00:00have you ever lived in a neighborhood where the person enforcing the rules is the one secretly
00:05breaking them what would you do if you discovered the person fining you for minor violations
00:10was hiding a laundry list of their own crimes because that's exactly what happened to me i was
00:15fined embarrassed and humiliated by our hoa president for things like leaving my trash bin
00:21out too long or using the wrong shade of mulch but then i started noticing things little things
00:29and what i uncovered turned into the biggest neighborhood scandal our community had ever seen
00:35let me take you back to the day it all started it was a chilly monday morning when i found the
00:40envelope taped to my door the unmistakable letterhead of the homeowners association glaring at me like a
00:46slap to the face i already knew what it was before i opened it violation notice again trash bin left
00:54in public view for more than eight hours after pickup fine seventy five dollars payable within
01:00fifteen days or escalated to legal action i laughed not because it was funny but because it was absurd
01:06i work from home i live alone and i remember pulling my bin in before noon the same day
01:12this wasn't about rules anymore it was about control our hoa president mr walter h kensington
01:19was known for being a stickler the kind of man who measured lawn height with a ruler who sent out
01:25citations like birthday cards people either feared him or ignored him but i wasn't going to be either
01:31that day i made a decision i was going to fight back and not just for me but for everyone in the
01:37neighborhood who had ever been harassed by walter's hoa regime walter's house was the biggest one on the
01:44corner dark blue shutters a fresh driveway perfectly symmetrical shrubs a flagpole stood proudly in front
01:51of it as if declaring this is my neighborhood but the perfection was a lie i started by taking pictures
01:58of minor things not to be petty but to see if the enforcer followed the same rules he punished us with
02:03on the surface nothing spotless but i noticed something strange one afternoon while walking my dog
02:10behind walter's garage was a shed a brand new one shiny modern expensive but here's the thing
02:16our hoa rules clearly stated that all exterior constructions must be approved by the architectural
02:22committee and no such notice had ever been in the newsletter or bulletin board so i asked a neighbor
02:28karen who had been on the hoa committee before she moved off it due to health stress she laughed bitterly
02:34no that shed was never approved she said he claimed it was temporary storage so he didn't file for it
02:41total abuse of power strike one that night i began digging i began combing through public records old hoa
02:49newsletters even property photos from zillow archives and google street view and what i found shocked me
02:55here are the six rules walter violated the same ones he find other homeowners for one unauthorized shed
03:02installation as karen confirmed no record of architectural approval that's a major violation
03:08and others were fined over 300 for less two improper trash bin storage i staked out his house
03:15two tuesdays in a row his trash bin sat outside until wednesday morning and yet i was fined for moving mine
03:21in just three hours late three using prohibited exterior paint hoa guidelines list six approved paint
03:28colors walter's shutters were dark navy not on the list a neighbor had to repaint theirs two years ago
03:34for using the same color fourth non-compliant mailbox hoa mailboxes are regulated by design
03:41walter had a stainless steel custom mailbox for security he said still it violated our design standards
03:47five unlicensed short-term rental i noticed different cars at his place every weekend through airbnb's map tool
03:54i found his listing he had been secretly renting out the basement as a guest suite without hoa disclosure
04:00or city permits six personal landscaping without approval a rock garden two trees removed and new solar
04:08path lights all done last summer without approval six violations all buried in plain sight yet no fines
04:15no warnings no letters taped to his door now i could have gone straight to the hoa and exposed him
04:22but no that would have allowed him to sweep it under the rug call it a misunderstanding and get
04:26a slap on the wrist i wanted something bigger something public so i printed photos screenshots documents
04:34i made copies of the rules he was breaking and i created an anonymous email account then i sent everything
04:40to the entire neighborhood email list with the subject line within hours it spread like wildfire
04:46neighbors were replying screenshotting forwarding the facebook group exploded some couldn't believe it
04:53others nodded in validation one neighbor posted he fined me 200 for my mailbox while his looked like
05:00a star wars droid by nightfall someone had even taped a copy of his own violation list to his door
05:06the following week walter called for an emergency hoa meeting he tried to play calm these accusations are
05:13exaggerated he said wearing his usual smug sweater we all make small errors i'll correct mine but the
05:20crowd wasn't having it one by one neighbors stood up asking about his airbnb his shed his paint some
05:27waived copies of fines he had sent them when someone yelled why should we follow rules you don't follow
05:32yourself the room erupted a vote was called the result walter was removed as hoa president effective
05:39immediately he tried to protest even threatened legal action but the vote was legal and final
05:45a new board was formed and for the first time in years our community felt like a neighborhood again
05:50not a dictatorship it's been six months since the coup the new hoa board is fair responsive and even
05:56held a barbecue for the whole block people smile now when they pass each other we're no longer living
06:02under the shadow of a man who broke the very rules he enforced so here's what i want to ask you
06:08have you ever been wronged by someone in power a landlord boss or hoa leader who abused their
06:14authority did you ever find a way to fight back drop your story in the comments i read every single
06:20one and if you're dealing with an unfair hoa right now don't give up sometimes the biggest secrets are
06:27hiding in plain sight
06:36so
06:37so
06:48so
