Unhappy Homeowner & Installer

I think if you choose to live a place where all the houses are the same and there are rules then a HOA is for you. Some people are willing to give up their rights so they don't have a problem with what neighbors do. They want a nice quite place with a way to make people behave. If you don't like that, don't live there. That's the only choice you have. No one makes you live in a HOA.

There was a guy in a Tennessee HOA that decided to put up a flag pole in the middle of his front yard. The HOA says that flags can be displayed only on poles attached to the house. You know the kind, on a 45 degree angle.

Well, the whole mess went to court and the flag pole came down.
 
If you don't like that, don't live there. That's the only choice you have. No one makes you live in a HOA.
I guess this is reassuring to believe. But the fact is that HOA neighborhoods are the only affordable housing in this part of the country.

No, you have no choice if you are economically disadvantaged.
 
I

There was a guy in a Tennessee HOA that decided to put up a flag pole in the middle of his front yard. The HOA says that flags can be displayed only on poles attached to the house. You know the kind, on a 45 degree angle.

Well, the whole mess went to court and the flag pole came down.

Obviously, it was an HOA run by Commies. Why else would they have such a rule?
 
I have had my own run ins with HOA's, but lets be fair:
When you decide to buy a home/condo with an HOA, all the RULES are outlined and given to you BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. Problems occur because people DON'T read. Are alot of the rules silly?, probably... but you can really not complain when you are given all the rules in advance.

Not true, I never got any rules until well AFTER I purchased my home.. and I (the owner of the home) have never signed anything stating I've gotten the rules..
 
Hey guys I have to vent a little about a serious install issue. I work for a retailer in the Tri Cities Tn area. I went to an install today for a customer who was getting a 722 & 311. This couple was blown off and rescheduled 4 or 5 times by the local RSP, because it required a tri pod install, also the home owners association says no dishes are allowed. This customer lives in a town home, 2 story with a garage underneath, there are about 8 units side by side and probably a dozen or so in this complex. They do own this place and have researched the laws on the fcc's website regarding satellite installations in mdu's.
I went over installation with customer and we both understood what he was dealing with. There was a perfect line of sight from his deck and I proceeded with install. I mounted dish on a tri pod inside his deck railing(low profile as possible) and secured tri pod to deck, as I was tuning dish I saw this old geezer walking across parking lot towards me. He stated that I would have to remove dish because the home owners association did not allow satellite dishes. I told him unless the home owner told me different the dish was going in. He proceeded to argue and I told him it was between him and the home owner and that it had nothing to do with me. He left and apparently made a phone call or 2, I continued installing and after a short time the customers girlfriend come out and asked me to stop for the time being as her boyfriend was on the phone with the president of the home owners association. These people are threatening to sue and all kinds of crazy stuff he he goes through with install. His girlfriend is hysterical over the whole deal and willing to give in to these people. The customer on the other hand is not wanting to be bullied by these dish haters.
I was standing there while customer had fcc on speaker phone. They had given him some specific instructions on dealing with this. We rescheduled install for Wednesday per customer so he can sort through red tape to get this thing installed. This is a very nice young couple that is just starting out. They do not need this kind of crap. The best I can tell we are within the law, and the customer agrees. He had done a quite a bit of research before he even placed the order.
I'll help these young people any way I can. Has anybody else dealt with a nazi like home owners association, and how did you deal with it?
yes..and f**k 'em...tis is why when i go to a mdu install I carry a copy of the fcc regs with me. I give it to the customer if he/ she brings up concerns about their hoa.
One time I was on a job and guy started hassling me. I told him it was best he go ahead and get back into his car and move along.
I started quoting chapter and verse and he told me HE was the board president and the federal govt wasn't telling him anything.(Paraphrase there).
Next out walks the customer. All 6 feet 4 inches and about 230 lbs...The guy got back into his car and left with tail firmly planted between his legs.
The law is on our side and the side of the customers....There's no such thing as "we don't allow satellite dishes"... At least in owner occupied MDU's..The law is clear.. You should have ignored the annoying interloper and completed your job. All the while assuring the customer all was well.
By doing this you force the hand of the person who is confrontational. You essentially goad him into being and a$$hole( by quietly doing your job) which further supports your postion of being correct on the laws/regulations.
I was not present so I am just guessing at the situation you were facing.
 
Just remember you can win the battle and lose the war. You may install the dish but that couple has to live there and any step out of line may bring more repercussions over time.
No they cannot....That's illegal..Basically you are saying that even though this homeowner is standing up for their rights under the law, they shouldn't for fear of repercussions?.....No way...
 
I can see where you are coming from, especially with HOAs that have control freaks running them (or hassling the board--that happens too). However there can be many advantages to a well-run HOA (with "well-run" being extremely important!). I currently live in a neighborhood with no HOA, and we have several houses with 4 families living in them (it's the only way they can afford a house in California), and 8 cars parked in the driveway and street (I think the garage is used as a living unit in one of them). This makes for a very poor impact on the neighborhood, and it's something that a well-run HOA could help limit.
sure..HOA"s have their place..Unfortunately many hoa's go much too far in writing rules. Some are downright totalitarian.
what is it they say...absolute power corrupts absolutely
 
No they cannot....That's illegal..Basically you are saying that even though this homeowner is standing up for their rights under the law, they shouldn't for fear of repercussions?.....No way...
Care to bet your house on the fact that they wont? Cause that's what your customer is doing by standing up to the HOA. Right or not, the HOA can go as far as non-judicial foreclosure of their home if they felt like taking it far enough.
 
I have had my own run ins with HOA's, but lets be fair:
When you decide to buy a home/condo with an HOA, all the RULES are outlined and given to you BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. Problems occur because people DON'T read. Are alot of the rules silly?, probably... but you can really not complain when you are given all the rules in advance.
that's fine..but in this case the rules of the hoa are in violation of federal law..case closed.
BTW in many instances ,new board members form new cliques and decide it's ok to change the rules in the middle of the game.....And no one is the wiser...
 
I live in a very large subdivision that has a HOA. In the rules it states that you are to fill out a form saying that you intend to have a dish put up ( they will allow the small ones, but not the BIG ones.) and they will "approve" it. I did nothing and my dish is on the front of my house of to the right side. Been there going on 4 years ( and just had new one put up for HD) and they never said a thing.
 
I guess this is reassuring to believe. But the fact is that HOA neighborhoods are the only affordable housing in this part of the country.

No, you have no choice if you are economically disadvantaged.
I don't believe that for a nanno-second..
Pardon me but that looks like whining......Everyone has choices.
 
I guess this is reassuring to believe. But the fact is that HOA neighborhoods are the only affordable housing in this part of the country.

No, you have no choice if you are economically disadvantaged.

Isn't it usually the other way around? In my area, the HOAs are where the uppity people live. There are some mid range neighborhoods that have them, but nothing in the "bargain bin" really has an HOA to speak of (maybe a few neighborhood conventions that are never enforced).
 
Care to bet your house on the fact that they wont? Cause that's what your customer is doing by standing up to the HOA. Right or not, the HOA can go as far as non-judicial foreclosure of their home if they felt like taking it far enough.
please stop the nonsense
and we are just supposed to sit there and take it in the shorts ,right?..
You are not thinking logically...By your statement an hoa with this threat of force could do ANYTHING they wished. Including occupy any property without consent of the owner.. after all the rights of the homeowner under the law mean nothing to you. correct?...
Look, you may want to live in fear of hoa's but logical, thinking members of society do not. So please if you feel this way, go build yourself a bomb shelter and stock up on c-rations.
non judicial foreclosure, my ass.
ok this is the scenario you present..
owner: I want a satellite dish
HOA: we don't allow them:
Owner: I am allowed under federal law to have one
HOA: we don't care what the law says.
Owner: I will put it in anyway. It's my right.
Hoa: we don't care what your rights are and if you proceed we will take your home away.

now how sily is that...
Not only is the above scenario illegal. it is also malicious.
 
please stop the nonsense
and we are just supposed to sit there and take it in the shorts ,right?..
You are not thinking logically...By your statement an hoa with this threat of force could do ANYTHING they wished. Including occupy any property without consent of the owner.. after all the rights of the homeowner under the law mean nothing to you. correct?...
Look, you may want to live in fear of hoa's but logical, thinking members of society do not. So please if you feel this way, go build yourself a bomb shelter and stock up on c-rations.
non judicial foreclosure, my ass.
ok this is the scenario you present..
owner: I want a satellite dish
HOA: we don't allow them:
Owner: I am allowed under federal law to have one
HOA: we don't care what the law says.
Owner: I will put it in anyway. It's my right.
Hoa: we don't care what your rights are and if you proceed we will take your home away.

now how sily is that...
Not only is the above scenario illegal. it is also malicious.

Just because something is illegal and malicious doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Go read some of the things on the site Tyralak linked. HOAs Lawyers get away with nasty NASTY things. Taking away people's homes for $120.00 in overdue fees, People jailed for filing complaint against HOA board member's families, yes these things really do happen. Is it right? No. Do they happen often? No. But they do happen. So if you want to live in your world of "The law is on my side so nothing can happen to me" feel free. Or you can join the rest of us in reality.
 
Dishes, just like anything else on a house, will do almost nothing to the neighborhood, in fact, they won't. Badly maintained yards, badly maintained houses... now THOSE will.

OTOH, and you'll have to foregive me for saying this as I'm only 21, in my experience thus-far I've found that whether someone's front yard is sparkling perfect or not says very little about the neighborhood, some of the trashiest people have perfect yards because they have too much @#*%ing time on their hands.

Just saying, when you've got people hanging their dirty laundry in the front yard, cars on bricks, NO grass.. at all, not dead or alive, just. .. yeah. And junk in the front THEN you've got a problem.

People like that can't afford Dish service, they have OTA antennas ,lol.

I think the HOA rules are just put up because Dishes *could* have a bad stigma, much like OTA antennas, if you go to the bad part of town chances are every other house you see will have either a dish network dish, a directv dish.. maybe both with a BUD in the back yard and a primestar dish on the roof. People in bad areas are just weid, they either spend lots of money on TV, or are running from the cable company because they've got such a bad credit record XD

Anyway, Dish installs can have so much more go wrong, for example loose cables hanging around, or just plain bad wiring. Eegh, and when it's really bad, it looks like someone's rewired their house by just leaving all the wires outside.

OTOH, cable installs can go bad too.. especially when aerial wiring is involved. Eew. I can't believe some areas still rely on that stuff.
 
Just because something is illegal and malicious doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Go read some of the things on the site Tyralak linked. HOAs Lawyers get away with nasty NASTY things. Taking away people's homes for $120.00 in overdue fees, People jailed for filing complaint against HOA board member's families, yes these things really do happen. Is it right? No. Do they happen often? No. But they do happen. So if you want to live in your world of "The law is on my side so nothing can happen to me" feel free. Or you can join the rest of us in reality.
I went on that site. I saved it as a favorite.
I am in reality.
The cases you read on these sites are rare and extreme. However your posts indicate to me you believe these to be everyday occurances.
Quite frankly what you state we must fear is outrageous conduct.
Newsflash, in 99% of these cases the hoa "gets away" with these actions because no one will stand up to them.
So please don;t sit there at your comoputer and tell this board that customers shpuld NEVER tsand up up for their rights undert the law and ALWAYS knuckle under to unreasonable and unlawful authority.
We're done.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts