People who lived in an HOA, what was your biggest nightmare with them?

I took my trash to the dumpster. Later I got a photo of my trash bag in the dumpster because I had tied the bag closed incorrectly and a $200 fine for improper trash bag fastener.
- someone in that HOA has shares in a trash bag fastening company, guarantee it
  
  Perhaps! I’ve always found that people who participate in the HOA Governance are the kind of people who can’t mind their own business.
- Did you end up paying it?
  
  I had to. It was included with my monthly fees.

I feel like mines the opposite. I pay $20/mo and we get access to a huge and well taken care of community pool, park, and basketball court. They also host community parties for each holiday that you can go to. They certainly allow you to get your $20 worth. Idk how they do it.
When it comes to architectural control, they’re pretty lax. We’ve got some vibrant and eclectic houses, but they are well put together. I haven’t found anything yet they won’t approve if you stay within a standard palette offering when it comes to shingles, siding etc. But some of these colors are yellows and reds so it’s not all boring either.
They also don’t allow signage in the yard to be displayed. So political signs etc will get you a violation. But it’s just a “remove by x date” and there’s no penalty if you do. I don’t mind this rule.
We do have to keep grass cut to an extent, but my neighbors cut it once a month at most and it’s usually a non issue. Honestly, other than safety things I’ve not seen anything crazy in mine. The two lady’s that operate it are super nice.
- Same boat as you. The HOA maintains a pathway in a wetlands reserve right behind the residential area and it costs less than $20/mo.
  They don't really care what you do besides the following: no farm animals/chickens, no structural changes to the homes without a licensed contractor performing the construction, shoot an email to the HOA if you're going to replace your roof or repaint your house to keep SOME level of uniformity.
  Mostly they don't care. Hell, the CC&R's and HOA incorporation docs literally say they won't directly enforce things against you and leave it up to the neighbors to take you to court with the HOA docs/agreements as free ammo. So if you explicitly want to be a menace to your neighbors/piss people off or want to have the only bright ass neon pink home with custom additions in the entire neighborhood - probably not the place for you. Otherwise they've had no effect on myself or my neighbors whatsoever and the wetlands/park is really nice.
- Yeah our HOA covers the maintenance of everyones lawn so that basically removes 99% of any complaints.
  
  How much do you pay a month? We pay $50 and they don’t even mow the common areas regularly.
- This is how they SHOULD be but not how a lot of them are unfortunately.
- My HOA is... fine. It's like $25 a month, and it includes trash/recycling and common area maintenance. I've gotten a few warnings about leaving my trash cans out too long, or some other small violations, and I've cursed them for that because I'm obstinate and ornery... but I take care of it, and I don't actually get a fine.

My HOA is badass because it's really just one paranoid nice lady who lets literally anyone know if a trunk is open or if someone suspicious entered, etc. I'd complain about privacy but who the fuck hangs out in hallways?
But they had a nightmare prior to me moving here. Long story short, the former board member ran a slip & fall legal case against herself which paid out to the tune of 4 million. The insurance company refused to fight it (despite the lack of evidence) and instead settled immediately, recouping their costs by raising the building's costs four fold.
This resulted in high HOA fees while that lady just fucking bought a house and left. Her sister sticks around, though, and on multiple occasions, stolen cars have been in our garage in their spot or in the guest spot as their "guest".
Now that I said the last part, that's still happening and I change my answer to that also being my nightmare HOA situation. Lol

About 2014, HOA decided to do some upgrade to our water main coming from the street. The guy came out with a weedeater and damaged my mailbox post. I reported it to the board and they said they would take care of it. Two weeks later I got a violation in the mail for damaged mailbox post. I went to the board website and they told me I had to repair it or face a fine. Right about this time the builder stepped down and handed the HOA to an attorneys office to manage. I reached out to the attorney to forward them the first message and ask them to repair my mailbox post and they said they would send someone out. About a month later I got a notice from the HOA that said this was my third warning (it was my second) and they were going to put a lein on my house if I didn't pay the fine, fix the mailbox post, and now pay a separate fee to the attorneys office since they were managing it.
I sent the HOA and the attorneys office copies of both of their messages saying they would handle it with a picture of my damaged mailbox post. Three months later, we get the yearly Financials from the board and the attorneys office charged the HOA $1,800 to put a $500 lein on the title of my home that we had paid off after trying to go through my previous mortgage holder's legal department to try to get the fine out of my escrow that no longer existed.
We sold the house with a damaged mailbox post last year. Our new neighborhood has no HOA.

Wouldn't let me rent when the housing crash hit and I couldn't afford the place, wouldn't let me have friends over late at night because they thought my d&d group were a bunch of drug dealers. All around a miserable experience.
- How the fuck do they keep you from having friends over? Also u need a new player for that group?

I live on a crappy golf course, our fees are $89 a month they don't provide anything, we can't have fences over 4ft the fence has to be see through, we can only choose certain colors to paint our houses we can't store trash cans outside we got a notice for a single weed there is constantly people driving around taking pictures it freaking blows we are selling and the next place will have no HOA

Getting out of it is the hardest part for us right now.
We're in a small 28 unit condominium, so our dues go towards insurance for all buildings (only exterior, have to have our own for studs in), water, lawn service, management company, etc. Our dues are almost $400/month.
Yes, per month. It absolutely blows, especially when we're trying to sell our unit and it's been on the market for almost half a year.
I'm the HOA president so I know what all our expenses are (and have fought to keep increases to a minimum, including negotiating the community water bill with the water company), and unless we kick out the management company (Not going to happen) the dues are just going to stay high. We're preparing to refuse an increase for the next year.
- Honestly, it sucks, but nowadays, $400 isn't overly high for condo HOAs. At least not in my region of the state. For stand alone, detached homes, it's insane. But fees are crazy high nowadays for everyone. That price for a condo HOA is not outrageous unfortunately.
- Why can't you kick them out? Wouldn't it be cheaper if the hoa managed all that jazz?
  
  It'd be cheaper, sure. But that assumes anyone actually wants to run things locally. My VP is an elderly woman who would love to get off the Board as well. We just don't have volunteers to run things. I joined up so our HOA didn't get handed to a lawyer to run, which would cost even more.
  Prior to having a management company, the HOA treasurer embezzled about $40,000. It's the reason they got the management company in the first place.

I was the president of my HOA. Somewhat not intentionally.
It was my first home, a condo, and I bought it at launch right after it was built. After about 6 months of living there, a neighbor approached me and said the whole rest of the board had flaked out, and would I like to be president of the HOA?
I said sure, it seems interesting and I definitely want the value of my ownership to be protected.
So me, him, and another guy formed a new board.
Oh man, the messes we started to uncover. The super low dues didn't even cover the trash removal, hallway electric lighting bill, elevator maintenance contract... Much less any landscaping. No wonder the place was looking rough.
And of course there was no budget to put money away for long term needs like reroofing or whatever.
So we worked hard on a plan to propose to the owners to increase the dues about 70% so that we'd have a well landscaped place and hopefully no surprise expenses ever because of an ample rainy day fund.
Less than 10% of the owners even showed up to the HOA meeting, so we didn't meet quorum.
We tried again, and finally got quorum after knocking on doors and asking for people to please come and vote.
This was just one issue. I'd get regular calls like hey, somebody dumped an old mattress by the dumpster. Can you call the removal company (the regular trash service wouldn't take that kind of thing). Or calls like "there's some sick trees in the front yard, when are you finally going to get an arborist out here?" And so and so's room is leaving trash in the hallway, can you please go talk to them?
I resigned within a year. Screw those guys and I'll never co-own without getting to choose my partners again.
- Yes, this is the unappreciated other end of shitty small-scale power tripping. Normal people don't want to do jobs like internet moderator or HOA president, because nobody appreciates them and it's boring. So, people who get a different kind of value out of it take their place, and around we go.
- Why is an HOA looking after the building and public spaces? That should be either the landlord/building owner and the local council responsibility. HOA are bullshit which ever way you look at them.
  
  The HOA is the owners. The owners vote in some board members who do the work on behalf of the majority of owners.
  Sometimes the HOA hires some 3rd party management company to handle stuff, but in our case we felt it was wasted money because we would care more about the results. In the end I can see why a lot of owner boards do that as the day-to-day of running the place is obnoxious.
  The public spaces were on our property, so our responsibility.

They casually inform first time buyers that the roof needs to be replaced, all the piping leaks, the elevator is past its service life, and the previous management ripped them off so we’re critically underfunded, but the board didn’t get voted out.
Finally convinced one do-nothing to not run for reelection but it’s been a problem. I think we’re paying $450/mo, no amenities. There’s been a hole in the hallway ceiling for 3 months after the last plumbing repair.
We have a 4x15ft patch of grass that one day turned into dirt. I think we’re paying landscapers to maintain two bushes at this point because they haven’t touched that dirt pad.

Selling.
The HOA changed management companies about three months before I moved out. New one couldn't be bothered to provide the condo docs and required legal paperwork to me, the seller, my lawyer, or either realtor for the transaction, despite repeated requests. (My copies from my purchase were not enough for the bank.) Without it, the transaction could not close. We made it, barely, but their sluggishness almost destroyed the sale and the purchase of my next home, as the transactions were all dependent.
It took my realtor camping out in the HOA office to get copies. According to her, she showed up and was waiting for them and sat there for two hours while they photocopied, printed and generally fucked around pretending it was too hard to find.
They tried to claim I was behind in my dues too, but I'd anticipated that strategy, and emailed my realtor pictures of the cancelled dues checks AND the notarized statement from the outgoing management company saying I was paid in full at the time of handover.
I was glad to move out. Apparently they didn't get better as I saw a lot of units for sale in the next year.

They don't allow privacy fences. Only shitty metal picket fences you can see through. Can't go outside without everyone on the street all up in your business and everyone's fucking dogs are constantly barking at each other and getting loose because their fence isn't tall enough to keep them from jumping it.
- Sound's like we live in the same neighborhood

Lived in a 1Br condo with one for 5 years. Didn’t have any major beef with mine.
Only issue was they didn’t allow anyone to install air conditioners in their units when I first moved in. Then they said they’d be allowing mini-splits soon, after which it took them 2 years to get that approved. Unfortunately they had designated locations where the condenser had to go, which for the unit I was in, was right next to the front door and kitchen window. I was all ready to purchase one until that detail came out…
Ended up toughing it out for the next year until I could afford to move out into a bigger house without an HOA. Now I’m happy to have full control over anything that goes on or through my roof, attic, and exterior walls.

I lived in a failed HOA in California, 8 unit condo, slipped thru the cracks. We shared a water bill so that was getting turned off a lot. We had a large leak that we ignored for years until we couldn't and had to collect $500 from each dirtbag to get it fixed. 3 of us cared, the others I hope have a painful demise.

mine went after a guy for adding insulation to the attic.
- Only the poors care about energy efficiency. Can't appear poor, or it might bring down the property values.
  
  it was completely insane. they claimed he was storing the insulation in the attic (he had it professionally put in) and used association money on an attorney demanding he remove it. He refused and ultimately they had the maintenance guys remove it. bonkers. spent money so that our energy costs can be higher.

I got a $100 fine because the curtains I decorated my bedroom with were visible to the outside and not an approved color.
Never again.

I've lived in 3 and had the luxury of them being fantastic and doing more than I expected, above and beyond and never being more than like..$50/mo. Included gym and pool access and stuff.
BUT, I have a family member who lives in one where basically everybody got hit with a roof repair bill of $30k partly due to previous management embezzlement, and it ended up being taken to the courts and crap and eventually got reduced but not eliminated. I think like half the residents sold and left in the year following.
So...it can be a crapshoot but I hear more stories that are bad than good.

I feel bad for these folks.
My building's HOA kicks ass, but admittedly, the people we elected to it are very 'live and let live'.
- Hopefully it stays that way. I've read horror stories about buildings hiring HOA management companies out of nowhere who take over and turn things shitty. 😔

Had an tenant whose son was reportedly causing havoc around the complex. It was a case of my tenant (and me, as her landlord) vs the HOA and some statements that others had provided. My tenant denied the claims when I spoke to her about them. No evidence was given. I got pulled into a sham of a disciplinary meeting (which my tenant was not allowed to attend) and fined for not doing enough to control my tenant.
This wonderful service for $370/ month (and increasing each year).

No nightmares... $100/yr and it mostly goes to landscaping at the entrance and repairing the wall when cars drive into it.

Whats an HOA?
- Home owner's association; when you buy a house and it is part of a HOA, you have to sign a contract to join the HOA as a requirement of buying, which means you have to pay dues and abide by the rules of the organization, and you have to require the next buyer to also join in order to sell your house.
  
  *In the US.
- I believe it is what Americans call what might be called an Owners Corporation / Body Corporate / Apartment Owners Association / Management Company in other parts of the English-speaking world.
  
  In Canada we have strata for condos and town homes. Is it like that?

That it was in a state of total chaos: the management company wasn't doing their job, one of the members wasn't paying his fees (only 3 units so it was a major hit), and I found out we didn't have any insurance. I ended up taking over, got rid of the shitty management company, sued the delinquent member, evicted one of his tenants (drug addicts that left the doors unlocked and would set off the building smoke detectors all the time), and sold/moved once the dust settled.

I get pissy about mine sometimes but reading these stories... Holy shit.

They overcharge a lot and pass the profits to their friends.

Them breathing all my air.

HoA are microcosm of america lol
boomers and karens spazzing is annoying.

Mostly the neighbors who don't pay their dues or needlessly hold up needed improvements.
Our HOA board does a great job, they are volunteers who live in the neighborhood. Our dues used to be $100 a year, plus $150 if you wanted to use the pool. Then the pool needed to be replaced (it was 45 years old) and we didn't have the money for it, so we changed the dues to $250 and everyone gets access to the pool. That still didn't raise enough money, so they tried to get everyone to agree to a one-time assessment of $1000 but too many people complained. So they've now raised the dues to $350, likely going up to $450 soon.
The good thing about the higher dues is we will now be able to afford a lawyer to go after the 10% of the homes that aren't paying their dues. And maybe even force the people who are hoarding cars in their yards to have to move them.
Edit to add from a follow up comment;
The change to the dues required a change to the bylaws, which required 100% participation in voting, and required 60% approval. The change passed with over 85% approval. Most HOA dues in our area are $600 - $1000 per year, and many of those don't have a pool. There are also many places around that don't have an HOA. The HOA was created at the same time the pool went in, anyone already living in the neighborhood who didn't want to use the pool didn't have to join the HOA, we still have a few 'grandfathered' homes and I have no issue with them, it's the people who moved into the neighborhood knowing there's an HOA and a pool and refuse to pay their share.
- Wait so for the folks that didn’t care about the pool, their dues went up 3.5x so far, soon to be 4.5x, for something they didn’t want or use, and you’re surprised they’re not paying? That’s some entitlement right there…
  
  If you don't want to pay for a pool then don't move into a neighbor that has a pool. If you don't want to have an HOA, don't move somewhere that has one. If you don't like how the HOA is run, volunteer to help run it.
  What you don't do is hold up the rest of the neighborhood that actually wants to take care of things properly.
  The change to the dues required a change to the bylaws, which required 100% participation in voting, and required 60% approval. The change passed with over 85% approval. Most HOA dues in our area are $600 - $1000 per year, and many of those don't have a pool. There are also many places around that don't have an HOA.
- Maybe they don't care about the pool. Fuck an hoa
  
  Then don't move into a neighborhood that has an HOA and a pool?
- You sound like a fun person to live around