10 Things HOAs Have Tried to Ban — and Sometimes Successfully

HOA rules cover the usual things: roofs, roads, fences, paint colors. Then ever so often they wander into territory that makes you wonder how many agenda items it took to get there. Some of those fights stay inside the neighborhood. Others end up in court, in state legislatures, or on the evening news because apparently nobody knew when to stop.

Here are ten things HOAs have tried to ban, restrict, remove, or regulate — sometimes successfully, sometimes spectacularly not.

Pollinator gardens
What one homeowner called a pollinator garden, the HOA called a problem. In Maryland, that disagreement grew into a six-figure fight and helped change state law. The garden stayed. The legal bills did not.

Clotheslines
Yes, laundry. Some HOAs dislike clotheslines enough that states passed “right to dry” laws. Hawaii spelled it out, "Clothesline means a rope, cord, wire, or similar device on which laundry is hung to dry." See Maryland and Hawaii. Apparently the sun needed legislative protection.

Solar panels
Solar panels caused enough HOA fights that states started stepping in. When legislators are writing solar-panel rules, somebody somewhere clearly took the argument too far.

Purple swing sets
A Missouri mother painted her daughters’ swing set purple. Her HOA objected, saying the color was out of harmony with the neighborhood, and the dispute eventually went to court. The homeowner won. There is probably a governance lesson in here somewhere about picking your battles. There is definitely one about purple.

Political signs
Nothing says neighborhood harmony quite like election season and a sign in the front yard. Political signs are another HOA favorite. Enough associations tried to ban or tightly regulate them that states began writing laws about yard signs. One survey counts about 18 states with specific HOA political-sign protections.

Satellite dishes
Before streaming, satellite dishes were prime HOA-fight material. The disputes got big enough that the FCC stepped in to limit certain restrictions. Nothing says neighborhood governance quite like federal communications law getting involved over what is bolted to the patio.

Flags
Even flags have managed to become HOA drama. The laws may protect some displays, but apparently there is still plenty to argue about once somebody starts measuring poles, porches, and common areas.

Pets — and sometimes very specific pets
HOAs have fought over everything from dogs and cats to chickens and potbellied pigs. Sometimes the real dispute is not whether animals are allowed, but what the association decides counts as a pet.

Little Free Library
An HOA in Ohio ordered a homeowner to remove a Little Free Library from her front yard, interpreting a rule against front-yard “storage” to cover the book-sharing box. After the homeowner requested a hearing, the three-member board upheld the violation and warned of $50-per-week fines if it remained. And Ohio isn’t the only place where a tiny library has caused an HOA-sized dispute. A Florida homeowner also previously faced an HOA lawsuit and a reported $2,500 legal-fee bill over another front-yard miniature library.

Holiday decorations
Too early. Too late. Too bright. Too large. Too many. Too much. HOAs commonly regulate when holiday decorations can go up and when they must come down. Some communities have gone further, restricting particular displays or issuing notices when decorations stayed up outside the approved window. Which means somewhere, someone has probably received a violation notice because Christmas lasted until February.

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