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Article Courtesy of Inman
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By Lillian Dickerson
Published November 1, 2022
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As
Halloween approaches and Americans begin to get into the spooky spirit, some
homeowners association regulations are poised to cramp ghoulish decorations, a
new survey shows.
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Some homeowners love
the services and neighborhood order that homeowner’s
associations (HOAs) are legendarily known for. But others
see those restrictions as a nightmare.
As Halloween approaches and homeowners start to get into the
spooky spirit, some HOA regulations may seriously cramp
their ghoulish decorating style, leaving them to believe an
HOA’s restrictions may not be worth the benefits, a recent
survey from HomeAdvisor suggests.
One-third of homeowners surveyed by HomeAdvisor who have
lived in an HOA say that their HOA causes them stress
regularly. |
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For the survey, HomeAdvisor polled about 1,000 homeowners in the U.S., 58
percent of whom have lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. Sixteen percent were
baby boomers, 28 percent Gen X, 50 percent millennials and 5 percent Gen Z. In
terms of gender, 50 percent of survey participants were men, 49 percent women
and 1 percent nonbinary.
Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents said they’d prefer to simply live in a
neighborhood that does not have an HOA.
The HOA rule that homeowners felt was most restrictive was lawn and holiday
decoration limitations, with 64 percent stating that this was the most
restrictive rule — a real downer this time of year. After that, 55 percent said
architectural rules were most restrictive, and 53 percent said pet size and
quantity limitations were most restrictive.
Because many HOAs have covenants that homeowners feel are unreasonable, a lot of
homeowners end up breaking the rules, usually unintentionally. One in three
homeowners said they have violated some of their HOA’s rules, with most
violating lawn and holiday decorations rules. The second-most frequently
violated rules involved parking, and the third-most violated involved home
maintenance.
Fortunately, the majority of homeowners have gotten by with warnings, with 78
percent of survey respondents reporting this as the HOA’s response to their
violation. Thirty-four percent of respondents said that HOAs responded to their
rule-breaking with fines.
The thing that irked HOA homeowners the most, however, were their HOA’s
overzealous board members.
Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said those board members were
the most annoying part of the HOA, while 71 percent said invasive behavior
from the board or their neighbors was the most annoying aspect, and 69
percent said fines issued for small infractions were the worst part of the
HOA.
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