![]() ![]() Now, in our HOA the front yards are to be kept neat and while food gardens are not prevented few people want them. Things like chickens are not allowed, certain types of trees cannot be planted as it is a safety issue with hurricanes and yard must be mowed over a certain length, again a safety issue for snakes, fruit rats, etc. There are probable as many rules from our municipality as the HOA has. ![]() We live in an HOA and the rules are reasonable and keep the area rid of things like junk cars, cars on blocks being repaired for weeks at a time, garbage cans hodge-podged in the driveway. Chickens would have been out of the question in that neighborhood! It was a nice home to live in during college, but as I’ve gotten more passionate about urban homesteading, I don’t think I could go back to that type of HOA! My roommates and I didn’t do much gardening then, though if we had we would have had to restrict our veggies to the backyard as front yards were tightly controlled. My parents own a rental property that I lived in during college, and that has a fairly strict HOA. But I keep it inside a larger fake terra cotta planter, behind the solid part of our balcony rail, so no one can see it unless they are invited into our home and out onto the balcony. I even have a small worm bin, which while not specifically outlawed might be an issue if some of the pickier residents knew about it. The only rules about plants on the balcony state that we can’t have dead plants, so I just need to be on top of the season changes. I live in a condo with an HOA, but that hasn’t stopped me from gardening! We only have a balcony, but we grow a decent amount of food. Of course I suppose there are nice HOA out there but, sorry, they are not for me! I feel like I am visiting inmates when they take down my license number at the gate and tell me where I can park. Oh and some places are ‘gated communities’ to make you ‘feel safe’. Want to raise your back wall to have some privacy? You better send in the plans and have them OKed first. And what about the ‘allowed’ trees you can put in your yard? Oops…didn’t get those weeds pulled? Sorry, you will get fined if you don’t take care if them. Chickens? Heavens no! Paint your house a color other then what is ‘approved’? You are in trouble. I personally prefer to join a gym or work in my yard (putting in whatever plants I want!) rather then putting up with people telling me what I can and cannot do. I can think of no reason to belong to an HOA unless you hate to garden, like conformity, and want to socialize with the people in the community every time you use the pool or gym or rec room. EVERYTHING was controlled and a friend there got in trouble for hanging her sheets after 1 p.m. I lived for 5 years in an HOA and could not wait to get out. ![]()
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