A Florida woman says that she’s experiencing an HOA “horror story” of her own. After an incident involving a security officer took place in her yard, she’s calling out her HOA. Now, she’s calling out her HOA and the disrespect she felt when she found somebody taking photos in her yard.
Summer (@fiveminutesfromdisney) says she lives in a “strict HOA community” in Florida. Recently, she noticed HOA security officers were going door-to-door to hand out violations. She said she felt this was wrong because HOA members used to hand out violations, not security. Recently, she noticed a security officer was driving past her house and taking pictures of her home. She received a violation for keeping her trash can out too long and thought nothing of it.
This week, a security officer pulled up and got out of his vehicle. Summer watched from her window as he walked through her yard, around the back and stood at her fence, taking photographs on her property. Summer mentioned that she has an iron fence because the HOA won’t allow a vinyl fence. Because of this, she put up mesh on her fence to keep her dogs away from her neighbor’s dogs. Apparently, the security officer had a problem with that and was photographing it.
Summer’s husband went out to confront the officer, telling him, “Get off my property; you have no business being here.” To this, the officer told them that the HOA actually sent him there to take photos and investigate. He eventually left, taking his photos with him to report back to the HOA.
This didn’t sit right with Summer, who decided to look at things from a legal standpoint. She sent an email citing Florida HOA laws and property laws in general to the HOA president in her neighborhood. Summer says that this could have been avoided if they knocked on her door and identified themselves. It could have gone differently if they told her they would be there inspecting, as they’re legally supposed to do. Now, she says she did her legal research and will be taking her information to local police. According to her, “It is probably illegal for you to come through my front yard directly up to my fence, not telling me that you’re going to be there.”
The video immediately sparked reactions from concerned commenters, who were shocked by what Summer endured in her HOA. One commenter shared their personal story: “I once got a $350 fine for putting MY Christmas wreath on MY front door on Black Friday. So, I made it my goal to find every board member and filed complaints about them every single day. Then, when I was finished, I sued them for harassment (and yes I won).”
One commenter simply questioned, “Why do Americans have HOAs? It’s so weird.” Another added, “I could never live in an HOA. I won’t be told what I can or can’t do with my own home.” Commenters continue to share their opinions on HOAs and give Summer advice on how they would handle this situation.
