it already is…
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Theoretically it does, in that the residents can elect a new board and rewrite the CC&Rs. But in practice most board members have the mistaken idea that they can’t reduce the scope of the HOA because some owners might think it affects their property values, and property values are sacrosanct to HOAs.
I have rented homes (from individual owners) in HOAs, and I consider buying the home if the opportunity arises. So I attend the HOA meetings to see how dysfunctional they are. Lets just say I haven’t bought any.
The last one had a board member who “just happened” to work in the developer’s office. No surprise they were giving amnesty to the developer who wasn’t paying HOA dues on the units they hadn’t sold. Even when the developer was divested, their minion got reelected to the board because most residents don’t attend board meetings so they just vote for incumbents.
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Ugh, HOA’s. You couldn’t pay me enough to have a house subject to one…well you could, but only if you paid me enough to buy a nice place to live, somewhere else.
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Sounds like the basis of an election campaign. You’d need a couple of confederates running for other seats on the board, though, in case the board outvotes your reform proposals.
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Not all HOAs are bad.
We started our HOA about 25 years ago. Since I was the secretary and I feel the same way about restrictive covenants, I wrote the documents very carefully. They are for paying for insurance, snow removal, and maintenance on the shared ownership pavement – that’s it. We throw in free garbage hauling for each house as a part of the deal in an attempt to get people to pay their measly dues ($40/mo now, up from $30/mo when we started it.)
There was no way I was going to put anything in there about house color, lawn length, sheds, fences, pets, or whatever. Instead I put exclusions stating that the HOA had no jurisdiction over the homes, nor any liability for maintaining or insuring the homes or the private driveways. We have no covenants or restrictions; the HOA only services the culs-de-sac. We’ve had one or two houses that have gone through various states of disrepair, but that’s not my problem.
So for $40/month your garbage gets hauled, the snow is plowed, the pavement gets patched, and nobody gives a shit about your house but you. Not a bad deal in 2021.
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I’ve lived in a townhouse and am in my 4th apartment condo, all of which have been part of strata associations over 30 years, here in BC. Two of the stratas had issues with acrimonious AGMs and other money-related problems, but generally you know what’s up as soon as you read the bylaws and the last couple of years of the Strata Council meetings and AGMs.
I steadfastly refuse election to council (have been Strata President/Chair twice) but help out where I can. In our current home they have never refused any request for strata lot modification - I’m really good at providing very complete documentation and rationale.
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Classical Libertarianism (as in Libertarian Socialism) says that it isn’t OK as the contract is coercive, and that there is no difference between government and private authoritarianism.
American Libertarianism is just feudalism for the capitalist age, which would explain why they have no problems with HOAs.
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My hobby is arguing with libertarians over whether an HOA is in fact a government.
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Is there a mechanism for changing the rules? Vote of the board? 2/3 of property owners?
There is, but good luck getting a quorum. Nobody shows up to vote on anything.
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I live in a small development that was built in the fifties. Largely rural, we have two streets and approximately 25-30 houses. No HOA, but before my arrival there was a “Community Association”, largely formed in an effort to head off one neighbor who, over time, sued everyone my street at least once. We got along ok, although on occasion his kid would land his helicopter in the vacant field next to my house, blowing my trash cans and lawn furniture all over the place. That kind of pissed me off but not enough to do anything about it. So I can pretty much do anything I want, except my deed clearly states I cannot own pigs. So, no Green Acres for me.
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So, fun story: My old boss’ brother owned a house out in what at the time was the boonies of Eastern MA. Over the years he owned the place, the town became increasingly suburban and eventually the land abutting his was bought by a developer and turned into high dollar condos.
It didn’t take too long before the new condo residents started complaining about his dogs, and his tractor, and whatever else they didn’t like about his property. So he went to the city zoning board and had his land specifically zoned as farmland. Having grown up in the formerly smallish town for at least three generations apparently helped the process.
And then he got pigs. Lots of them. And you know which side of the property he put them on.
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Ohhh…that’s just cruel. 
But we get a lot of that too. Folks moving in from the city or densely packed 'burbs and then try to shape things to fit their view of what country living should be. My fav was the lady who attempted to circulate a petition to keep the farmers from spreading manure on their fields because you know, omg, the smell!
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HOAs amirite?
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Some people people say “fuck you” and really don’t mean it. This guy, you can tell, really means “fuck you” when he says it, haha.
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Something you’d expect from Clint Eastwood before he turned into a dick.
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Oh no, it was definitely both. HOAs as we think of them today may have gained popularity in the 80s, but they date back much further, and they were absolutely used, among other things, to keep neighborhoods white. Fun fact: racially restrictive covenants in HOAs are still perfectly legal, as it’s a contract between private individuals. However, they’re pointless because the courts cannot enforce those provisions if someone violates them and gets sued for breach of contract. There are probably still some older HOAs that have clauses saying you can’t sell your house to Black people or non-white people that just never bothered to amend them to take them out since they’re unenforceable.
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This essay,
CONFRONTING RACIAL COVENANTS HOW THEY SEGREGATED MONROE COUNTY AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM
directs readers to the 2013 book by Richard R. W. Brooks and Carol M. Rose titled “Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms.”
It appears to have quite a bit to say about Homeowner’s associations.
Even if your homeowner’s association is better known as “the organization that maintains the tennis courts and the pool”, the existence of semi-private community amenities may have been encouraged by the closing of public parks, and public pools, and public tennis courts.
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This. The trick is to find a lacksidaisical HOA that takes care of all the common area maintenance but doesn’t get all up in your face about minor infractions.
Personally, I find it useful to have one handy in case your neighbor decides to take up bronze smelting or, worse, an off-the-books daycare.
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True, but my observation is that few people have the level of sociopathy it requires to hold a position on the HOA, and generally just want to be left alone.
So, you end up with a group of shitty people/aggro busybodies who literally can fine you or in a lot of cases up to kick you out of your own home for the most minor of shit.
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