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A homeowner has been praised online after confessing to parking his truck outside a home and revving its engine daily in a bid to annoy his homeowner association.
The resident took to Reddit to share his plan in a post that gained over 12,000 votes in Subreddit "Malicious Compliance" in less than a day.
Though he said that homeowners associations "suck," he is one of the reported 73.9 million Americans living in HOAs, condominium communities or cooperatives. Such groups are seemingly on the rise, with ipropertymanagement reporting that over 80 percent of new homes sold in 2020 were a part of HOA communities.
He might be a part of it, but the Reddit user was far from a fan, especially after his latest run-in. "I got a letter from my HOA stating that the truck I had in my driveway had not been moved in two days and therefore was 'non-running' and in violation of their rules and I was being fined. Apparently this was my third strike since they had to send me previous warning letters because my grass wasn't green enough or had patches in it," he wrote.
"Now, this is a project truck, but it runs, is in perfect exterior condition and I work on/move it almost daily. I recently started a new job where I work a lot of overtime so I haven't had as much time to work on it. Hence the letter."
He said that in response, he decided to finish some modifications he had been putting off for a while, making it "loud as hell." He then parked outside the HOA president's home daily at 6 a.m. and started the engine to prove that it was "running" as per guidelines.
"I also sent a kindly worded letter to the HOA letting them know where they can stick their fine," he added. "I got a letter today stating the fine has been dropped. I kind of like my new parking space though, I might keep it for a while."
Despite his technique not being a favorite for the HOA, Reddit users were left applauding the unconventional response.
"Getting in trouble for not moving your own car on your own property for two days is ridiculous. What if you just stay in for the weekend or you are sick for a few days? You still have to go out and move your car for no reason? That's stupid," wrote one user.
"Does no one in your HOA have weekends off work? Get sick? Take a vacation? Two days is a stupidly short amount of time for a car parked in a driveway," agreed another user.
Others were left formulating even more cunning plans than the original, suggesting: "Get a copy of all the rules and a gang of three or four kids. Pay them two dollars per rule violation they can come up with for every board member, then present their loss at the next meeting."
In an update, the homeowner described it as his "proudest petty moment."
Newsweek has contacted him but was not able to verify the details of his story.
