Here’s what really gets me, as the head of NC Citizens for HOA Reform: I keep hearing the same horror stories over and over. Just last week, another family called about losing their home over a $300 landscaping fine that snowballed into thousands in legal fees. HOA disputes aren’t just about unmowed lawns anymore — they’re about whether regular folks can actually afford to keep their homes. In North Carolina, where more than one in five of us live under HOA rules, this isn’t some niche problem. It’s becoming a full-blown crisis that’s gutting the dream of homeownership.
So why hasn’t Raleigh fixed this mess? Follow the money. The Community Associations Institute — CAI, for short — represents all the attorneys and management companies making bank off these disputes. They’ve got lobbyists crawling all over the General Assembly, and, frankly, it shows.
Take Mary from Wilmington. She’s a sweet lady, 73 years old, who called me in tears because her HOA slapped her with a $3,000 fine. Her crime? A fence that was supposedly one inch too tall. One inch! After measuring three different times with three different people, including a surveyor. She’d paid off that little house over 20 years, and these people were ready to foreclose over what amounts to a rounding error. Mary’s story isn’t unique — I get calls like hers every single week, and it never stops making me mad.
This year looked different at first. House Bill 372 sailed through the House — and I mean sailed — with bipartisan support that gave me hope we might actually get somewhere. But then it hit the Senate, and surprise, surprise, it’s been sitting in committee limbo ever since. Senate Bill 378 did pass both chambers, I’ll give them that, but it was basically tinkering around the edges. Senators Sawrey, Johnson, and Sawyer deserve credit for trying, but the bill dodged every real issue that’s crushing homeowners.
Sound familiar? It should. Back in 2023, we had House Bill 542. Now that bill had some teeth. Real caps on fines, stopping managers from profiting off penalties, giving folks more time before liens got slapped on their homes. It had everything we needed. Republican support, Democratic support, homeowner groups behind it. But it died anyway, killed in the Senate Rules Committee after the industry applied pressure. Same story, different year.
Look, I’m not asking for the moon here. What we really need is an HOA Oversight Division in the Attorney General’s office. Nothing fancy — just somewhere homeowners can file complaints and get help without hiring a lawyer they can’t afford. Let this office investigate the worst abuses, require some basic transparency in HOA budgets, maybe include mandatory mediation before things get ugly.
Other states figured this out years ago. Nevada’s got an ombudsman who actually helps people resolve these disputes without going to court. Virginia licenses HOA managers — crazy idea, right? Making sure the people handling your biggest investment actually know what they’re doing. These programs work, and they work without putting good HOAs out of business.
This shouldn’t be a partisan issue, and mostly it isn’t when you get past the lobbyists. Property rights matter to conservatives — your home should be yours, period. Democrats care about protecting working families from getting squeezed by corporate interests. And everybody should care about seniors on fixed incomes getting hammered by associations run amok.
I’ve been working on HOA reform long enough to know that nothing changes without political pressure. The General Assembly will keep punting on HOA reform until voters make it clear that’s not acceptable anymore. Maybe 2025 will be different — Lord knows we need it to be. But that only happens if people start making noise.
The choice really is that simple: Stand with North Carolina families or keep letting the special interests call the shots. I know which side I’m on.