After over two years of fighting with their local HOA, a Redditor finally received restitution on a growing mold spot on their condo.
On an anti-HOA subreddit, the OP posted about getting a "small victory" in this yearslong battle.
"They finally paid to remediate the mold in my condo. 25 months later … Mold on the interior was not too bad. …The garage however is a whole other story. Contractors found severe water damage to the plywood and studs. … it has likely been leaking since the building was made in 1998."
Now the OP is playing the waiting game: "I now have a 2'x2' hole in my living room that goes into the garage until someone can get out here to inspect the structural damage and get approval from the board for more repairs."
Though some HOAs likely do provide good services for their neighborhoods, HOAs are well-known and often accurately criticized for, among other things, cheaping out on home repairs and deterring neighborhood residents from pursuing sustainable living habits.
From people trying to install solar panels on their roofs to folks just wanting to add native plants to their lawns (and many more examples where those came from), it's clear that HOAs can be unwilling to approve aesthetic home alterations that severely deviate from neighborhood norms, even if those alterations are for an environmentally conscious purpose.
The stalling of such progressive changes is not only environmentally regressive, but it likely dissuades neighbors from implementing similar sustainable living methods, creating a sort of negative domino effect on the local environment.
However, it is possible to work with an HOA to encourage these changes and make the community a more eco-friendly place.
Commenters were rooting for the OP, well aware of how frustrating it can be to deal with an HOA.
"I hear ya. Had mold and dry rot in my condo in 2020 and 2021 (different rooms)," one commenter lamented. "The HOA covered it but there were so many other homeowners who had the same issues — caused by ice storms and the age of our buildings — our insurance went up."
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