Being a part of a homeowners’ association (HOA) can bring homeowners a sense of community and financial stability. Currently, there are about 370k HOAs in the U.S.; that’s over 53% of owner-occupied households in America. Yet not all of them are so helpful.

One man recently shared a story of his 10-year-old petty fight with a HOA he didn’t even belong to. The association cut down a branch of his tree that they saw as a violation. The guy then armed himself with PVC and Christmas lights to build a branch that would definitely annoy the HOA.

Bored Panda reached out to the author of this story, Educational_Dust_932, and he kindly agreed to give us more information about his years-long fight with the HOA. Read our chat below!

This homeowner had his tree trimmed by a homeowners’ association he didn’t belong to

Image credits: yosss1 (not the actual photo)

He decided to teach his neighbors a lesson in an act of brilliant petty revenge

Image credits: maria_symchychnavr (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Educational_Dust_932

This is what the new tree branch looked like after the OP was done with it

Image credits: Educational_Dust_932

The OP’s disagreements with the HOA go way back

The story that the author describes here happened 10 years ago. But this isn’t the first time u/Educational_Dust_932 shared this story online. Back in the day, he posted it on the Something Awful forum. “I actually posted the whole saga as it happened years ago,” the Redditor told Bored Panda.

“It was pretty popular there. I just really didn’t think about it until stories [on the u/F***HOA subreddit] started popping up on my feed over here on Reddit.”

The man’s conflict with the homeowners’ association didn’t start and end with the PVC tree branch. “I had much more trouble with the HOA than I put in the post,” u/Educational_Dust_932 says. “They were constantly giving me crap about my grass being too long, or my [front] yard vegetable garden.”

“They even called CPS on me once for letting my kids play on their playground,” the Redditor shares. “They said it was unsafe because my kids were also playing in the six-inch-deep stream that ran alongside it. CPS took one look at the stream and laughed. So, no, I wasn’t very happy with them before this all started.”

The HOA hasn’t bothered the OP and his family since this incident

The Redditor isn’t sure who was the person who cut down his tree branch but had his suspicions. “When I went to the HOA, they told me that they thought it [was] one of their members who had recently been voted out of their committee,” he explained.

“I went and asked him, and he wouldn’t say anything. His wife started going on about how the tree was an eyesore but he shushed her right up. The Redditor is also pretty certain it wasn’t the authorities who cut his tree branch down. “The branch was not going over the street so I can be fairly sure it was cut by a person and not the city.”

We were also curious about the reactions from other neighbors who didn’t belong to the association. What did they think about the PVC branch? The Redditor tells Bored Panda that apart from some weird looks, he didn’t get any weird reactions. “But my kids got questioned about it on the school bus,” he adds. “I am not sure what they told the other kids.”

Today, the OP’s life is much less dramatic where the HOA is concerned. “They have pretty much left me alone since then,” he tells us. “My kids are grown now, and I have no desire to use the HOA pool myself, so I don’t worry about it much.”

“I did put up a fence, which goes against their rules, but my wife wouldn’t let me paint it in rainbow colors to [annoy them], so I just had to be satisfied with white,” he adds cheekily.

In the comments, the OP detailed other instances where he had trouble with the HOA

“This is gloriously petty,” people raved in the comments

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