Neighbours (HOA) from hell!

[Lionlily]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

We bought a town house a year ago.(We =My husband,our friend and me)
If we would have known what kind of neighbours(all 70+ and very unhappy) we have we probably would have thought twice about buying it.
It started with verbal complaints.My poor husband had his heelys on(shoes with one wheel in the back) and did the mistake to glide out of our front door and past an old lady on the walk way.She freaked out and started yelling about how skateboarding was illegal and not allowed.My husband tired to calm her down and apologize if he did something to upset her. She was upset but later on apologized herself.
We thought nothing of it until we got another complaint.This time written.
I had been cleaning and hung the garbage bag on our front door knob while i was vaccuuming.We got a written complaint about that.Then we got one that complained that they didn't like the patio table we had.Then one about how our pool toy was not allowed to be on our patio cause it didn't look good.(white and blue matress neatly folded againt our wall).
I covered the 2 upper balconyrails with bamboo cause i thought it looked nice and gave us more privacy.I had to take that down cause we got a complaint about that.
The same has happened to 2 of our younger neighbours.One's rose buses were cut away cause they didn't fit(according to one of the older ladies).
No one asked him they just went on his patio and did it.
Our other neighbour got complaints about his patio furniture too and about keeping a covered cat litterbox on the upper balcony.
They have also complained cause i've kept my dogs waste bags on the patio.
They do not smell nor are they visible so someone must have done some snooping around on our patio in order to find them.
Our 8 pound dogs were also accused of shredding a bunny on the lawn and then leaving feces next to it.My dogs are never off leash nor would they kill bunnies,AND i pick up after my dogs.
I'm really really tired of not being able to live a normal life wihtout getting harassed from the HOA. Is there anything i can do about this?
I heard from a realtor that i could sue the HOA,is that true?
I would be very thankful for any help!

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

We bought a town house a year ago.(We =My husband,our friend and me)
If we would have known what kind of neighbours(all 70+ and very unhappy) we have we probably would have thought twice about buying it.
It started with verbal complaints.My poor husband had his heelys on(shoes with one wheel in the back) and did the mistake to glide out of our front door and past an old lady on the walk way.She freaked out and started yelling about how skateboarding was illegal and not allowed.My husband tired to calm her down and apologize if he did something to upset her. She was upset but later on apologized herself.
We thought nothing of it until we got another complaint.This time written.
I had been cleaning and hung the garbage bag on our front door knob while i was vaccuuming.We got a written complaint about that.Then we got one that complained that they didn't like the patio table we had.Then one about how our pool toy was not allowed to be on our patio cause it didn't look good.(white and blue matress neatly folded againt our wall).
I covered the 2 upper balconyrails with bamboo cause i thought it looked nice and gave us more privacy.I had to take that down cause we got a complaint about that.
The same has happened to 2 of our younger neighbours.One's rose buses were cut away cause they didn't fit(according to one of the older ladies).
No one asked him they just went on his patio and did it.
Our other neighbour got complaints about his patio furniture too and about keeping a covered cat litterbox on the upper balcony.
They have also complained cause i've kept my dogs waste bags on the patio.
They do not smell nor are they visible so someone must have done some snooping around on our patio in order to find them.
Our 8 pound dogs were also accused of shredding a bunny on the lawn and then leaving feces next to it.My dogs are never off leash nor would they kill bunnies,AND i pick up after my dogs.
I'm really really tired of not being able to live a normal life wihtout getting harassed from the HOA. Is there anything i can do about this?
I heard from a realtor that i could sue the HOA,is that true?
I would be very thankful for any help!

**A: and did you actually read the CC&R's?

 

[Lionlily]

If by that you mean the rules then i have to say no =/.But they come up with new ones as they go. I don't see how our patio furniture cannot be out there,or our pooltoys.A realtor i spoke with says that they are harassing us and we could sue them for that.The dog waste i've been keeping in a sealed little trash can to make life easier..I don't feel like i've done anything to upset these old people.

 

[seniorjudge]

If by that you mean the rules then i have to say no =/.But they come up with new ones as they go. I don't see how our patio furniture cannot be out there,or our pooltoys.A realtor i spoke with says that they are harassing us and we could sue them for that.The dog waste i've been keeping in a sealed little trash can to make life easier..I don't feel like i've done anything to upset these old people.

Run for the governing board....political power is wonderful!

 

[Lionlily]

I wish i could.Unfortunately all the meetings are during the day when we work and there is just the old people that complain.No chance of us getting anything done there..

 

[nutmegstate]

Keep a log of all correspondence that you get from your neighbors. Keep any documentation that you may receive. It sure sounds like harassment. Check the condo rules to see if there is anything against having a pool or patios et outside your unit.

 

[john123456]

If by that you mean the rules then i have to say no =/.But they come up with new ones as they go. I don't see how our patio furniture cannot be out there,or our pooltoys.A realtor i spoke with says that they are harassing us and we could sue them for that.The dog waste i've been keeping in a sealed little trash can to make life easier..I don't feel like i've done anything to upset these old people.

How in the heck can you claim harassment when you haven't even read the CC&R's?

 

[HomeGuru]

How in the heck can you claim harassment when you haven't even read the CC&R's?

**A: that's my point.

 

[Lionlily]

Cause that's what it feels like. Common sense tells me that no one should be telling me not to have patio furniture on my patio or that keeping a inflatable matress leaning aganst my wall is wrong.Why can't other people have patio furniture but not us? We are being picked on cause we could afford this place BEFORE we were retired.All i wanted to know was where to call IF you indeed can sue the HOA.And i intend to read the CC&R's as soon as i can, i should have done it before we got this place.My bad really,this is our first house and i guess we didn't know what to read/do.
The letter i got says " as this item is unsightly and numerous complaints have been recieved this is not allowed"
Does that mean if I lower myself to their level i can get the neighbours patio furniture removed too? I don't think so. It's them against us.
Thank you every one for helping tho!

 

[HomeGuru]

Cause that's what it feels like. Common sense tells me that no one should be telling me not to have patio furniture on my patio or that keeping a inflatable matress leaning aganst my wall is wrong.Why can't other people have patio furniture but not us? We are being picked on cause we could afford this place BEFORE we were retired.All i wanted to know was where to call IF you indeed can sue the HOA.And i intend to read the CC&R's as soon as i can, i should have done it before we got this place.My bad really,this is our first house and i guess we didn't know what to read/do.
The letter i got says " as this item is unsightly and numerous complaints have been recieved this is not allowed"
Does that mean if I lower myself to their level i can get the neighbours patio furniture removed too? I don't think so. It's them against us.
Thank you every one for helping tho!

**A: and common sense dictates that an owner should read the rules and verify if the HOA is correct or just blowing smoke.

 

[Lionlily]

I was already told it wasn't correct but i do intend to check up on it myself.

 

[HomeGuru]

I was already told it wasn't correct but i do intend to check up on it myself.

**A: don't depend upon what people tell you. Verify things for yourself to confirm the truth.

 

[seniorjudge]

...Cause that's what it feels like. Common sense tells me that no one should be telling me not to have patio furniture on my patio or that keeping a inflatable matress leaning aganst my wall is wrong....

If you do not want to run for the board and you do not want to read the CCRs, then what do you want us to do?

BTW, common sense has nothing to do with CCRs.

 

[Lionlily]

I just wanted to know IF i really can sue/complain about the HOA(if we found out that indeed are harassing us) and in order to do that where should i go?

 

[seniorjudge]

I just wanted to know IF i really can sue/complain about the HOA(if we found out that indeed are harassing us) and in order to do that where should i go?

Anyone may SUE anybody for anything at anytime anywhere.

Whether you win or not is something I do not know.

Hire a lawyer.