Life in a homeowners association (HOA) community is supposed to make things easier, neat lawns, tidy neighborhoods, and a sense of order. But for one Georgia man, it’s turning into a nightmare worthy of its own reality TV show. George Watson, a 77-year-old resident of Cobb County, has lived in the Cedarlake Townhome community since 2001. Now, after two decades in his home, he’s fighting tooth and nail to keep it, all because of a pressure-washing dispute that spiraled way out of control.
The trouble began during the pandemic, when Watson developed a phobia of mail and stopped checking his mailbox altogether. While that might sound quirky, the consequences in Georgia are no laughing matter. By the time he finally opened his mail in late 2022, he discovered that the HOA had piled on thousands in fines and legal fees, per The Daily Mail.
What started with minor violations, like leaving a bucket of water outside, storing a ladder too long, and, yes, algae on the siding, quickly ballooned into a staggering $6,000 bill. “Sounds unbelievable,” one person wrote online.
Georgia Man With Mail Phobia Fights HOA
And that was just the beginning. According to Watson, his HOA tacked on legal fees and penalties for things he insists he had already addressed, including pressure washing. He even borrowed equipment from a neighbor to clean his home, but because he didn’t “confirm in writing” that the job was done, the HOA treated it like it never happened. It sounds more like a bad sitcom plot than a real-life situation in Georgia, but sadly, it’s very real and very costly.
Watson, who survives on $20,000 a year in Social Security, now has a lien on his home. For context, the property is valued at around $250,000, and Watson still owes $120,000. That leaves him with roughly $130,000 in equity, but with the lien in place, he can’t sell, refinance, or borrow against it. “They haven’t filed for foreclosure, but the lien effectively traps me,” he explained. It’s a chilling example of how Georgia law gives HOAs the power to put homeowners in impossible situations.
If that wasn’t enough, Watson also claims the HOA has singled him out for years. He says they threatened him back in 2021 over his shutters, despite the fact that he had painted them just two years earlier. The board told him he’d be fined $2,200 if he didn’t repaint, a conveniently high number that sits just above the threshold for placing a lien. Out of frustration, he repainted them anyway, shelling out $150 to make the problem disappear.
He’s On A Fixed Income
However, the problems didn’t disappear; they only escalated. When Watson challenged the mounting fines, he found himself buried under legal costs, including $15,000 of his own money. Then came an outrageous settlement offer: the HOA’s lawyer would drop the $6,000 fine if Watson coughed up $15,000 for their legal fees, on top of his own. In other words, $30,000 just to end the saga. For a man on a fixed income, that’s downright crushing.
HOAs are notorious for flexing their power, but Georgia lawmakers are starting to notice how extreme things have gotten. Earlier this year, Rep. Sandra Scott introduced House Bill 62, the Georgia HOA Accountability and Community Empowerment Act, which aims to rein in these associations. As Scott put it, “You should not lose your home because of [an HOA] fee. We must have some accountability.”
For now, Watson is stuck in limbo, waiting to see if his Georgia home, the one he’s lived in for nearly 25 years, will ultimately be ripped away over algae, shutters, and a mail mix-up. It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder: are HOAs protecting neighborhoods, or are they simply flexing unchecked power at the expense of the very people they’re supposed to serve?
Sabrina Russell 
Nina Franklin 
Kenna Raye 
