A friend of mine lives in an HOA-controlled neighborhood. We’ve joked over the past few months that it won’t likely be very long before the HOA comes pounding on his door bitching about his lawn (which, like most lawns in Central Florida, is browning because of drought conditions). He’s pointed out to me before that an HOA can successfully sue somebody for failing to comply with an instruction to increase watering, even if complying would cause the homeowner to be cited and fined by the city for violating water rationing if it’s imposed.

Well, as it turns out, the power-hungry idiots (not at this specific HOA, but at another one) are doing their best to prove to the world why no one should ever buy a home in a deed-restricted (i.e. HOA “managed”) community: despite the drought, they’re threatening homeowners with fines if they don’t water their lawns.

Keep in mind a threat from an HOA isn’t something you can shrug off for very long — for failing to water your lawn enough to keep it as green as they’d like, they have the power to fine you, then to evict you from your own house (that you bought, mind you). That’s right — an HOA is a contract that rides along with your home’s deed of sale that gives them all sorts of ridiculous, unwanted powers, up to and including throwing you right out on your ass if the bored, lonely busybodies on the board decide to screw with you.

Update: Go snicker as Farkers take on this very subject. It’s always good for (many, many) laughs I love Fark.

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