TexasCHLforum.com

On the surface, HOAs seem like a good idea. Keep the neighborhood in order and all; help prevent a single property from running down all the property values.

But in retrospect... Been in mine over 15 years. House was a Lennar everything-included new construction (wouldn't do that again, either) and the HOA agreement I agreed to then looks almost nothing like it does now. The association has the authority, with the necessary votes (which is a pretty minimal quorum) to change basically whatever they want.

The latest bit has a number of us flamin' mad. Lennar created the minimalist, initial landscaping; the homeowners didn't. A lot of us on the larger lots (only slightly larger) have oak trees that were planted fairly close to the edges of both the driveway and the sidewalk; not right next to them, but only about 8 feet away. Those of us who have nurtured and taken care of those oak trees now have large, healthy, shade-giving canopies.

The new edict from the HOA is that no tree limb or other plant can overhang any part of the street or a sidewalk. We have until October to come into compliance. I had one arborist out to look at it, and he said that cutting back that much of the tree would A) look absolutely terrible, and B) runs the risk of killing the tree because so much of it would have to be removed to make it look even slightly balanced after lopping off everything over and near the sidewalk. He also pointed out that if you wanted to attempt such a drastic pruning, you'd want to wait until late winter when the tree was dormant. Hacking it apart in Houston in August or September just increases the odds it won't survive. He said that honestly I'd probably be better off removing the tree entirely.

We have a petition, now with over 30 signatures, trying to repeal the new edict. But the HOA president is a mini-tyrant, and there's nothing in the bylaws that allows for an automatic repeal of a rule. Best we can do is bring it to a new vote...and then hope that we actually all get notified of the meeting time and location.

Trivia that we had to look up: I don't know if it's the same in other states, but HOAs have the power to levy property liens (into which they can stack back, daily-accrued penalties--in our agreement that's typically $200 per day--and attorney fees), and then sue for foreclosure against the lien. Yep; an HOA can take your home away from you.