Hoa Designates My Private Pond As “Public Hoa Property”.. Unaware I Own The Land!
The Ghost of Rules Past
Hey guys, welcome back to Ripe Stories. In today’s HOA Karen story, I had the police called on me for fishing in my own backyard.
An HOA I don’t even belong to designated my private pond as their recreation area. They tried to have me arrested for trespassing on land that I’ve owned for 20 years.
They thought their fake map superseded my legal deed. Let’s dive right into the story.
The first one is from r/Petty Revenge and it is titled HOA Rules. This happened in the late ’90s to a good buddy of mine.
He lived in the Bay Area, California, in an old subdivision built from the 1900s to the 1930s. For the most part, the HOA is super relaxed and mostly not enforced unless it’s a big issue.
Basically, it was used to upkeep gardens in the neighborhood. JD is building an addition on his house.
He asked the folks on all sides if it was an issue, but it wasn’t. Several neighbors had done similar additions.
Folks behind them, Lori, said it was cool. The addition is built 90%.
Lori is friends with Maria, who lives five to six houses away. Maria puts a buck in Lori’s ear about how terrible this is.
She finds the clause in the 1912 HOA that the addition was 3 feet over the limit. JD tries to say that these are old, outdated rules that he can give twelve plus examples of other people violating, but to no avail.
JD actually gets a cease-building notice and is told to tear it down. The ten-month legal battle literally ruins relationships of parents and kids.
It was just a huge pain in the butt over nothing. By the way, guys, am I the only one that is fascinated by this HOA existing since the early 1900s?
Anyway, Lori avoids JD and family. Maria is smug and a huge a-hole, speaking at every HOA meeting and taking the mantle in this fight.
She literally yells at JD and his wife when she sees them. JD gets the word that the final decision is coming to a head.
All parties involved are in a packed HOA meeting. Maria pressed her point to get it torn down.
JD gets up and says
“Okay fine, I will accept your ruling to tear it down if we’re going to stick to the letter of the law of these outdated rules.”
And then he says
“Then turn to page 127, section 1: no minorities will be allowed to live, rent, or stay in said neighborhood.”
And then he goes on to list every minority you can think of. Maria is Hispanic and her face goes pale.
JD goes
“Are we done with this BS?”
They were. The HOA was rejected and he finished the addition.
Neighbors all hate each other. Maria moved away shortly thereafter.
A-holes and HOAs; JD won, but they even moved away a few years later. It really did not need to happen.
The Island in the Middle
The next one is the title story, which is titled HOA designates my private pond as HOA area, calls 911, and wants me arrested for fishing. By the way, guys, if you enjoy the daily stories on my channel, please don’t forget to subscribe and click the bell icon so you don’t miss any of my daily uploads.
Also, please don’t forget to like the video if you want to support me; thank you so much. So, my family has owned our property for over 60 years.
My grandfather bought the land back when this whole area was nothing but farmland and woods. He built a modest house on it and raised my father here.
When he passed, my dad inherited everything. Now it is mine and I’ve got every intention of keeping it in the family for generations to come.
The property includes a pond that my grandfather dug out himself with some help from neighbors and rented equipment. That pond has been the heart of our family gatherings for as long as I can remember.
Birthday parties, Fourth of July cookouts, and teaching kids to fish; all of it happened around that water. But here is where things get complicated.
About 20 years ago, a developer bought all the farmland surrounding our property and built a nice little subdivision. Let’s call it Tyrant Estates.
They established an HOA to maintain common areas and enforce community standards. By the way, guys, my apologies if I still sound a little bit sick; I hope it gets better soon.
Anyway, when they were planning the development, they approached my father about buying our land, but he refused. They offered more money, and he refused again.
Eventually, they built around us. Now our property sits right in the middle of the subdivision like an island.
We are not part of their HOA. We never signed any documents and we never agreed to any HOA covenants.
We are just a privately owned piece of land that happens to be surrounded by their development. Well, for years this was not a problem.
The original homeowners knew the situation. They understood that the big house with the pond was not part of the HOA and they respected our boundaries.
Some of them even became friends with my parents. A few were invited to fish at the pond over the years.
But then things started changing. The original residents moved away or passed on and new people moved in.
These new folks didn’t know the history. They just saw a big, beautiful pond that they assumed was a community amenity they were not being given access to.
That is when the trouble started. The first signs of problems came about 3 years ago when I found a family I didn’t recognize having a picnic on the grassy area near my pond.
I walked over and politely explained that this was private property. The father looked at me like I was crazy.
He asked
“What do you mean private property? This is the HOA pond area. It says so right on the community map.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I showed him to the property lines and asked him to leave. He grumbled but gathered up his family and then went.
I should have investigated further right then and there, but I didn’t. That was my mistake.
Over the next couple of years, I had to chase away more and more people. There were teenagers trying to swim, families fishing without any permission, and dog walkers letting their pets run through my fields.
Each time I politely explained that this was not HOA property. Each time they argued with me and told me that I was wrong.
The Tribunal of Tyrant Estates
Finally, about 6 months ago, I decided to get to the bottom of this. I attended an HOA meeting.
I was not a member, obviously, but these meetings were open to anyone who wanted to observe. I wanted to see what was going on.
The meeting was held in the community clubhouse, which was about a quarter mile from my property. When I walked in, about 30 residents were already seated in folding chairs.
At the front of the room sat the HOA board, five people sitting behind a long table like they were presiding over some kind of tribunal. The board president was a woman I will call the HOA President.
She was in her mid-50s, had short gray hair, and wore reading glasses on a chain around her neck. She ran the meeting like a military operation, cutting people off mid-sentence and moving through agenda items at a rapid pace.
I sat in the back and watched. They discussed landscaping contracts, parking violations, and a dispute about someone’s fence color.
It was just standard HOA nonsense, really. Then they got to the new business and the HOA President said something that made my blood run cold.
She said
“As you all know, we’ve had ongoing issues with the resident on Tyrant Lane who has been claiming our pond recreation area as his private property and harassing community members who tried to use it.”
I sat up straight in my chair. A woman in the front row raised her hand.
She said
“Yes, my son was trying to fish there last week and that man came out screaming at him. It was terrifying. He said he owns the pond.”
She asked
“That can’t be right, can it?”
The HOA President smiled in a way that was probably supposed to be reassuring but came across as smug.
She replied
“I’ve reviewed our community maps extensively. The pond area is clearly designated as HOA common area on all of our documentation. This resident is either confused or deliberately trying to claim community HOA property as his own.”
I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. I stood up and said
“That’s not true. I own that land and my family has owned it for over 60 years.”
I added
“That pond was dug by my grandfather.”
Every head in the room turned to look at me. The HOA President’s expression hardened.
