Holiday decorations and celebrations seem to bring out the worst in many homeowners’ associations. Over the years, I’ve heard so many HOA horror stories of banning decorations or having draconian rules about what homeowners can put up, but a Halloween notice from an HOA that’s going viral now is definitely the wildest one I’ve ever seen.
A Reddit user posted this notice from their HOA that states, “As we prepare for Halloween, the [redacted] HOA board would like to address an ongoing concern that has affected the quality of our neighborhood celebration in recent years. Our community has long taken pride in offering a safe, charming, and well-organized Halloween experience; something that unfortunately has attracted large groups from outside neighborhoods.”
“These visitors often arrive in packed vehicles, crowd our streets, and diminish the experience for our own children. Last year, this influx led not only to depleted candy supplies but also to instances of property damage; something we simply cannot tolerate in a neighborhood that values order and respect.”
“To preserve the integrity of our Halloween tradition and ensure our residents children are prioritized, the following temporary measures will be in place: Trick-or-treating will be limited to children who reside in [redacted]. Volunteers will be stationed at the entrance to check vehicles during the designated trick-or-treat window: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Friday, October 31. Residents expecting guests from outside the neighborhood are encouraged to make alternate plans.”
Here’s the pic they shared of the notice:
Naturally, people in the comments had A LOT to say about this new rule. Some people are for it:
1.
“I almost wish something like that could be done in my neighborhood. I don’t want that because I think the real solution is for the surrounding neighborhoods to step up their game, but we just get way more kids than we can handle every year. I buy nearly $200 worth of candy, and I run out within a couple hours. Cars just keep showing up throughout the night, and most kids aren’t even walking to our door, just being driven around the neighborhood. I feel bad for the kids who have parents that work late and can’t take them out until later, we usually don’t have anything left for them.”
2.
“I understand some of the sentiment of this letter because if you’ve dealt with it on the other side, it really does ruin it for everyone. I ran out of candy after an hour (even though I bought a ton), so I turned my light off and took all my decorations inside. I still had people walking on my lawn, letting their kids bang on the door repeatedly, even close to 9 p.m. People need to teach their kids, when a house is completely dark, you pass it by. Happens every year, giant carloads of people lazily driving alongside their kids, and it terrifies me to see the near-misses of kids getting hit by cars.”
3.
“My neighborhood use to have a ton of people from outside areas come in. They shut down the roads, and you had to walk in. The majority were from other areas. It got to be too much, and most people just stopped giving out candy. There’s no longer trick or treating out here because of it. I get what they’re trying to do, and saying ‘just buy more candy’ is insane to me.”
4.
“I live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in my little town, and we get an INSANE amount of traffic through the neighborhood to the point where cops get called every year to manage it. Cars will haul ass down the kid-filled streets to either find a place to park or to follow their trick-or-treating kids. I absolutely love how many kids come into the neighborhood for Halloween, but it gets a little ridiculous. Most of the residents will actually leave to go to other neighborhoods to avoid the madness, which I’m sure creates the same problem in other nice neighborhoods. So I get what your HOA is trying to do, but damn, it sucks they have to do it.”
5.
“If they have substantial property damage, then that’s a valid concern. If you have to replace, fix, or even watch ur house from people that aren’t even in ur neighborhood and you have to pay to fix or replace that out from your own wallet then why should they be allowed to do thatI hate HOAS with a passion, unless they’re truely some assholes I doubt the HOA people did this without people complaining or without reason especially if they’ve been cool with it up until now.”
But other people think the rule is way over the top:
6.
“Every kid deserves a chance at a good Halloween. My old neighborhood was surrounded by an apartment complex and other low-income housing. We cherished the ability to hand out candy to all who came. It was an opportunity to light up many more faces than just our own. Fuck this HOA. They will get everything coming to them one day.”
7.
“Happy Halloween! Cute costume, kiddo! Now I’m gonna need to see some ID, proof of address, and at least one utility bill, if you want this candy.”
8.
“I live in a neighborhood that people drive to for trick-or-treating, and we have an HOA. Everyone here loves it. Our streets are full of people, some houses set up canopies and have popcorn and hot drinks for people, and some even have beverages of an adult nature for the parents. It sounds batshit crazy to me to try and close off a neighborhood from ‘outsiders,’ but that is the society we are currently living in, I guess.”
9.
“‘Residents expecting guests from outside the neighborhood are encouraged to make alternate plans.’ Oh, hell no. The HOA has no business telling anyone that they are not allowed to have guests at their own home.”
10.
And finally, “Going to be fun being one of those entrance volunteers arguing with a stream of cars full of kids all night. Easiest way to deal with them is to hand out candy to them.”
Now I’m curious: What’s trick-or-treating like in your neighborhood, and how would you feel about a rule like this? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
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