble keeping things alive in that 95 degree stretch. So I took a photo of the sprinkler and emailed it directly to the board with a note asking if the same rules apply to everyone. They finally fixed it three days later but never answered my question about the double standard. Has anyone else dealt with an HOA that plays favorites like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.olivia7d ago

Bet they only fixed it because you had proof and called them out publicly.

abby_morgan187d agoOG Member

And honestly that's how so many things get fixed these days. It's sad that we have to make a public stink or show hard proof before people take us seriously. But at least it worked out in this case, which is more than a lot of folks get when they're ignored.

torres.blair7d ago

Question whether it's really that serious though. In my experience most places fix things quietly if you email them with the right tone, the public shaming is just satisfying catharsis.