A homeowner has recounted a nightmare scenario of being embroiled in a dispute with their neighborhood’s Homeowners Association, even though they aren’t a member.

The resident posted on Reddit about how they found themselves in an altercation about putting up their Christmas lights too early.

Though residing in a neighborhood governed by an HOA, the homeowner explained that their home was built prior to the establishment of the other houses and the formation of the association.

‘Apparently they have a rule over how many lights you can put up and what the earliest date you can put them up,’ the Reddit user wrote.

They claimed that a woman came over to their house on November 30 and said that their lights were against the HOA’s policy.

“I reminded her that we’ve been through this before, I am not obligated to follow their rules and I am indifferent,” the Reddit user expressed, also mentioning that their nieces and nephews enjoyed lights, prompting them to put up quite a few.

They continued by saying the woman claimed the early light hanging ‘upset other members’ and requested they respect the rules due to where they live. She handed them a flyer with the rules — which the homeowner threw in the trash. 

HOAs have long held a reputation for being overbearing about the upkeep of homes and forcing meticulous rules on their members.

The associations are also increasingly gaining a reputation for enforcing huge price hikes on homeowners — with HOAs soaring in many states. 

Houses with HOAs, however, are worth 5 to 6 percent more than similar homes outside of HOAs. 

Typical HOA membership fees for single-family homeowners across the US is around $150 to $500 per month, but can sometimes be much more.

As these financial pressures grow, social media users have stopped biting their tongues and are increasingly sharing their experiences about living around HOAs.

Another homeowner shared their story on Reddit, explaining how what they thought was their dream home turned out to be anything but. The resident bought a house in 2019 — and was under the impression it was not near an HOA.

‘We closed and eventually learned that the neighborhood does in fact have an HOA. However there’s a handful of houses that were excluded from this HOA because they were previously built by another builder that backed out of the neighborhood,’ the post creator wrote.

‘Fast forward to the neighborhood being finished and the HOA being turned over to a management company,’ they wrote, adding that the association is now pushing for the HOA exempt houses to join.

‘I told my realtor they’d be fired instantly if they even mentioned a house in an HOA,’ a commenter responded. 

‘Upon moving in several neighbors kept asking me to sign some neighborhood agreement. I just laughed on their faces,’ another person said.

‘That’s the ideal situation, not in an HOA, but in an HOA neighborhood. All of your neighbors have to keep the neighborhood looking nice, but you don’t have the dues and other hassles,’ another person wrote.

A further commenter said that if people were good neighbors and took pride in their homes, there would be less need for HOAs.

It comes as California is considering making a major change to HOAs, prohibiting the associations from charging members more than $100 per violation for breaking most rules.

While this sounds like good news for homeowners, experts on both sides of the issue are worried it could unintentionally trigger more disputes ending up in court. 

The policy was added into a large budget trailer bill, AB 130, less than a week before it passed on June 30.

‘This got plugged in, generally at the last minute, to everyone’s surprise,’ Tim Mahar, an attorney with Tinnelly Law Group who represents HOAs, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The law would also prohibit HOAs from charging late fees or interest on unpaid fines and would give homeowners more time in correcting violations before fines can be imposed.