Forums General Chit-Chat Can a HOA make it a requirement to decorate for Christmas?
I was watching Christmas with the Kranks. Does a HOA have that type of authority? I know they can dictate when you can put up and take down decorations. But can they force you to participate in holidays?
You would have to look in your HOA documents and see.
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I feel like that could be an infringement on religious freedom tbh
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It depends on the HOA.
Some HOAs are all about "building community" and "community presence" and might be able to do something like strongly encourage homeowners to decorate for the Winter holidays. Can they really force you, though? Probably not. At worst, they might be able to levy a fine if you don't follow a rule or policy, but this is a fairly extreme HOA type thing to do, imo... but, that's why it's tremendously important to actually read the HOA documents for a neighborhood that you're considering moving in to, and being active in the HOA meetings, etc., if you are in an HOA neighborhood.
All that said, you're referencing a movie, which is by definition, fictional (& how many movies get made with really wrong information/premises in them, presented as fact or fodder for the rest of the movie?!). I sincerely doubt HOAs would try to do something like force homeowners to decorate for holidays - especially in this day and age.
Some HOAs are all about "building community" and "community presence" and might be able to do something like strongly encourage homeowners to decorate for the Winter holidays. Can they really force you, though? Probably not. At worst, they might be able to levy a fine if you don't follow a rule or policy, but this is a fairly extreme HOA type thing to do, imo... but, that's why it's tremendously important to actually read the HOA documents for a neighborhood that you're considering moving in to, and being active in the HOA meetings, etc., if you are in an HOA neighborhood.
All that said, you're referencing a movie, which is by definition, fictional (& how many movies get made with really wrong information/premises in them, presented as fact or fodder for the rest of the movie?!). I sincerely doubt HOAs would try to do something like force homeowners to decorate for holidays - especially in this day and age.
@Wildfire:
I figured it was just fictional nonsense but I've also heard horror stories about HOAs. The most extreme case I've heard of personally was was this kid in high school I knew. His brother was disabled physically and they put in a concrete ramp. The HOA deemed it unsightly and against code. Same with their window air conditioner. After a year or so of fighting with them, the kid's family picked up and left. He still rode my bus though. I heard there were a few lawsuits against the HOA but I never found out what came of them. I was young and at the time I hardly paid attention to those sorts of things.
I figured it was just fictional nonsense but I've also heard horror stories about HOAs. The most extreme case I've heard of personally was was this kid in high school I knew. His brother was disabled physically and they put in a concrete ramp. The HOA deemed it unsightly and against code. Same with their window air conditioner. After a year or so of fighting with them, the kid's family picked up and left. He still rode my bus though. I heard there were a few lawsuits against the HOA but I never found out what came of them. I was young and at the time I hardly paid attention to those sorts of things.
@Vampiretaco: There are some HOAs that take themselves far too seriously, imo, but most of them exist to uphold basic standards of a neighborhood that protect the value of the houses/neighborhood and the safety of the residents. For something like the ramp, there's probably more to the story, tbh. If we needed to do something like that with our HOA, since it's an adjustment to the exterior of the house, we would have to present the design to them for review, then get the permits, etc. before getting it put in. We had to do this kind of thing when we painted the house too... but this is why HOAs exist - to make sure nobody paints their house purple or starts a car repair shop on their front lawn...
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I mean, they can really do whatever they want.
An argument about the infringement of free speech wouldn’t apply here [mostly] because a HOA is not a government entity, so you don’t have those protections. An HOA acts like a contract between two private parties—the Homeowners Association and the homeowner. The origin of contracts like this (often called “restrictive covenants”) were primarily to prevent certain populations from entering that neighborhood. Think White homeowners trying to prevent non-white families from entering the area as homeowners. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) comes into play here to prevent these past-accepted practices.
That being said, the HOA cannot however enforce those kinds of rules unevenly or in a discriminatory manner and federal laws will always supersede a HOA’s policy (the FHA is a federal act, so it is superior to a HOA regulation). And without getting too deep in the reeds of legalese, the general idea is that a HOA may restrict visual decorations if it’s purpose is not discrimination or a motivating factor in why it’s a restriction. This is a very easy threshold to overcome because the HOA just states it’s to keep the property neat or something similar. But if the HOA only enforces the rules against non-Christmas decorations but not Christmas-themed ones, there’s an argument that it’s discrimination.
So long answer short:
The HOA could not force someone to put up a religious or holiday display, or force them to participate or restrict access to a religious practice but they do have authority—particularly when written into the covenants a person signed when entering the HOA home—to restrict those decorations in a non-discriminatory way.
An argument about the infringement of free speech wouldn’t apply here [mostly] because a HOA is not a government entity, so you don’t have those protections. An HOA acts like a contract between two private parties—the Homeowners Association and the homeowner. The origin of contracts like this (often called “restrictive covenants”) were primarily to prevent certain populations from entering that neighborhood. Think White homeowners trying to prevent non-white families from entering the area as homeowners. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) comes into play here to prevent these past-accepted practices.
That being said, the HOA cannot however enforce those kinds of rules unevenly or in a discriminatory manner and federal laws will always supersede a HOA’s policy (the FHA is a federal act, so it is superior to a HOA regulation). And without getting too deep in the reeds of legalese, the general idea is that a HOA may restrict visual decorations if it’s purpose is not discrimination or a motivating factor in why it’s a restriction. This is a very easy threshold to overcome because the HOA just states it’s to keep the property neat or something similar. But if the HOA only enforces the rules against non-Christmas decorations but not Christmas-themed ones, there’s an argument that it’s discrimination.
So long answer short:
The HOA could not force someone to put up a religious or holiday display, or force them to participate or restrict access to a religious practice but they do have authority—particularly when written into the covenants a person signed when entering the HOA home—to restrict those decorations in a non-discriminatory way.
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