Baloney.
I have a friend who is a lawyer that specializes in condo/HOA association law. He tells me these things come up all the time with the HOA boards he represents. He always advises them to enforce these laws mercilessly -- even for seemingly harmless signs and displays.
As he told me about a recent case in a nearby HOA: "If you don't force a homeowner to take down his Alabama Crimson Tide flag today, you will not have the authority to force his neighbor to take down his Nazi flag tomorrow."
Or one tellign people they cannot have an American flag on thier porch?
Or not having one sign for each candidate that they support?
What next, no firearms?
So you are okay with the HOA running him out of the neighborhood?
Understand, I was president of an HOA back in the 90s and I see their value but it should be on the edges, the extremes. I liked that they kept commercial vehicles from cluttering the neighborhood, abandoned vehicles, etc.
“I have a friend who is a lawyer...”
How can you be friends with a lawyer? Especially with one as twisted as that. A good little nazi he is. I suppose he flunked the part covering the Constitution in liar school.
Your friend is evil.
But lawyers really have no respect for the actual law so you probably knew that already.
“He always advises them to enforce these laws mercilessly — even for seemingly harmless signs and displays.”
Thus insuring a continued revenue stream from the HOAs. Duh.
Exactly correct. If the rules aren't enforced equally, anyone who violates them can point to unequal enforcement and win in court.
I live in an HOA. Our rules are very basic and simple, and they're enforced. They have to be or they're meaningless. Everyone who moved in here knew the rules before they moved in. (We provide them to prospective buyers.) There's no shortage of buyers here, I am constantly contacted and asked if I'm looking to sell. (I'm not.)