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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   3019 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

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Why are 55+ communities allowed? What are the perceived benefits of 55+ communities? https://x.com/LeahRain77/status/2079094767233745170 has blown up on X and I know I've seen 55+ communities when searching for houses. They usually come up on searches as less expensive and I guess I assumed they were assisted living facilities but looking at today's drama that's not the case.

It's weird to me that people are getting so offended at the idea of an almost-30 year old woman can continue living in the same home she lived in before her father passed away. What is at stake here to these people that is worth the expense of suing a woman out of her house?

Why are 55+ communities allowed?

A cursory search indicates that 55+ communities are specifically exempted from federal law's ban on age/race/etc. discrimination in housing.

What are the perceived benefits of 55+ communities? It's weird to me that people are getting so offended at the idea of an almost-30-year-old woman can continue living in the same home she lived in before her father passed away.

In the vein of the famous comic: (1) You signed a contract. (2) Obey the contract. Whining that the contract is "weird" and (in the linked tweet) "HOAs have too much power" will not garner any sympathy when you agreed to the contract's provisions and you are free to just live somewhere else.

Power of HOA is not inherent - it usually resides on city codes, state laws and such. It is not weird to argue for changing those to curtail powers that can be given to HOA. Regulations that make certain contract provisions - either inherent or implied - void by law are not unheard of. And most HOAs use template contracts, so arguing for changing those is valid too. I had an HOA and I didn't feel its power is too big, but I also heard horror stories too, so I think one can't just dismiss it so easily.

Enforceability of covenants in property titles (which is what the power of an HOA is based on) would be a function of state land law. City codes have very little to do with it.

In both England and Scotland (separately), the process of transitioning from a regime where most land was owned by aristocratic families who would never dream of selling the freehold, and wanted to make contractual arrangements among family members and tenants which reflected that, to a regime where land was freely tradeable in both theory and practice involved a lot of statutory reform, with a lot of contentious debates about precisely which restrictions on land could be made legally enforceable. Scotland didn't abolish feudalism until 2000 because the only legally bulletproof way of creating a condo or HOA-like arrangement under traditional Scots law was to make the association the feudal overlord of the individual homeowners.

I don't know about the US equivalent, except that it varies a lot by state.

In the vein of the famous comic: (1) You signed a contract. (2) Obey the contract. Whining that the contract is "weird" and (in the linked tweet) "HOAs have too much power" will not garner any sympathy when you agreed to the contract's provisions and you are free to just live somewhere else.

Did the daughter ever agree to the contract's provisions?

It doesn’t matter whether she or her father agreed to the HOA, it comes with the house. Most HOAs are covered by restrictive covenants that are written into the title of the property and must ybe conveyed in perpetuity when ownership is transferred by sale, inheritance or other means.

In this case, she can own the property, but she can’t reside in it without a waiver from the HOA.

Such covenants are not so solid depending on the covenant in question.

I assume her father did, and her father violated the contract with his will. If the daughter is now the executor of his estate, she has an obligation to fulfill the contracts her father signed as much as possible. If I understand correctly.

A cursory search indicates that 55+ communities are specifically exempted from federal law's ban on age/race/etc. discrimination in housing.

My question is more geared towards "What is the reasoning behind allowing this?" What is the massive benefit to society that justifies creating this carve-out?

Tax paying citizens who won't be using the local schools?

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