Free Republic

BRENTWOOD, NH (WMUR/CNN) - A New Hampshire homeowner is under court order to clean up his yard that's littered with thousands of boxes. If he doesn’t, the town will do it for him and stick him with the bill. Meanwhile, his neighbors are hoping their community will finally go back to normal. Michael Bates found himself back in court after failing to clean up his property in Salem, MA. The town estimates that there are some 2,000 boxes containing printers in the yard.

THE VILLAGES, Fla. (FOX 35 Orlando) - A "Make America Great Again" flag is causing some controversy in a Florida retirement community. At The Villages, a resident proudly displays the pro-President Donald Trump flag in their yard, right below the American flag. A neighbor, who goes by the name Colonel, says he likes it. "Mr. Trump is our president. We should be supporting our president. Whomever the president is. I supported the previous president and all the others regardless of party." he said.

I used to have a flower garden in my backyard. A few years ago I decided to move my flowers to the front yard so my neighbors could enjoy them. I found that I could keep some them blooming in the winter by surrounding them with water in containers and covering them with transparent tarps. On warm days I uncover them so can enjoy the ones that are still green or even blooming. They often begin growing again in early March so they are doing well by the end of April. A week before Christmas I got a letter from...

In the 2000s, the Parkers thought they were buying their dream home. It was advertised at an excellent price and came with customizable options. The home was located in Peoria, Arizona, adjacent to Phoenix. The development was new, with an HOA managed by a management company. While the Parkers were viewing the house, they asked the salesperson if they would be able to expand their three-car garage to a four-car garage. The sales person said yes, that would be no problem.In 2016, the Parkers proudly put up a campaign sign in their front yard for Donald Trump, the only homeowners in...

White woman who confronted her black neighbor at St. Louis condo building defends herself against accusations of racism and says she was just concerned for her safety Hilary Brooke Thornton, 32, was filmed blocking D'Arreion Toles, 24, from entering the St. Louis loft building where they live Thornton was fired from her job as a luxury realtor after the footage went viral Toles said he was coming home from work on Friday night when the confrontation took place Thornton, who was holding her dog on a leash, demanded to know what apartment he lived in She has since denied that...

Existing-home sales ran at a 5.34 million seasonally-adjusted annual rate in July, down 0.7% versus June, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That was the lowest pace since February 2016... … For years, the Realtors have been warning that many would-be buyers, particularly at the lower end of the market, are being priced out. Now they’re also acknowledging that many others are just deciding to sit it out until market conditions change. … “Three years of exceptionally tight inventory and exceptionally strong price gains are catching up with the market, and are visible both in softer demand from stretched...

I'm hoping someone may have a way of finding an attorney that I can hire to sue my HOA and management company for damages. I have more than one family that will be seeking damages for non enforcement of the covenants in our subdivision. I have been trying to sell my home and have received feedback from multiple buyers about conditions in the development that I had previously reported. The board decided to waive fines on one particular party that had 108 violations. New board members are friends with this family. Secondly they are not responding to additional submittal. The...

ROCKLEDGE, FL (CBS Local) – A Florida community has rallied behind a mother of three who was ordered to remove a rainbow flag from her lawn. According to reports, an email was sent to the woman’s landlord, which compared the symbol of LGBTQ rights to the Confederate flag. Jennifer Raymond, a resident in the Ashwood Lakes subdivision of Rockledge, has reportedly flown the rainbow flag outside her family’s home for the last two years. Raymond told local reporters that her landlord recently received an email from a member on the neighborhood’s architectural review committee. The email claimed that Raymond’s flag...

People living in a Lexington neighborhood were notified last week that several dog breeds, including pit bulls, Great Danes and huskies, were being banned. Homeowners in McConnell’s Trace were sent letters by the neighborhood developer detailing a change in an existing dog restriction, which previously referred only to unspecified “aggressive breeds,” said Josh McCurn, president of the area’s neighborhood association. Now German shepherds, St. Bernards and chows are among the list of 11 dog breeds restricted from the neighborhood. McConnell’s Trace sits across Leestown Road from Masterson Station Park. McCurn said the homeowner’s association did not have a vote on...

Lisa A. Barreca, 53, was arrested Monday on an attempted murder charge in the shooting of her husband Eric Barreca A South Florida woman is accused of shooting her husband multiple times during an argument over HOA complaints. Lisa A. Barreca, 53, was arrested Monday on an attempted murder charge in the shooting of her husband Eric Barreca, Boynton Beach Police said. According to an arrest affidavit, the incident began with an argument over HOA complaints that quickly escalated. Eric Barreca said he followed his wife to the garage, where she grabbed a firearm from her car, the affidavit said....

AUBURN, Calif. (WCMH) – Members of a California community are upset after their homeowners’ association told them they need to keep their garage doors open during the day. A list left with homeowners in the Auburn Greens subdivision is giving many residents a cause for concern. It mandates leaving garage doors up from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, KTXL reported. Residents who fail to keep their garage door up face a $200 fine and an administrative hearing. “I have nothing to hide. I understand that somebody had someone living in the garage. I don’t,” said Shelly Ia....

Seventy-year-old Robert L. Brady has until Jan. 11 to give up Bane, the mixed-breed sidekick that his psychologist deemed as an emotional support dog. His Conway-area condominium association won an arbitration order Dec. 12 requiring the Vietnam veteran to surrender the 4-year-old dog because it exceeds the community’s 35-pound weight limit for pets. Bane weighs about 41 pounds. The canine now faces an uncertain future even as assistance dogs have gained greater access to communities, restaurants and shops. “The reason I don't want to lose him is that he keeps my mind off the war and everything. He's just a...

A Pennsylvania couple was instructed to take down a Christmas display featuring a “Jesus” sign because it was reportedly “offensive” to their neighbors.Mark and Lynn Wivell put some Christmas decorations in their front yard on Dec. 16. The centerpiece of their display was a sign with the name of Jesus Christ.The couple was dumbfounded when they received an email from their homeowners association days after putting up the decorations asking them to remove the display. One neighbor even called it offensive.“We know that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus,” Wivell said. “I was quite shocked it offended somebody, but...

Alright all knowing FRiends. I have one of those neighbors, you know the ones, that keep their junk in their back yard. Normally I'd be ok with it but I moved to a subdivision with an HOA and guidelines in the bylaws regarding maintenance of the property including the back yard. I'm forced to look at 7 foot tree stumps that they had a stop order on due to cutting them down illegally, commercial stoves from his food truck, chain link fencing just laying around and even a fence he decided to move in about 7 feet from his property...

I went to our yearly HOA meeting last night. Some consultant with GBM Associates in Bryant, AR said that he is proposing a "Neighborhood mitigation bank" where we buy "credits" for letting the Corps of Engineers (COE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) get deeded our "wetlands", which are really 2 creeks, and dry tributaries. The consultant was honest. He said, no federal law dictates it, just a 1983 guidance. NO promises of making money, no guarantees that COE/EPA will do anything. Fines are possibe, like if my kid catches crawfish, or throws rocks in the lake/stream. Anyways, my wife and...

The United States could lower carbon emissions from electricity generation by as much as 78 percent without having to develop any new technologies or use costly batteries, a new study suggests. There’s a catch, though. The country would have to build a new national transmission network so that states could share energy.“Our idea was if we had a national ‘interstate highway for electrons’ we could move the power around as it was needed, and we could put the wind and solar plants in the very best places,” says study co-author Alexander MacDonald. Several years ago, MacDonald was curious about claims...

PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) – The sound of children playing has become the subject of a lawsuit between two Plano homeowners. Kelly Counts placed a playhouse outside her backdoor for her four children enjoy. “One of the big reasons we chose the house was because we would be able to move this playhouse,” says Counts. But the mother says that laughter coming from her kids in their playhouse has been drowned out by music with raunchy lyrics coming from next door. “It’s unfathomable to me. I can’t imagine the sound of kids playing at any age or stage of my life and...

<p>A mother is refusing to back down from calls demanding she remove a tiny flag hanging in her window in honor of her military son on tour in the Middle East.</p>

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo., - A Missouri family said their homeowners association is threatening them with jail time after they refused to take down their purple playground equipment. Marla Stout of Lee's Summit said her family put up a playset for their young daughters about two years ago and she painted the equipment purple to comply with requirements of the Raintree Lake Neighborhood Homeowner's Association. "There's nothing in the rules about color," Stout told WDAF-TV. "What it says is it has to be harmonious with the community and with nature and there is nothing that dictates the color of the swing...

Florida’s Legislature is poised to rein in that state’s out-of-control Home Owner Associations (HOA) and their legal and management firms with proposed bills in both houses of the legislature in Tallahassee. Passage of S 1308 and H 1263, sponsored by State Senator Alan Hays (R-Umatilla), 850-487-5011, and Representative Mike LaRosa (R-Saint Cloud) 850-717-5042, would put teeth in rules and regulations that govern just what these HOA Board of Directors (BOD) in gated communities can do and ARE doing to peaceful, law abiding middle class residents in single family homes. This urgently needed legislation would bring single family homeowners the same...