NEWS FLASH! My local neighborhood is in a frenzy! A neighbor has been asked by the Home Owners Association to take down her Halloween decorations because it doesn't comply with the new rule that went into effect on June 1st.
The new rule prohibits any holiday decorations to be placed in your yard prior to TEN DAYS before the holiday. The exception, of course, are the "Winter" holidays where you can place them starting November 15th.
WHAT!?!?
Her notification further requests that she takes them down ONLY TO PUT THEM BACK UP ON THE 14TH OF OCTOBER in compliance with the new rule. This is absolutely (please fill in your favorite expletive here) crazy!!
I don't even set anything up in my yard until two weeks before Halloween, but I can in no way agree to this or even see how this is even legal. The HOA has egregiously overstepped its authority in declaring something like this and has kicked the proverbial "hornet's nest" with this.
Here is the page from the new HOA "rulebook" (a book with a return form that I have not yet signed and returned to them, and at this point probably won't).
The neighborhood Facebook group page is starting to see pushback and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's far from over, but I'll keep updating the blog as things progress...
7 comments:
Power goes to people's heads, no matter how much or how little it is.
Joe, I agree completely. The audacity of making someone take their decorations down only to put them back up 2 weeks later is absolutely staggering!
Whoa - offensive? That could mean anything. Furthermore, how come Christmas gets a pass of two months? This is just plain old discriminating against Halloween.
I suspect the HOA is ruled by Christians, right? I'm actually surprised they don't make Halloween altogether. Who knows, maybe decorating for Christmas will soon be compulsory where you are. Starting on the 5th of July, of course.
We jokingly say that Halloween is our "religion" and that imposing such rules and regulations restricting how we celebrate our religion are violations against our religious freedom which is protected by the US constitution. Same applies to towns that impose that trick-or-treating be only on a Saturday afternoon regardless of when Halloween falls. Halloween is October 31st! Maybe we find Christmas always being on the 25th of December inconvenient, but if we said that it should always be on the last Sunday in December that would be "blasphemy".😉
Keep us updated, I am very interested in seeing how this plays out. It would be nice to have a success story to show others as we all fight back against HOA overreach.
Whom exactly is the Home Owners Association serving if the *home owners* themselves are opposed to such rules? The companies who build and sell these homes will cry "external obsolescence" just so they can squeeze every last penny of curb appeal out of their property before they sell it to you. Combine that with some power-tripping HOA board members and you've got a bad time. /rant
Anyway, here in FL, one of our state reps has proposed abolishing HOAs outright. Fingers crossed!
A quick update: more comments on the Facebook Group page, but nothing from the HOA board. And all of the neighbors are putting up their decorations, so maybe that rule was just more of a suggestion! And the one neighbor still has all of the decorations up, so we'll see! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!! :)
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