A suburban mom in Florida spent a week in jail after her HOA went after her for grass violations. It was a shocking overreach, and one of the worst encounters a person has had with an HOA.
According to WFTS ABC Action News, Irena Green, a resident of Riverview in Hillsborough County, initially received notices for her browning grass. She said it was impacted by the shade from a tree in her yard and further dried out due to a drought that came with water restrictions. Green also received notices for a dirty mailbox and a commercial cargo van.
Green apparently failed to respond to the HOA’s request for mediation, so they slapped her with a lawsuit. After a court hearing, a judge ordered her to fix her grass and the other issues within 30 days.
She completed the directions in the order, but she missed a follow-up court date and was later arrested while driving her teenage daughter home from cheerleading practice.
She served seven days in jail with no bond, and only after her sister-in-law helped with a petition and she had a hearing with a new judge was she released. The HOA even opposed her release at the hearing.
“I think they have way too much power,” Green told the outlet. “I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life.”
HOAs have become notorious for their rigid guidelines, often becoming a burden on top of their fees and the cost of home ownership.
Many homeowners have been cited for not watering their lawns despite drought restrictions — not unlike Green — as well as for not having a typical monoculture lawn. But having a native lawn is actually a huge money- and time-saver, requiring less water than a standard lawn.
HOAs have also cracked down on gardens, whether simple flower beds or homegrown vegetables.
That’s unfortunate, because gardening has been proven to have a multitude of benefits, including improvements in physical and mental health, reduced grocery expenses through growing some of your own food, and opportunities for a healthier environment that supports pollinators and other wildlife.
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Green is still dealing with the humiliation of being arrested over a little patch of grass.
“It makes me feel horrible,” she said. “I work hard to buy this home for me and my kids in a better neighborhood and environment, and to be taken to jail and to be treated like that for brown grass at my own home…that’s horrible.”
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