A HOA attempted to kick out a teenager after his parents died but the state’s former Attorney General stepped in. 

Collin Clabaugh moved into his grandparents’ home, in a 55-plus community, after both of his parents died but the HOA did not approve the move. 

Clabaugh moved from California to Prescott, Arizona at the end of 2018 but was asked to leave by 2020, according to ABC15.

The situation was later resolved and after negotiations, Clabaugh was allowed to stay, according to the Arizona Republic.

The family initially received a letter from the Gardens at Willow Creek HOA stating that people under the age of 19 were not allowed to live within the community, so Clabaugh had to find alternative accommodation by June 2020, according to ABC15.

This letter said: “The Board appreciates the difficulty of these circumstances but must balance the interests of all parties involved.

“Generally, community associations that fail to enforce their residency age restrictions leave themselves open to legal claims from other residents and could even endanger the ability of the association to remain an age-restricted community.”

His grandmother Melodie Passmore argued that the situation was not planned and that the HOA should show compassion.

Passmore said: “It’s amazing how one rule is more important than one person’s life.

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“We didn’t plan this, we didn’t go out one day and say, ‘Hey, let’s have Clay kill himself, and let’s have Bonnie die, and we’ll take Collin in.

“And to heck with the HOA. It’s not the way it was planned.”

The Passmore’s moved into their home in 2016 and had supposedly planned to speak to real estate agents to possibly move but decided that would be difficult in their 70s.

Passmore said: “I’ve stepped in things I find nicer than you people.”

The situation reached the former Arizona Attorney General, Grant Woods, who sided with the teen and his family. 

Woods said: “It seemed to me that the right thing is to show a little compassion.

“What would you want him to do? Turn him away, oh I’m sorry you have to go live on the streets because we live in a 55 and older community.

“When a tragedy strikes a family in your community I would think that these old people who live there would walk over and say how can we help?

Woods added that he would have been happy to mediate the dispute free of charge.

Clabaugh said that his relocation to Arizona, after his parents died two weeks apart, had helped him to grieve.

He said: “It just seems so heartless that even though we’ve explained our whole situation, it has to be the rule that dictates everything, it can’t be someone’s life.”