One homeowner in the midst of an unbelievable struggle with their HOA posted on Reddit to show gallons of rainwater being directed onto their property.
An HOA can make it difficult for homeowners to customize their yards. They can be frustrating to deal with, and some are known to be incredibly wasteful.
One Redditor, who said they live under an HOA in Falls Church, Virginia, experienced such behavior — and it severely damaged their home.
"I bought an end unit townhouse a couple years ago," they explained. "I have water runoff onto my property and has damaged my home and continues to do so."
The Redditor shared two videos showing a sidewalk outside their home. In the rain, water pools on the sidewalk and runs downhill. The abrupt end of the sidewalk is visible in the videos, with rainwater pouring off of it and into the Redditor's yard.
"My home is at the bottom of a hill. The HOA community sidewalk dead ends in front of my home," they explained.
According to the Redditor, a lot of the water gets into their home and under the flooring.
"The problem is there are no actual storm sewers anywhere near my home," they wrote. "The HOA just dumps water onto my property."
They said they have been unsuccessful in getting the HOA to do anything about it.
"I have raised the issue directly with my HOA for over a year without any action being taken," they said. "As I'm in an HOA I cannot by rule just change the front of my townhouse yard areas but I'm about over waiting for the HOA to do anything."
According to the original poster, this system is intentional on the HOA's part. Quoting what they claimed was a written response from an HOA board member, they said, "'The sidewalks in our community are an important component of a system in which water is routed to the storm sewers and from there into (a stream in the floodplain). So water flowing down them is what is supposed to happen based on how (the community) was designed.'"
Not only does this system flood the original poster's home, but it's also intended to dump untreated, polluting runoff from residents' homes into a local water source.
A rain garden could present a solution to this issue. A rain garden is a landscape that is purposefully designed to capture and absorb rainwater rather than allowing it to run off, like traditional turf and concrete typically do.
Rain gardens often involve native plants, which tend to have deep root systems that help excessive rainwater work its way into the ground, becoming purified as it passes through the soil instead of running off into homes or local bodies of water.
But until the homeowner is able to get their HOA to cooperate, the situation will likely remain unresolved.
One commenter suggested blocking the flooding with sandbags in the meantime, which they say are effective. "Plus, and I think this is important, it'll look awful … They won't like the look of it, and it'll make a nice public statement about your situation."
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