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In Florida a homeowners association is attempting to forclose on the home of a Marine vet for flying a flag on a flag pole. (flag poles are banned by the homeowners association) If that isn't overkill, then i don't know what is.

Sorry, but what exactly are homeowners associations? I've never really heard of them or seen them in Australia.

Gandalf wrote:Sorry, but what exactly are homeowners associations? I've never really heard of them or seen them in Australia.

it's a council that neighbors form to set rules and standards for a neighborhood. most rules are arbitrary nonsense and the associations are notorious for selective enforcement.

Don't he own his house?

I can not see why anyone could have any say about a flagpole.

The only thing I know about flggpoles and laws here, is that if you vant to put one up you better own the land. And it cannot be within falling distance of eletrical or telephone wires.

Col. Crackpot wrote:it's a council that neighbors form to set rules and standards for a neighborhood. most rules are arbitrary nonsense and the associations are notorious for selective enforcement.

So the neighbours can decide if I can have a flagpole or not?

Damn that is sick

Col. Crackpot wrote:It's a council that neighbors form to set rules and standards for a neighborhood. most rules are arbitrary nonsense and the associations are notorious for selective enforcement.

Setting standards in a community is one thing... how do they *forclose* on him? Is one of them his bank manager?

Sometimes when you move into some Developments, the Homeowners Ass has legal rights ,if you do not follow the Covents set down when you sign your buyers agreement on your house.

theski wrote:Sometimes when you move into some Developments, the Homeowners Ass has legal rights ,if you do not follow the Covents set down when you sign your buyers agreement on your house.

yes, but this action seems to be a blatant violation of the Florida Homestead Act.

theski wrote:Sometimes when you move into some Developments, the Homeowners Ass has legal rights ,if you do not follow the Covents set down when you sign your buyers agreement on your house.

So what, you have to agree to comunity laws and conditions as well as the national laws? Perhaps i should start a Virtuoso Music community. If music is played from one not considered a master, you get kicked out.

That is utter trash.

Hethrir wrote:

theski wrote:Sometimes when you move into some Developments, the Homeowners Ass has legal rights ,if you do not follow the Covents set down when you sign your buyers agreement on your house.

So what, you have to agree to comunity laws and conditions as well as the national laws? Perhaps i should start a Virtuoso Music community. If music is played from one not considered a master, you get kicked out.

That is utter trash.

yes, but you cannot form the virtuoso music community, and legalize burglary and say it's legal becuase we legalized it under the community charter. This community is violating Florida law. plain and simple.

Oh fuck...don't these people have something more productive to do?

And my mom and dad dealt with homeowner's association in our neighborhood when I was a kid...bunch of anal retards.

Mom wanted a garden(yes, you read that correctly)...she wanted a flower garden in the front yard and not the back so a bunch of anal bastards gave her shit because they agreed that it ruin the perfect setting(because no one else had one).

Ghost Rider wrote:Oh fuck...don't these people have something more productive to do?

And my mom and dad dealt with homeowner's association in our neighborhood when I was a kid...bunch of anal retards.

Mom wanted a garden(yes, you read that correctly)...she wanted a flower garden in the front yard and not the back so a bunch of anal bastards gave her shit because they agreed that it ruin the perfect setting(because no one else had one).

Bloody Hell. It's the neighbourhood watch gone power mad - I think here you would need planning permission for a flag pole, which would mean that your neighbours could protest to the council and prevent it, but as long as it doesnt cause a disturbance or violate any standard planning laws (and even some of those get overlooked as unenforcable), you can do what you like.

I rather fancy a flagpole out back now...

I would have thought a flag pole to be rather patriotic, actually.

Hethrir wrote:I would have thought a flag pole to be rather patriotic, actually.

You know, this gets me thinking. Since the damn neighbours don't want a flagpole with an American flag on it, they must be a bunch of American hating assholes. There must be something in the Patriot act that can be used to paint them as anti-american terrorist assholes and get them deprived of their civic rights.

I like that idea.

I'd just sue them personally. Infringing on civil rights, home owner rights, etc.

That, and then sue them for the color of there cars, trees, grass, house, type of dog, etc

Hethrir wrote:I would have thought a flag pole to be rather patriotic, actually.

No, it sounds more like they're the same sort of conformist block nazis that pop up in most developments. They just don't want it because it would be different, no better reason needed.

I guess that's the best reason. Because no one else has it, he shouldn't have it.


When he goes to court, he should call them commies.

Let me tell you all about homeowlers assoiations, and then rethink your points of view.
Homeowner assosiations are when a group of comdominium or gated community folk have a vote. The board is elected by the home owners in the group. They are in charge of managing the common areas, and quality of the neighborhood. In condos, you only own the building you live in inself. Your property line stopps at your doorstep, and walls. You pay assosiation fees, for maintenence of common grounds. Usualy there is a pool, and recreation room, for residents and guests. There are mini parks, with picnic benches and barbeque grills. Residends do NO yardwork, or maintenence of common areas. Free cable TV. No water bill.

When you first move in, before you buy your condo, or townhouse, you sign a legal document, agreeing to pay for what you get, abide by the rules of the assosiation, and submit, in advance, to legal desicisions of the Assosiation boards rulings.
These are micro dictatorships, that people knew in advance, before they moved in.
If you are a conformist, you will love these places. (I lived in a rented condo) They forbid you from working on a car in front of your own condo!
They also, courtesy of the document you signed before you moved in, have the power to fine, or expel you. Forced sale. If need be, they sell it out from under you. If you get tough, they can evict you.

The point being, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it, read the fine print. It seemed like such a good idea at the time now didn't it?
Ahh! The security of conformity! I'm just like all you, right?
Keep out the lowballs, and oddballs. Surprise, now YOU are the oddball, it doesn't seem so great now.
Now, having been there, and done that, I HATE home owners assosiations.
If you sign onto one, you have no one to blame but youself, for giving up such power to get out of yardwork and see only the free pool.
Christ, they bitched because we put a poster in the window!
ANYTHING visible from common ground gets the attention of these wannabe facists.

Condos are for snooty folk, who want perfect lawns, with perfect neighbors, and are willing to give up their freedoms for security and order.Or wannabe bigshots, who revel in their petty powertrips.

This guy here was what changed, not his neighbors. He is no longer conformist enough. Life was easy until you spoke out comrade?
Why did you emigrate to the workers paradise, anyway?
You CAN"T win in court, as the standard contract has already gone through the courts. All going to court does, is rack up the bills, and YOU pay for the assosiation's legal fees, out of the sale of your condo.
That's part of your contract. They have a lien on your condo.

Does anyone wish to rethink their position?

Don't emigrate to a communist country, and don't move into a house if you need to sign anything other than property transfer documents. DON'T sign over your rights, then complain about not having them.
This was the result of 3 bad moves.
1, Signing the covenant, and agreeing to be a robot.
2, being non robotic after recieving official notice to behave like a robot again.
3, making a fight of it, and going to court. Clearly this is non robotic behaviour.

EmperorChrostas the Cruel wrote:Free cable TV. No water bill.

My HOA provides for water and garbage. Cable is not provided.

They forbid you from working on a car in front of your own condo!
They also, courtesy of the document you signed before you moved in, have the power to fine, or expel you. Forced sale. If need be, they sell it out from under you. If you get tough, they can evict you.

My HOA does not bug anyone working on their cars. But most of the residents seem to be good about. No dismantling, no cars on crates, etc. As long as its a quick job nobody complains.

If I could have afforded it, I would have gotten a condo with an attached garage, but that meant another 50,000 dollars.

Condos are for snooty folk, who want perfect lawns, with perfect neighbors, and are willing to give up their freedoms for security and order.Or wannabe bigshots, who revel in their petty powertrips.

Not true. SOME condos are for snooty folk. Luxury condos in paticular. But as a condo owner here are the most common reasons many people live in a condo.

1. Price, condos are the first entry level home for many young couples and singles. This is very true here in my area.

2. Some people just dont like lawns.

3. A nice condo in a gated community can be safer than a marginal single family home.

4. Some people just like density, and the ammenities like a pool and such.

Does anyone wish to rethink their position?

Since I own a condo with an HOA and am living in a Townhome with an HOA Im not too bothered by them. My condo's HOA is pretty lenient. They allow flags to be hung from the balcony. My dad's townhome HOA freaked out cause we had a burned out bulb in our street address. Basically, as you said, you know what you are getting into when you buy a condo or townhome.

Now, with that said, I hate the idea of HOA's for fucking single family homes. Those HOA's in my experience are the worst. Filled with nosy, intruding busy bodies. However, remember one thing. The role of the HOA is to preserve property values.

I have to say that, while I think the HOA has ridiculously petty rules, in this case the Marine is in the wrong. He knew the rules and chose to break them. If you don't like something about the rules of such a community, then don't choose to live there--it's as simple as that.

I think he is being a little stubborn about the pole. Could he compromise by moving it to the backyard? Or how about, instead of a pole, he has a flag mounted on his house? It seems to me that would be just as reasonable a display of patriotism.

Regardless, I don't understand why he would now even want to continue to live amongst his neighbors, since they are so petty. He should take this as a clue that he doesn't fit in with those snoods and move.