HOA Requests Homeowner Repaint Their House Because Its 'Slightly Faded' Shade No Longer Matches The Approved Paint Schemes
A man's home is his castle, until the HOA gets involved.
Stock-Photo | Shutterstock Being a homeowner comes with a lot of headaches. Sure, you've got a space of your own that will hopefully be a great investment, but you're also sitting on a money pit of constant repairs and work. To add to the headaches of many homeowners are HOAs.
Homeowners associations are known for making some pretty strange demands. One HOA made a bizarre and expensive request of a homeowner that had even professional photographers confused.
An HOA requested that a homeowner repaint their house because the color faded slightly.
An anonymous Reddit user took to the website’s ‘Mildly Infuriating’ forum to share the message they got from their HOA that rubbed them the wrong way. The post included a screenshot of part of a message sent by the homeowner’s HOA.
“Please see below for comparison,” they said. The HOA had then inserted two side-by-side photos of the person’s house.
Reddit
“The photo of the house on the left is from a few years ago, and the one on the right is [current],” they said.
They went on to explain, “The fascia is faded, and the pop outs are fading into an orange-pink color and those colors are not in the approved paint schemes.”
The homeowner was not just upset about the inconvenience but the cost of repainting their home for such a silly infraction.
“To fix the violation, you would need to repaint the home,” they continued. “Please see below link for the paint schemes in the community.”
The homeowner was furious, saying that the HOA was forcing them to “repaint my entire house during Christmas week because the paint has slightly faded.”
In a comment that served as an update to the original post, the homeowner shared just how much repainting the house would cost.
“Based on a couple quotes I got over the phone, it’s at minimum a five grand job,” they said. “Realistically closer to seven to ten I would say.”
The homeowner argued that they did not have that kind of money, but some commenters suggested it might not be necessary.
Other Reddit users were very interested in the technical aspects of the photography used for the before and after photos.
It does seem a bit far out to accuse an HOA of directly lying to one of its residents, but some people felt that’s exactly what was happening in this situation.
“I’m a photographer,” one person commented. “The image on the left [has] much warmer color balance. The sky is much warmer and the whole image looks too yellow. The images were also taken at different times of the day. I would argue that it’s not that different and less of an issue.”
“And the sky is completely different,” another person argued. “If you’re going to be taking a color-matching photo, you have to do your best to match the colors. They’re clearly out to get him.”
The idea that the HOA was “out to get” the homeowner was adopted by several people.
“Someone wants there to be an issue,” another person supplied.
In the original poster’s update, they shared that they had attempted to contest the paint issue with their HOA, who had told them to come in for a meeting on January 2.
While it seems like a personal matter, HOAs can control the color that you paint your house.
Angi pointed out that HOAs have their pros and cons.
“Homeowners associations (HOAs) have their benefits and drawbacks,” they said. “While your HOA maintains the parks, pools, and other neighborhood amenities, they also enforce (sometimes complicated) compliance standards and charge violators a fee.”
Logically, it seems like the color you paint your house should be up to you. After all, you’re the owner who pays the mortgage. Painting your house neon yellow could be a bit of a problem, but in most cases, it seems reasonable.
However, if you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, they can tell you what color to paint your house, including the trim and gutters (which Angi said HOAs want to match, by the way).
“You can usually only choose from a predetermined set of colors for your exterior that have already been approved by the HOA and that match the look of the neighborhood,” Angi stated.
So, while this homeowner’s predicament seems ridiculous, there might not be much they can do about it.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.