{"id":20639,"date":"2025-02-21T04:55:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T12:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=20639"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:30:18","slug":"buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your home is part of a homeowner\u2019s association<\/a> (HOA), it\u2019s almost certain that you knew about the organization prior to purchasing the property. Aside from being a required disclosure<\/a> in most states, HOA inclusion involves regular dues<\/a>, so those costs are considered by lenders as part of the mortgage application<\/a> process. Knowing about and agreeing to something, however, doesn\u2019t always mean that all parties remain satisfied. Sometimes, an HOA can feel like more trouble than it\u2019s worth, and when your community has decided that enough is enough, you may be wondering just how to get rid of an HOA.<\/p>\n

In this article, we\u2019re going to cover a <\/span>few reasons<\/span><\/a> why you may want to disband your HOA, and what action you should take.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n \"homelight\n <\/div>\n \n

Consult With a Top Agent About Local HOAs<\/h3>\n

HomeLight can connect you to the highest-rated real estate agents in your area who are familiar with local HOAs. Start your journey with a trusted professional by your side.<\/p>\n \n

\n Get Started<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n

Why get rid of an HOA?<\/h2>\n

Common reasons why a neighborhood or multi-unit building may want to remove themselves from the control of an HOA essentially boil down to <\/span>problems with management<\/span><\/a>, finances, or other operational problems with the <\/span>HOA<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfair CC&Rs<\/h3>\n

The covenants, conditions, and restrictions<\/a> set forth by the HOA generally mandate how homes should be maintained and decorated.<\/p>\n

This can involve regulation around details like styles of fencing, landscaping, and what types of vehicles (and how many) may be parked outside the property. When CC&Rs become restrictive to the point where homeowners feel that they are unable to make decisions about their own homes, tension can build.<\/p>\n

Unreasonable dues<\/h3>\n

HOA fees vary widely<\/a> depending on the type of housing development and services provided, but when residents feel as though the value of the HOA does not match the funds paid, frustration quickly grows.<\/p>\n

Failing responsibilities<\/h3>\n

HOAs are meant to provide value to a community<\/a>. Whether through enhanced security, beautified common areas, or concierge-style services, it\u2019s understandable when folks become upset with an HOA that falls short on responsibilities to homeowners.<\/p>\n

Abuse of power<\/h3>\n

If certain members of an HOA are taking their position on the board to an extreme, it\u2019s only a matter of time until a community will be ready to speak up in protest and think about how to get rid of an HOA.<\/p>\n

But, buyer beware<\/a>, it\u2019s rare for an HOA to be dissolved, and the process can be very time-consuming and expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever seen a situation where I thought an HOA would be better off coming out of existence,\u201d says Ursula Burgess Esq., Director, Foundation for Community Association Research for the Community Associations Institute<\/a> (CAI). \u201cThe better route is to figure out what the problem is and resolve that so the association can operate properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through her decades of community association legal work, Burgess has developed a threshold question when a homeowner raises the issue of dissolving an HOA. She asks, \u201cWhy is there a perception that the HOA \u2018needs to go\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgess finds that the consternation usually boils down to one of two issues: \u201cEither the current make-up of the board is less than ideal, or there\u2019s a question of maintenance issues within the community, and people don\u2019t want to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

While folks may have limited interest in shelling out extra cash for unexpected repairs that may not affect their day-to-day quality of life \u2014 such as a leaky stairwell in a condominium building, or landscaping improvements to a neighborhood entrance \u2014\u00a0 community living is all about looking at the big picture.<\/p>\n

HOAs, after all, \u201creally are meant to be there for good reasons,\u201d says Burgess. \u201cIf they\u2019re not operating properly, then we\u2019ve just got to go in and fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Laying the groundwork<\/h2>\n

To make big changes, you\u2019ll need to understand what you\u2019re dealing with.<\/p>\n

Regularly attending HOA meetings will help you become familiar with the board members, your neighbors, and any hot topics of discussion. Meetings are also your opportunity to raise concerns that can help avoid escalating a complaint to the point of legal action.<\/p>\n

Additionally, you\u2019ll need a thorough understanding of those CC&Rs we mentioned.<\/p>\n

Be sure that you have the most up-to-date version of the regulations \u2014 including any additional documentation that may outline terms for dissolution \u2014 and review them carefully. Depending on your grievance, there may be verbiage that can offer ground to stand on to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother lived in a townhome for some time, and the sewer line was backing up,\u201d shares James Delgado<\/a>, a top Santa Fe-based real estate agent with 22 years of experience.<\/p>\n

The situation was unclear as to whether the HOA would be liable for the repair expense, or if that responsibility would fall to the homeowners. Knowing that covenants can sometimes be subject to interpretation, Delgado and his mother wrote a letter to the HOA to clarify.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up convincing them that the HOA should pay because it was a common area sewer line, and they did provide the $4,000 in funds to have it repaired,\u201d he says, though the process wasn\u2019t without effort.<\/p>\n

Thus, it\u2019s important to have an understanding of regulations and keep careful records. Meeting minutes, all direct communications with HOA board members, and even jotting down notes after a relevant conversation with neighbors can be helpful in constructing a timeline of a persistent problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it’s worth, and when your community agrees that enough is enough, you may want to know how to get rid of an HOA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":54633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,657,654],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-hoa","category-homeownership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it's worth. Know how to get rid of an HOA in this primer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it's worth. Know how to get rid of an HOA in this primer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T12:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-29T16:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Summer Rylander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@summeroutside\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Summer Rylander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change","description":"Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it's worth. Know how to get rid of an HOA in this primer.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change","og_description":"Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it's worth. Know how to get rid of an HOA in this primer.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2025-02-21T12:55:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-29T16:30:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":564,"url":"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Summer Rylander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@summeroutside","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Summer Rylander","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/"},"author":{"name":"Summer Rylander","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6ebd35a60a53fe2e4052a638133684df"},"headline":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change","datePublished":"2025-02-21T12:55:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T16:30:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/"},"wordCount":915,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png","articleSection":["Buyers","Homeowners Associations","Homeownership"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/","name":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png","datePublished":"2025-02-21T12:55:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T16:30:18+00:00","description":"Sometimes an HOA can feel like more trouble than it's worth. Know how to get rid of an HOA in this primer.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-3.png","width":1000,"height":564,"caption":"Source: (Will Truettner \/ Unsplash)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-get-rid-of-an-hoa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Get Rid of An HOA When You And Everyone Else Wants A Change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America's Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6ebd35a60a53fe2e4052a638133684df","name":"Summer Rylander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/971c25778b11c8fc464050c4f0e45fa2ca9f67fe1d14d0b02e63f88b23dfbce8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/971c25778b11c8fc464050c4f0e45fa2ca9f67fe1d14d0b02e63f88b23dfbce8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Summer Rylander"},"description":"Summer Rylander is a freelance writer and editor with an abundant background in real estate. A former residential real estate agent in the Columbia, SC area and sales administrator at a commercial real estate firm, she now uses this experience to help guide readers. Summer currently resides in Nuremberg, Germany, where she fulfills her passions of food and travel and avoids her dislikes of mayonnaise and being trapped in an office.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/summerrylander\/","https:\/\/x.com\/summeroutside"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/summer-rylander\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}