8.5M views · Apr 10, 2023 · 25:28 · 1 HN recommender · 4 mentions · discussed 2023–2024
A John Oliver Last Week Tonight segment on homeowners associations, covering the surprising power they hold over residents and how arbitrary their rules can be. It mixes investigative comedy with examples of HOA overreach.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN uses it as the go-to reference in threads about HOA absurdity, such as fines over small violations and authoritarian rules.
“A fun John Oliver video on how corrupt HOA's are”HN comment, 2024
“A fun John Oliver video on how corrupt HOA's are”
Fun take on how corrupt HOAs are
You do not have the freedom to choose an HOA, only the freedom to move somewhere else. Unless you define "freedom" as "not held captive", I don't think that really counts. A fun John Oliver video on how corrupt HOA's are: this video
“John Oliver recently did a show on this.”
John Oliver segment on HOAs
John Oliver recently did a show on this. HOAs were awful enough in my mind before that, now they’re downright scary. this video
“Nobody else, except perhaps your local HOA [1].”
HOAs restrict owner control
> Nobody else has any rights to what I own Nobody else, except perhaps your local HOA [1]. So much about your "property". /s [1] this video
“HOAs can get a tad 'authoritarian' at least according to John Oliver”
HOAs can be authoritarian
HOAs are in many cases a collection of opinionated amateurs making binding decisions on behalf of their disinterested neighbors. See also 'special assessments' And that's the best case scenario. HOAs can get a tad 'authoritarian' at least according to John Oliver: this video
