A more thorough explanation:

Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs) are organizations that manage the common areas and interests of a community, such as a subdivision. When someone buys property in a community governed by an HOA, they are legally bound to follow the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) that govern all the property in the community. Each homeowner must follow these guidelines and pay the fees of the HOA. The HOA ensures that the common areas, such as a community playground, remain in good condition and ensures that homeowners follow the CC&Rs such as requiring grass to be mowed weekly.

For example, if a homeowner lives in a community with an HOA, they may be required to pay a monthly fee to cover the cost of maintaining the community pool, park, or other shared amenities. The HOA may also have rules about the appearance of homes in the community, such as requiring all homes to have a certain color of paint or prohibiting certain types of landscaping.

However, the authority of HOAs can vary widely depending on the CC&Rs. Some HOAs have minimal fees and enact minimal requirements such as requiring your property to be presentable, meaning no two feet tall grass or boarded up windows. Others can have much higher expectations with fees in some cities averaging in the thousands monthly. Many HOAs have very particular guidelines like preventing any items being in the yard, requiring doors to be a specific color, requiring cars to always be in the garage, or even requiring flower beds to have specific flower colors. As such, it is very important that homeowners look at the CC&Rs for the property they potentially buy.

When homeowners break a restriction or do not pay fees, the HOA will have specific remedies set in the CC&Rs such as fines or even forcing the home to be foreclosed on in extreme circumstances, ranging widely among different HOAs. Some laws limit how HOAs can punish homeowners such as limiting foreclosure actions to when the homeowner acts unruly, but these laws vary greatly from state to state and city to city. Further, some federal and state laws may prevent the enforcement of restrictions by HOAs that become unconscionable or against public policy. For example, federal laws prohibit HOAs from banning homeowners from having a service animal.