At a glance, a homeowners association seems like it could be a benefit to a neighborhood. Its rules are, at least on the surface, designed to keep the area pleasant to live in and to keep property values high.
However, HOAs exercise a lot of control over what owners can do with their own properties — and one of the biggest areas where their policies tend to fall short is on money-saving, eco-friendly upgrades.
Here are five times HOAs crossed the line with wasteful and environmentally damaging actions.
1. The solar panel removal
One Virginia homeowner moved into an HOA and decided to add solar panels. There was nothing in the documents they'd been given restricting solar. Weeks after having the panels installed and locking into a loan, the owner received a notice: the HOA had secretly banned solar months earlier and demanded that the homeowner uninstall theirs.
Luckily, the homeowner had appropriately applied for the installation, and the HOA had failed to reply in time; legally, the homeowner was allowed to proceed.
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2. Removing a "dead" hemlock
This resident had a hemlock tree in their yard. While it wasn't in perfect shape, it was alive — but that didn't stop HOA board members from talking about having it cut down without ever so much as consulting an arborist. The original poster was, unfortunately, a renter, not the homeowner, so their standing to object to the change was limited. In the end, they had to give up on their tree.
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3. The composting debacle
One homeowner wanted to make the smart move of keeping compost bins to help their garden. They even kept them in the backyard, hidden by some shrubs. That wasn't good enough for the HOA, which insisted that garbage bins could only go in the garage or on the porch. Explaining that they weren't garbage bins would be worse — composting was not approved in the neighborhood.
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4. Butchering a gingko
One homeowner who loved the beautiful ginkgo tree in their neighborhood was appalled when their HOA had it cut back to almost nothing. The branches were lopped off near the trunk, and almost all the leaves were gone. While it was likely the tree would survive, it was far from certain — and it definitely wouldn't be the same. Commenters speculated that the harsh trim was an attempt to limit the tree's fruit.
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5. More tree cutting
One Arizona homeowner returned from vacation to discover a nightmare: Their HOA had cut down a 30-year-old tree on their property without their prior knowledge or permission.
As far as the homeowner knew, there was no reason — it was a healthy tree that was well maintained and kept back from the sidewalk. More than just being upset, they were baffled and at a loss about what to do next, though legal action was a distinct possibility.
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