Resident exploits loophole in HOA policy, now they can't approve changes to public streets in the community: 'They've stopped issuing violations altogether'

Every so often, you come across a story where a resident managed to successfully pull a fast one on their HOA. Obviously, this is a rare occurrence. The vast majority of our HOA stories involve residents getting into failed legal battles with entitled Karens who have nothing better to do than enforce unnecessary rules and regulations. However, here, we have a Redditor who discovered a loophole in his HOA policy and worked to exploit said loophole from the inside.

As a board member himself, the original poster (OP) brought up the fact that public streets in the community were not considered a Common Element in the written HOA policies, meaning that various changes residents have chosen to make could not be approved or rejected by the committee. Sure, it's implied that the public streets would be part of those regulated areas, but if they are not expressly documented in the handbook, then the board has no right to enforce rules about them.

The fallout is that virtually every pending violation could no longer be issued, leading OP to realize that his discovery may have literally broken the HOA's ability to enforce pretty much anything. For more stories like this, check out this post about another resident's petty revenge against his HOA.