"I figured. But she's going to have a hard time justifying any action against me when I haven't actually violated any rules."
"You're assuming she cares about justification. Be careful, Daniel."
I drove home feeling cautiously optimistic. The board had clearly been uncomfortable with Patricia's overreach, and the residents seemed to support my position. Maybe this would blow over after all.
I was wrong.
Two days later, I received a certified letter from the HOA. Inside was a notice of violation, this time citing Section 19 of the bylaws, which dealt with improvements and modifications to property. According to the letter, my generator installation violated HOA rules because I hadn't submitted plans for approval before installation.
I had to laugh. The generator had been installed three years ago, shortly after I'd moved in. I'd absolutely submitted plans and received written approval from the HOA, including Patricia's signature as president. I dug through my files and found the approval letter: it was dated June 15, 2022, and clearly stated that my generator installation met all HOA requirements.
I scanned it and sent it back to the HOA office with a polite email pointing out that this violation was, once again, completely fabricated.
The response came from Margaret Walsh, not Patricia: Approval granted in 2022 is no longer valid. All major installations must be reapproved every two years per updated guidelines.
I checked the bylaws again. There was no mention of reapproval requirements. I sent another email asking for the specific section that required this.
Margaret's response was terse: Emergency board decision from last night's meeting.
So that's how they were going to play it.
I called Jerry Morrison. "They're making up rules as they go along," I explained. "Supposedly, they had a board meeting last night and created a new requirement for reapproving installations."