HOA Gave Me A Violation For Paint On The Road

[Tariq B.]

Hey All,

I recently moved to a new state for the military and will be renting my old primary residence. This place is in an HOA.

A few months back the HOA decided to have the road resealed and coated, it looked newish for a few weeks.

Shortly after, there was what looked like a paint spill in the road and I dove over it and it tracked into my driveway, this was at night. My pressure washer was set up from pressure washing earlier so I decided to attack it quick before it dried and cleaned my driveway. I also took it upon myself to clean as much of the road as I could get which was about 20 ft of the 100 ft stretch of spill.

The day we are leaving and packing up the truck some old timer comes up and makes small talk then proceeds to ask me if I know anything about the paint, I respond I don't and he responds hmm looks like it started somewhere around here. Turns out the guy is on the HOA board.

Today I received a violation saying they are holding me accountable for the spill and that they “spent 1000’s on making it nice” and it is my responsibility to make it nice again and if I don’t they will do it then bill me. Their justification is that a board member asked me about it and I said I did not know anything about it and that multiple neighbors have stated they saw me pressure washing the road.

What’s your take fellow members??

[Greg Weik]

Keep it simple.  Tell them you did not cause the paint spill.  If they have evidence you did cause the paint spill, tell them they need to come forward with it. If they try to fine you without evidence, lawyer up. 

As a property manager, I deal with HOAs constantly. The people who join HOA boards are usually power-driven individuals with a "small man complex." They are sometimes trying to keep the neighborhood nice, but most often, they are just bullies.

They especially hate rental houses! The HOA for one of my rentals (which is in amazing shape, one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood inside and out) recently emailed me a threat letter because my tenant has tags that just expired. It's unreal to me that some people think that is the best use of their time.