HOA Orders TARDIS Removed From In Front of Parrish Home

An anonymous reader writes A Florida couple learned that they are much bigger fans of Doctor Who than their homeowner association, after receiving a notice to remove the TARDIS from their driveway. Leann Moder and her husband David were given 15 days to get rid of the big blue box. From the article: "It was built by Moder's father as a wedding set piece, and she and her husband, David, were married in front of it. 'My husband mentioned, "Do you want to do a Doctor Who themed wedding?"' Moder said. 'That could be fun.' Since then, their TARDIS has been used at sci-fi conventions and parties, and was even the focus of a Halloween haunt the Moders set up on their driveway in October." The HOA had no comment on their stance on sonic screwdrivers, or the Eye of Harmony.

Comments

Conform or be expelled

[Qzukk]

The homeowners association demands that unless every single house has a TARDIS in their front yard, yours must go.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't want to conform, don't buy a home there.

HOAs are completely up front about those things and if you don't read the bylaws before buying, you're a dumb motherfucker.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Khashishi]

That's all fine and good when there are infinite houses to choose from. In the real world, resources are limited, and most nice places already have overlords controlling them.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

That's because HOA board members' heads are smaller on the inside.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[TechyImmigrant]

Not in my case. I didn't see the bylaws of my HOA until I had been it's president for 18 months. It didn't help that it was in a messed up master-sub association hierarchy intended to leave the power in the hands of the developer, so there were multiple sets of rules flying around, only a subset of of which were passed to homeowners.

Fortunately, that leaves the HOA relatively powerless if it comes to a lawsuit and my goal as president was to stop the crazies trying to use the HOA as a tool to crap on their neighbors and settle old differences.

HOAs are evil, in that they are perfectly constructed to set neighbor against neighbor. We would be better off without them.
 

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Anonymous Coward]

"HOAs are completely up front about those things and if you don't read the bylaws before buying, you're a dumb motherfucker."

Wrong. The "consent" to the "contract" is usually a legal fiction known as "constructive notice"; i.e., the H.O.A. corporation's governing documents were filed with the county, therefore the homeowner should have known about them.

This concept was best illustrated in that scene from "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", when the construction foreman informs Arthur Dent that "the plans were on display".

"But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them." "That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."

I've been trying to get documents and records -- including the governing documents, rules and regulations, etc., from my H.O.A. for several years. In response, they decided to stop accepting my H.O.A. dues payments so they could turn around and sue me for not paying them.

See my web site, madisonhillhoa.com , for details (it hasn't been updated because I've been busy with the court case). You can also get a free copy of my book in PDF form from that site, at madisonhillhoa.com/book

Re:Conform or be expelled

[ArcadeMan]

That's your fault for buying a house in a Zerg area.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[bobbied]

This is not exactly true. Many HOA's "make it up as they go" and you find out later you are in violation of somebody's made up rule.

Mine, for instance, sent me a warning letter giving me 15 days to remove an "above ground pool" from my back yard (that had been there 4 years previously) but nowhere is "above ground pool" or anything approaching that even mentioned in the deed restrictions. I know, I read though the 30 pages three times looking for it. I even called the property management company and asked them where it was and THEY couldn't find it. Turns out, it was in ANOTHER document, one that I was not aware existed and one that the HOA board had authored well after the deed restrictions where filed on my home, without my knowledge or consent.

So, what you say is NOT always true. They often do change the rules AFTER the fact and Realtors often gloss over the HOA's authority except to tell you if there are any dues. Usually there is the "transfer paperwork" that is supposed to give you all the details, or at least warn you that there are details you should be warned about, but that is presented to the buyer at closing to sign in a 3 inch stack of paper with hundreds of "initial here" and "Sign here" stickers and who has time to actually understand all that mess? Besides, the REAL details of the HOA are in the deed restrictions and in the 5+ closings in two separate states I've attended in my lifetime I've NEVER seen them in the stack of paperwork.

Personally, I think HOA's are an OK idea that has been made into a really bad one by the builders who use them. My primary problem with them is that they NEVER ever end. It doesn't matter what happens to my current house, in 100 years the HOA will STILL be there. Something tells me that in 100 years, circumstances are likely to change and the HOA will be a legal problem with no good solution.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Rinikusu]

And to think, some folks think we could have *no* government at all because private parties would never do such things...

Re:Conform or be expelled

[AK Marc]

Actually very few areas in the US have HOAs. It's just that they are the more rich, white areas, which are more desirable. I've never lived in a place with an HOA, and only a handful of people I know live in such areas. They are often more expensive, as you are paying for the "privileged" of having someone boss you around. There must be lots of people into that. Though my current house is in an HOA area, but the HOA wasn't strong enough, so I bought the house from people who didn't sign the HOA paperwork (no idea how many owners before them didn't), so I own a non HOA house in an HOA neighborhood. Or maybe only the homes that have a plot at the local airstrip have to join the HOA.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[jellomizer]

The HOA are a way to have European like snobbery, without complicated birthrights.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[DRJlaw]

If you don't get the bylaws before you buy, and sign them before you buy, then you aren't bound by them. Lots of the HOAs are "illegal" in that sense, and would lose nearly every suit brought against them.

Woefully wrong interpretation of the law in the jursidictions that I'm familiar with.

The whole reason that rather tony old neighborhoods do not have HOAs while rather tony new neighborhoos tend to have HOAs is that HOAs are created through a deed restriction. When you create the subdivision you create the HOA. Where the subdivision already exists, there's no single body that owns the properties and can tie their deeds together.

You're on constructive notice concerning deed restrictions. If you fail to research the bylaws and regulations springing out those restrictions, it's on you -- the HOA will likely win the suit that they bring against you.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Charliemopps]

If you don't want to conform, don't buy a home there.

HOAs are completely up front about those things and if you don't read the bylaws before buying, you're a dumb motherfucker.

A compulsory regulation on your home that exists in nearly every neighborhood you could possibly buy in the town you live is in no way "Optional" In my opion HOA's should be illegal.

I would never sign an HOA, and when I buy a house that's usually a problem because there are very few houses in town that do not have them. On the bright side, they are not that hard to ruin should you so chose and not mind alienating your neighbors. There are always loopholes, and ways you can make your house so annoying they'll eventually relent and let you do what you want to do. For example, they cannot prevent the construction of an amateur radio tower unless it's unsafe. There are long and drawn out discussions out on the net about how to pull this off, so I'll not get into it. But if done correctly you have a giant geeky eysore up for under $1000

A fellow around here went to a lawyer and picked appart his HOA contract until he finally settled on blanketing his front yard with toilets. He put daisies in the bowl of each one and called them "Flower pots"

After hearing all that I almost wish I'd been stupid enough to sign one. I would thoroughly enjoy pranking them constantly.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[jd2112]

A HOA is upfront about the fact that they don't want a TARDIS in your driveway? I doubt it.

This may be the reason why so few Doctor Who episodes are set in the States...

Re:Conform or be expelled

[tlambert]

Actually very few areas in the US have HOAs. It's just that they are the more rich, white areas, which are more desirable. I've never lived in a place with an HOA, and only a handful of people I know live in such areas. They are often more expensive, as you are paying for the "privileged" of having someone boss you around. There must be lots of people into that. Though my current house is in an HOA area, but the HOA wasn't strong enough, so I bought the house from people who didn't sign the HOA paperwork (no idea how many owners before them didn't), so I own a non HOA house in an HOA neighborhood. Or maybe only the homes that have a plot at the local airstrip have to join the HOA.

Inaccurate. My sister's condo in a not fantastic area of Salt Lake City, Utah, has an HOA, and typical unit price is ~$80-$100K, which will buy you ... nothing ... in most richer areas.

Typically, an HOA is a corporation the developer creates to market and sell lots and houses in a subdivision (or units in a condo complex). After that, membership becomes part of the restrictive covenants on the deeds of the properties sold within the development boundaries, and after a certain number of units have been sold, the ownership and responsibility is passed off to the owners within the development.

HOAs cover about 25 million houses in the U.S., and close to 60 million people, which i to say, 20% of the U.S. population.

Last time I checked, not even 20% of the U.S. population count as "wealthy" (i.e. not having to work unless they choose to do so).

Re:Conform or be expelled

[schnell]

Actually very few areas in the US have HOAs. It's just that they are the more rich, white areas, which are more desirable.

Not in my experience (for whatever that's worth). I was part of a HOA with the first home I ever bought, which was part of a very middle-class neighborhood of townhouses. The development was a mix of older middle class families and younger first-time home buyers or - increasingly - immigrants who were taking advantage of the mid-2000s real estate situation to buy homes. I received a number of asinine warnings from the HOA about stuff like "you need to repaint your gutters within 30 days or zOMG CONTRACTUAL HELL WILL RAIN DOWN," which was enough to make me hate HOAs forever. But the real ire of the HOA was reserved for the immigrant families.

And, at the risk of being very politically incorrect, what the HOAs were doing there was fighting behavior that had a potential impact on property values for the whole development. Townhouses with 5-8 cars parked outside around the clock, indicating huge over-occupancy; men hanging out all over the steps and front yard all day; loud parties late into the night, etc. Why? Potential racism aside, it was because the people in the neighborhood were not so well off that a decline in property values due to their neighbors' actions wouldn't have a big impact on them. Years later, when I moved into a much nicer/richer neighborhood, there was no HOA to be found - nor would the proudly wealthy and independent residents have stood for anyone telling them what to do with their property.

I am not condoning targeting any group for HOA persecution, and again I was very put off by my experience with a HOA. But I am saying that HOAs are not generally needed in neighborhoods that are so rich that anyone who would degrade the property value couldn't move in there anyway. HOAs will tend to be most prevalent in those areas which are "kinda white" and/or "kinda rich" where there is some worry that people who could move in there might disrupt the community or lower property values. In truly rich/white places, there is simply no need for that.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[LordNimon]

If you don't get the bylaws before you buy, and sign them before you buy, then you aren't bound by them.

That is completely false.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[fightinfilipino]

if you think HOAs are "completely up front about those things", you're a dumb motherfucker.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[Darinbob]

No matter where you go though there will be petty politics when you arrive. If you ever find a group of like minded and enlightened indivuduals maybe things will work out briefly until someone cranky moves in and disagrees with everyone else. Soon you get a big collection of nutty guys in the neighborhood and they start getting elected to the HOA board, which is actually pretty common because the sane people want nothing to do with being on the board.

Then it turns out that to "take your business elsewhere" is an extremely onerous task - uproot yourself and the family, sell the house at a loss, move to another neighborhood, and take your chances all over again.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[able1234au]

I agree with AC. By sending the money directly to a board member you may be exposing them to risk (losing the money, misusing it etc). You are playing the passive aggressive approach and then getting upset that they are fining you. You are causing the fight.

I am in Australia and HOA are totally unknown to me. The closest is the agreements that unit (condo) owners have to abide by and i have heard of similar petty issues. One was where the association would not agree to having cable TV laid throughout the condo building so most owners had to install satellite instead. That happened simply because some older owners did not want cable themselves so would not allow the buildings funds to used to install it. Even though it would add value to the building, even if they don't use it themselves. Sometimes people just look for something to fight about.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[CycleMan]

HOA boards are proof that "for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing." The problem is that most good people would prefer to skimp on their community political engagement and let others deal with the bother of it all... they don't realize the danger of the vacuum that they leave.

Re:Conform or be expelled

[mrchaotica]

The main difference between HOA and non-HOA development is not the price range of the development, but rather the age of it. Up until something like the '70s or '80s almost no new subdivisions had HOAs; by the '90s almost all of them did. Therefore, if you want to live in a house less than 30 years old or so, you're probably going to have to accept an HOA.

The correlation with richer, whiter areas is merely a consequence of white flight.

Remove the goddamn box

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaving a TV prop replica sitting in your driveway is douchey. Store it in the garage, or your storage shed, or the back yard, or a storage facility. Nobody in your neighborhood likes Doctor Who so much that they want to come home to your driveway TARDIS every day. Stop being a douche.

Re: Remove the goddamn box

[blang]

using words like doucey is just as douchey and should be cause for instant expultion from any proper HOA.

Re:Remove the goddamn box

[brantondaveperson]

No. No it isn't. It's fine. You Americans love your freedom of speech, but when it comes to living next door to a slightly more interesting house than the usual cookie-cutter bland beige boxes you get all hot under the collar and start using words like "douchey".

Which, of course, isn't a word.

Just get over it. HOAs *should* be illegal, and I wonder how far they'd get if tested in a court of actual law.

House needs a few statues now . . .

[cashman73]

Of course, a true Whovian will install some nice statues of weeping angels in the front yard!

Re:House needs a few statues now . . .

[mrbester]

That's not a threat, even if it is believed that they are ruthless killer aliens as the constant net curtain twitching that happens by the local busybodies will ensure the angels remain phase locked and can't hurt anybody...

Silly story

[DoofusOfDeath]

HOA rules: You can't have $(object X) sitting in your driveway.

$(object X) being a TARDIS neither makes me outraged, nor makes this news for nerds.

Re:live by the sword

[Anonymous Coward]

"These days it's hard to find a new construction home that isn't part of a neighborhood that has a HOA"

Municipal governments have been requiring H.O.A. corporations as a condition of granting building permits to housing developers.

That way, the home owner gets to pay the private H.O.A. corproation for traditional municipal functions like parks, street maintenance, trash removal, etc., while the government still gets to collect taxes for those goods and services they no longer have to provide.

The home owners are, in effect, being double-taxed.

Re:live by the sword

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't buy a new home then. Resale homes are an excellent buy and often are in better shape than brand new homes which haven't had the proverbial bugs worked out yet.

Oh, he can buy a new home, he just shouldn't buy one from a Developer who is building in that fashion. Honestly, if you really must have a new home, it's usually better to take the time to actually have one built for you.

I've heard some people try to claim that HOA regulations are no different than zoning codes in a City. That's simply not true- there are far more legal protections for property owners under zoning ordinances than for "members" of a HOA. And a dirty little secret is a HOA is actually a type of Corporation, which can be sued, go bankrupt, and have other bad things happen... and when they do? Guess what, "your" property is part of the Assets and YOU are partially responsible as a 'member'.

Don't fall for the HOA bullshit. Many people get sucked in because the prices seem better (they're not, dues always go up and never go away). Some like it because it promises a legal method to a segregated community, as long as the other bigots are on board with you and don't put it in writing. Many just like the idea of being able to get a position of power and become a Mini-Dictator over the neighborhood. For most sane people, HOA's are something to be avoided at all costs.

Re:Good for the HOA.

[jedidiah]

I once had a next door neighor that had 4 cars on blocks in his driveway.

A) This guy is cooler than any neighbor I've ever had in an HOA
B) This guy's car collection did not devalue my home one bit or make it harder for me to sell it (location baby).

HOAs are just an affront to your personal liberties and a money pit. Their enforced conformity preserves nothing and gives you nothing (except some light fascism).

They don't even enforce the useful (safety) rules.