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The original was posted on /r/fuckhoa by /u/kenz7e on 2023-08-09 02:31:05.
I recently bought a condo and my partner lives with me as well as two Saint Bernards (4.5 and 7.5 years old, roughly 120 pounds each).
During the home search my realtor made sure to only show me places that did not have weight restrictions. My realtor called my (now) management company before we put in an offer and they said there were no restrictions. Before we put in an offer we read all of the association docs and bylaws and there is no pet weight or breed restriction. The only real animal restriction is you can’t own chickens and pigs and stuff like that. When we first moved in a couple months ago, I took one of my dogs for a walk and saw someone outside who introduced herself as the president of the board. My dog was very polite and sat there while we talked for a few minutes. She told me that there was a weight limit and I said “my realtor called the hoa and there wasn’t one” (I meant she called the management company, I didn’t realize at the time that the two were different) and she said “oh well they just want to sell they don’t care” and then told me not to worry and that she’s not going to make me get rid of my dog. I was worried for a couple weeks but nothing came of it.
Today I was walking one of my dogs and left my back gate cracked so you could see inside my apartment a little bit. Someone walked by and must have spotted my other dog (the person who lives next to me is also a board member) and complained to the board member. Well I get inside and settle down from working and I hear knocking on my door for about a minute. At first I thought it was someone in the hallway doing something but then I realized it was actual knocking on my door. I thought it was the neighbor telling me I accidentally left my gate open but no, it was the president of the board.
She came to essentially berate me and question me about having two dogs. She said that she got complaints and I asked about what and she said their size. I asked her what is the problem? There are no restrictions and there were none when I bought the place. She then proceeded to tell me she “spent $3000 to have the rules changed and there are weight restrictions now” and kept going on and on about me having two large dogs and how she didn’t know about it but should know because she’s the president of the building.
When I bought this place I didn’t have to disclose what animals I had, I only had to list anyone who was going to be living in the condo.
After a few minutes of back and forth I told her that the complaints were ridiculous because only one time has my dog came across someone in the building and that was her. My dogs do not use the hallways or go into the main areas — we have a private entrance that we go in and out of and don’t bother anyone. She said that the city we live in has weight restrictions and limits of how many animals you can have in a one bedroom apartment (the limit is three, and there are no weight/breed restrictions, just no livestock basically) and I told her it was untrue. She then told me my dogs were too big to live in this apartment and need to live in a home with a yard. Ma’am, if I could afford a single family home I wouldn’t be in this apartment. I told her my dogs are fine and they get exercise 3 times a day.
Then she told me that there are people in wheelchairs, small children, etc that could be hurt by my dogs. She said that if my dogs were to attack someone that they could really get hurt. She said people are afraid of big dogs. I told her I am afraid of little yappy dogs that this apartment is full of, but that is my problem and I deal with it myself. She accused me of buying my second dog after we moved in knowing there “was a weight limit.” I have had one of my dogs for 4.5 years and the other since last September. I told her I could prove when I adopted both of my dogs.
All of this went on for about 15 minutes but she then added that she works from home and never hears them and she wouldn’t force me to remove my dogs. I kept asking her “so what exactly is the problem?” And she didn’t have an answer except that she had complaints about their size. She was very aggressive during this conversation and hardly let me get any words out. So what was the point in this interaction? My lawyer sent a letter to the management company asking about this rule change because we need written notice of any board meetings and rule amendments, plus a 67% vote to pass anything. I never received any notice of a board meeting or any rule changes.
So my question is, what do I do now?