Our subdivision has a section of "age-targeted" homes, called "The Villas". And while most of the folks over there are delightful and warm, there are some who have nothing better to do with their lives than to stir up trouble. With the pandemic, all the community pools closed, so some residents (not in The Villas, which is the age-targeted section) purchased above-ground swimming pools. Above-ground swimming pools are against the deed restrictions, but under the circumstances, and since it would only be about three months until the weather started turning cooler, the HOA board was more than willing to turn a blind eye. That is, until some Karen from The Villas complained. The HOA board is legally bound to follow up on complaints and enforce the deed restrictions, and if they don't, they can get sued. And get this--technically, even those 4-foot-diameter plastic pools you can get for $10 at Walmart count as an "above-ground pool."
Bad news, right? Well, here's where the story turns. In June, after their monthly meeting (and at this point, the offending pools had been up for about a month) The board sent out an announcement to all the residents, reminding them that above-ground pools are not allowed, and that there would be a $25 fine for any offenders. All continuing infractions would be penalized after being reviewed at the next board meeting...which would be in mid-August, since they wouldn't have a quorum for their monthly meeting in July. In short, those naughty, naughty neighbors with temporary pools would get to enjoy them for a good three months before having to take down their pool or pay $25. And, as it turns out, the community pool opened two weeks after that June meeting anyway, so it all became moot.
This same Karen, or someone like her, also cause the cancellation of a neighborhood party (which would have been outside, required masks, social distancing, etc), by calling up one of the board members and basically saying, "If I go and catch coronavirus, I'm suing you!" Seriously, it wasn't enough for this person to simply avoid going themselves, they had to ruin it for everyone else.
lukebuz - my neighbor cut down 2 mature maple trees on the side of my house, they were on my property. I sued. My neighbor is nasty and mentally ill, which are two different conditions which interact for the worse. Her thought process on why she cut them down is something I will probably never figure out. I also don't understand why her husband hasn't divorced her yet - her behavior has cost him his adult children and all the grandkids. Plus, people talk about him behind his back and it isn't complementary.
OMG, what was the result of suing. At best you get cash compensation, but that does not replace 2 mature trees, right?
Depending on where you live, tree law may dictate that the defendant replace the trees with the same species/age/size of tree. If it's a big mature hardwood, that can get
very expensive.
