My HOA only has rules for weeds and not blocking sidewalks with cars. I thought I was going to hate it, but honestly it keeps things nice. In my last neighborhood so many assholes would have boats and RVs literally parked on the sidewalk.
I’m not from CR, but I think you thought about wrong type of HOA. Closest thing to american HOAs in Europe I think Gardening Association or something like this. Google translate says it’s Zahradní Komunita, yandex says Zahradní Kamarádství.
I speak English perfectly, no need for terrible translators (Yandex literally wrote “Garden Friendship” – the correct one is zahrádkářský spolek, DeepL is pretty close).
I think we used to have these “gardeners’ clubs”, the writer Bohumil Hrabal (look up some Menzelfilmsbased on his books) referenced his, called Zahrádkáři Kersku (Gardeners of Kersko) in Slavnosti sněženek. However, it was voluntary and more of a cooperation club where members shared produce, seeds and experience, rather than having to follow aesthetic rules (besides peer pressure). I don’t think we have those anymore, the culture is way more individualistic; also, Kersko is a village of recreational homes. We don’t really have suburbs: single family homes have fences around their gardens and nobody cares what you have behind one.
On the other hand, most blocks of flats have a bytové družstvo (Flat Collective) with mandatory membership. These are quite strict, usually run by old women that have lived there for decades and they operate like HOAs: they dictate where you can park your car or bike and what you can hang on your door, you must go through them to change a doorbell nameplate, they facilitate repairs of shared equipment, collect fees if you rent the flat to someome else etc.
We don’t have them in Australia that I’m aware of, but they do sound atrocious. What happened to that land of the free?
TL;DR: racism and segregation.
https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/homeowners-associations-black-americans-discriminaiton-2020-9?op=1
https://www.homestratosphere.com/homeowners-associations-ugly-history/
My HOA only has rules for weeds and not blocking sidewalks with cars. I thought I was going to hate it, but honestly it keeps things nice. In my last neighborhood so many assholes would have boats and RVs literally parked on the sidewalk.
There are typically city ordinances that cover blocking the sidewalk / abandoning vehicles.
Unenforced City ordinances in my experience. That being said I’ve never had a HOA so I can’t speak to their efficacy.
I’d imagine it’s hand in hand with NIMBY’s which can just fuck right the hell off.
Removed by mod
Not blocking sidewalks with cars? It’s just illegal here.
And weeds kinda too, but only Sosnovsky Hogweed is enforced.
We do have them in the Czech Republic but only in blocks of flats, not neighborhoods.
I’m not from CR, but I think you thought about wrong type of HOA. Closest thing to american HOAs in Europe I think Gardening Association or something like this. Google translate says it’s Zahradní Komunita, yandex says Zahradní Kamarádství.
I speak English perfectly, no need for terrible translators (Yandex literally wrote “Garden Friendship” – the correct one is zahrádkářský spolek, DeepL is pretty close).
I think we used to have these “gardeners’ clubs”, the writer Bohumil Hrabal (look up some Menzel films based on his books) referenced his, called Zahrádkáři Kersku (Gardeners of Kersko) in Slavnosti sněženek. However, it was voluntary and more of a cooperation club where members shared produce, seeds and experience, rather than having to follow aesthetic rules (besides peer pressure). I don’t think we have those anymore, the culture is way more individualistic; also, Kersko is a village of recreational homes. We don’t really have suburbs: single family homes have fences around their gardens and nobody cares what you have behind one.
On the other hand, most blocks of flats have a bytové družstvo (Flat Collective) with mandatory membership. These are quite strict, usually run by old women that have lived there for decades and they operate like HOAs: they dictate where you can park your car or bike and what you can hang on your door, you must go through them to change a doorbell nameplate, they facilitate repairs of shared equipment, collect fees if you rent the flat to someome else etc.
Kek. Yandex was shitty, yandex keeps being shitty.
Turns out the rights of private property supersede the quaint concept of “freedom”.
They’re basically stratas and body corporations in Australia, except the laws basically make them not as powerful as HOAs