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Comment by ed25519FUUU | Hacker News Reader

HOAs are a scourge. I’d love to see more states scale back the power of HOAs.

I doubt there’s much State’s can do to stop HOAs from existing. It’s a contract between the homeowners. There’s a lot of economy of scale for group maintenance as well (e.g. landscaping costs are significantly less for adjacent properties).

Like most things in the USA, you can vote with your wallet and live somewhere that doesn’t have an HOA.

A lot of contract clauses have been found void and unenforceable. Same could (and should) happen to many HOA covenants. The fact that you are unable to buy housing in many zip codes without HOA, and there are even some states (ie Texas) where you can be forced into an HOA (even if you own the house clear of one) is just insane.

The power we are giving to HOAs is insane. They can ruin your life. There is a case that I know where a person of color was accused by his white neighbors for WFH, thus using his house for business purposes, thus violating the HOA contract, thus they initiated an eviction.

It is an ablolute mess.

Sounds like a CNN article.

It makes sense for HOAs to be able to prevent someone running stuff like a car repair shop or a mail order business from their garage.

However, what is desperately needed is some sort of appeals process in front of an actual court that could intervene in such obvious cases of abuse.

No, it doesn't make sense.

Restrictions on land use at a local level are already handled via zoning.

The state can decline to enforce contracts it considers against the public interest.

States like Colorado require all new subdivisions to have HOAs

Is that a State law or just a common practice for most suburban development?

I think it's just common practice, but nearly 100% of modern developments either have an HOA or a "special district" which is a quasi-government entity that functions like an HOA.

No, they could make them illegal, it's not an issue other than lack of will.

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