question: how do “Homeowners Associations” exist.. how can regular people in a neighbourhood dictate who moves in or how you paint your house or landscape your property?
comment: They are established when the development is built, and buyers agree to be bound to their rules. Any new buyers must also agree to abide by their rules as part of the purchase. Owners have the ability to voice their concern or run for the HOA if they don’t like the policies.
passages: Deed restrictions apply to purchasers of residential interests within such communities pursuant to a recorded Declaration, By-Laws, Covenants and Restrictions and/or Rules and Regulations for the particular community. Associations and all owners therein are subject to state statutes enacted for the particular form of community. Thus, compliance with such restrictions is mandatory and will be enforce by an applicable court of law and/or arbitration unless such restrictions are declared to be invalid or otherwise illegal.
   The majority of associations are structured to include a chair, vice-chair, secretary, treasurer and committee members. These positions are decided by way of nominations at an annual meeting when they can be challenged/altered.
   BULLET::::- In Wales, the regulation and funding of housing associations is carried out by the Welsh Government.
   Neighborhood councils within a city, whose officers are generally elected, are composed of various neighborhood associations and, as such, may be subject to limitations and special rules set up by the council.
  
  Neighborhood associations are more likely to be formed in older, established neighborhoods, especially those that predate HOAs. HOAs are generally established at the time a residential neighborhood is built and sold. Sometimes older established neighborhoods form an HOA to help regulate rules and standards.
   "It is obvious from the complaints [to DCA] that that [home]owners did not realize the extent association rules could govern their lives."
  
  "Curiously, with rare exceptions, when the State has notified boards of minimal association legal obligation to owners, they dispute compliance. In a disturbing number of instances, those owners with board positions use their influence to punish other owners with whom they disagree. The complete absence of even minimally required standards, training or even orientations for those sitting on boards and the lack of independent oversight is readily apparent in the way boards exercise control"
   Depending on the governing documents, HOA boards may create committees, such as an "architectural control committee" (this is a very common one, and frequently this committee has the ultimate authority to approve or deny a building request), a pool committee, a neighborhood watch committee, etc.
   The legal forms of residential associations include homeowner associations, condominium associations, cooperative associations and mobile home associations. Thus, state laws are enacted to address specific types of associations applicable to the type of communities and relationships between the governing association and its constituents.
  
  Section::::Florida law.
  
  In Florida there are statutes under Ch. 718, "The Condominium Act", Ch. 719, regarding Co-Operative ownership, Ch. 720, governing Homeowner Associations, and Ch. 721, controlling laws for Mobile Homes. The laws for such associations continually evolve to address important legal and socioeconomic matters.
   BULLET::::- In England, housing associations are funded and regulated by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the exception being funding in London which from April 2012 is the responsibility of the Greater London Authority. The HCA's predecessor until 2008 was the Housing Corporation. The Housing Corporation's regulatory role was split out to a separate body from 2010, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), but merged again into the HCA from April 2012.
  
  BULLET::::- In Northern Ireland, the same role is carried out by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
  
  BULLET::::- In Scotland, this function is fulfilled by the Scottish Government.
   Education requirements for managers varies from state to state, with some requiring certification under all circumstances and others having a more lenient approach. For instance, while California does not require HOA managers to be certified, it does require that managers meet certain educational requirements to claim certification.
  
  Section::::Operation.:Powers.
  
  Through its board an HOA will provide some level of amenities (though differing greatly between HOAs), regulate activities within a development, levy assessments, and may (if authorized by CC&Rs or a state legislature) impose fines for noncompliance.
   Section::::Operation.:Board of directors.
  
  The HOA will be governed by a board of directors.
   According to Donald R. Stabile, the explosion in the number of CIDs (many of which were based on homeowners' associations) was strongly influenced by a 1964 publication (TB 50) by the Urban Land Institute. This technical bulletin was funded by the National Association of Home Builders and by certain federal agencies: the FHA, the United States Public Health Service, the Office of Civil Defense, the Veterans Administration, and the Urban Renewal Administration.
   A feature of housing associations is that, although the larger housing associations usually have paid staff, a committee or board of management made up of volunteers, or paid non-executive members, has overall responsibility for the work of the organisation. A board might include residents, representatives from local authorities and community groups, business people and politicians. There are more than 30,000 voluntary board members running housing associations throughout England.
  
  Section::::Funding and regulation.
   The Very Reverend James P. Morton, or Dean Morton, a progressive minister working at St. John the Divine, hosted a symposium in fall of 1972. There, led by I.Donald Terner, an urban studies professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the idea of creating viable form of urban homesteading for the city's beleaguered renters was born.
  
  UHAB was founded in April 1974.
  
  Section::::Government contracts.
   The Council is responsible for ensuring that the interests of consumers who use the services of real estate licensees are adequately protected against wrongful actions by the licensees. A wrongful action may be deliberate or may be the consequence of inadequate exercise of reasonable judgment by a licensee in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.
   Residents' association
  
  Residents' associations are organisations formed by groups of people from a specific geographic community who come together to address issues within their local area and act as a voice for their local community. In one form or another they have existed since the mid nineteenth century. In many cases they were founded within newer communities, for example as new settlements were built in British Commonwealth countries, and in the UK many residents' associations were formed by the newcomer-residents of the housing estates that proliferated between the World Wars.
   Of great concern is the fact that several court decisions have held that private actors may restrict individuals' exercise of their rights on private property. A 2007 decision in New Jersey held that private residential communities had the right to place reasonable limitations on political speech, and that in doing so, they were not acting as municipal governments. With few exceptions, courts have held private "actors" are not subject to constitutional limitations — that is, enforcers of private contracts are not subject to the same constitutional limitations as police officers or courts.
   The term "neighborhood association" is sometimes incorrectly used instead of homeowners association. But neighborhood associations are not homeowners associations - groups of property owners with the legal authority to enforce rules and regulations that focus on restrictions and building and safety issues. A neighborhood association is a group of neighbors and business owners who work together for changes and improvements such as neighborhood safety, beautification and social activities. They reinforce rules and regulations through education, peer pressure and by looking out for each other. Some key differences include:
   Homeowners have challenged political speech restrictions in associations that federal or state constitutional guarantees as rights, claiming that certain private associations are "de facto" municipal governments and should therefore be subject to the same legal restrictions.
   Disadvantages to homeowners may include the financial burden of association fees, punitive fines, and costs of maintaining appearance standards; restrictions on property use and personal autonomy; and the potential for mismanagement by the board, including the possibility of arbitrary or heavy-handed enforcement of rules.
  
  Section::::Impact.:Reasonable Rules and Regulations.
  
  The association should always try to be reasonable with its rules by following standardized guidelines.
  
  The association should make every effort to enforce rules uniformly and consistently, taking into account the consequences that may arise if this is not practiced routinely, such as warnings and fines.
   Another key element in some forms of housing cooperatives (but not Finnish housing companies, for example) is that the members, through their elected representatives, screen and select who may live in the cooperative, unlike any other form of home ownership. 
   Licensing & Consumer Services serves buyers of new homes and people arranging for new homes to be built, homeowners (particularly owners of homes covered by home warranty insurance), developers, residential builders, building envelope renovators and owner builders. In undertaking its activities they also works closely with warranty providers, building officials, industry and related consumer associations, all levels of government, educational institutions, research organizations, architects, engineers, property managers, the legal community and the real estate community.br
   In "The Voluntary City", published by the libertarian Independent Institute, Donald J. Boudreaux and Randall G. Holcombe argue that homeowners associations do not necessarily have advantages over traditional governments. They note that the association's creator, e.g. a developer, has an incentive to set up a government structured in such a way as to maximize profits and thus increase the selling price of the property. If a certain decision would increase the selling price of certain parcels and decrease the selling price of others, the developer will choose the option that yields his project the highest net income. This may result in suboptimal outcomes for the homeowners.
   Housing associations may be constituted using various forms of legal entity. Many are industrial and provident societies, but there are also trusts, co-operatives and companies. They may or may not be registered charities.
   Section::::Operation.:Governance.
  
  Usually HOAs are structured as private corporations or private unincorporated associations (commonly as non-profit ones). HOAs are governed by federal and state statutes applicable to corporations (or unincorporated associations if so structured), as well as the HOA's own "governing documents".
  
  The HOA's governing documents generally "run with the land", which means that all current and future owners of property within the HOA will be bound by them as a condition of property ownership. They usually include:
   Section::::Alternative to CIDs.
  
presuppositions: HOA dictates who moves in or how you paint your house or landscape your property.
corrections: HOA doesn't dictate, because home owners have the ability to voice their concern to HOA.
raw_presuppositions: Home buyers do not agree to abide by HOA rules when purchasing a house. Regular people in a neighbourhood dictate who moves in or how your property is painted or landscaped. HOA dictates who moves in or how you paint your house or landscape your property.
raw_corrections: New home buyers agree to abide by HOA rules when a house is purchased.  Regular people in a neighbourhood do not dictate who moves in or how your property is painted or landscaped but new buyers agree to abide by their rules as part of the purchase.  HOA doesn't dictate, because home owners have the ability to voice their concern to HOA.