HOA used an obscure rule to push siblings out of their parents’ home — their quiet response forced an apology just two weeks later

Imagine being told that you can’t continue living in your family home, not because of anything you did, but because your bond with your own sibling doesn’t fit a definition made up by the Homeowners Association (HOA). Absurd? Yes. But for two grieving siblings, this became a reality. The 21-year-old Reddit user and their sister lost their mom four and a half years after their father passed away. Since then, the siblings had been living under the same roof as the rightful owners of the house after their parents. But the HOA cited a strange rule that did not allow them to live together. The Reddit story was posted by the user under the username u/Tgliko on July 7, 2017.

The user revealed that their parents had bought the house in Washington three decades ago. The HOA came into the picture much later, nearly 12 years after they purchased the house. A few years passed, and they lost their parents. Anyone who has carried that kind of loss knows how grief blurs everything around you. Staying in that home wasn’t just a choice; it was a way to keep something familiar alive. And then the HOA knocked on the door! 

According to their association, the siblings no longer qualified as a “single-family household.” The rule allowed parents with unmarried children, a couple, an individual, and even distant relatives to live there, but not siblings. It sounded like a technicality gone wrong, but the HOA treated it like a very crucial law. They visited the siblings four times, warning them that one of them would have to move out or they would face legal action. 

These siblings searched every document they had, but nothing mentioned this weird clause, as noted in a now-deleted follow-up post. So they pushed back. Fellow Reddit users urged them to formally request the HOA’s rulebook. When they finally obtained it, the clause was actually mentioned there, oddly specific. 

Instead of falling for the crazy law, they began knocking on doors in their own neighborhood, not to complain but to explain. They told residents how this rule could affect anyone’s children, siblings, or family members in the future. The neighbors listened carefully. They understood and also questioned the HOA’s intentions. Not surprisingly, many residents were already frustrated with the HOA. 

The neighborhood teamed up with the siblings. Petitions were signed, conversations sparked, and pressure built quickly. And that collective voice finally worked.  Within two weeks, the HOA issued an apology, calling the enforcement a “mistake,” though residents found that hard to believe. In their conversations, the siblings discovered that they weren’t the first ones to feel singled out or bullied by the association. Others had also experienced unreasonable demands. That frustration led many residents to consider running for HOA leadership themselves or dissolving the HOA entirely.

The extraordinary thing with this whole issue was the siblings' calm yet courageous approach. They didn’t hire lawyers or start a war. They reached out to the community and communicated with patience. Then, collaboration and support did the work. And in the end, this incident left the neighborhood with a moment of clarity: If a system built to protect and support the community begins to affect it negatively and challenge the basic idea of family, then maybe it’s time to dig deeper and understand whether it’s actually a boon or a curse?

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