October 29, 2025 | Mark Luis Foster
Unless you’re in an HOA neighborhood that has considerable traffic due to garage sales, holiday light shows, or other touristy-type attractions, it is likely hard to imagine the impact such events may have on residents. In Lakeville where I live, there are several nearby neighborhoods that may or may not be in HOAs that bring in seemingly hundreds of gawkers during the Christmas holiday, with long lines of cars coursing through the streets to ogle at lawns filled with LEDs and Santa’s motor-controlled reindeer. I always wonder how the more private residents on their street feel about such things.
So what to do about a haunted house in an HOA that attracts similar crowds during the Halloween season? From the Herald and News in Oregon:
Tori Hayman and Jake Aaron have been hosting a steadily growing haunted house at their home in Falcon Heights for the past five years. The young couple said their production, “Nightmare on Preddy,” is a well-attended, free, family friendly event open to everyone. With advertisements and planning for this year’s haunt starting back in April, Hayman said it was a shock when, last Monday, she and her partner received a notice from the Falcon Heights Condominium Association.
Uh oh. The dreaded notice from the board. What’s it about?
The notice states that hosting a public event like Nightmare on Preddy would violate their community bylaws and put the association at risk of possible liabilities.
You gotta love “Nightmare on Preddy.” Clever indeed. And the owners contend they’ve been hosting this event for five years running with no troubles, but the board now feels it became a business enterprise with underpinnings of potential insurance issues.
“When we got the letter last Monday, they stated that it was because it is a business enterprise, because I do own my own business, and I promote it on my business page,” Hayman said.
There was a hearing from the board scheduled, but it was canceled, and then the insurance horse reared up:
“The board contacted our insurance agent to explore possible alternatives including obtaining event insurance that might permit the event to move forward,” the board wrote in response. “However, after reviewing the details and public advertising of the proposed event, the agent strongly advised against it.”
Things got worse. The haunted event went ahead and the HOA hired security guards to scare away traffic.
“Friday was absolutely terrible,” Hayman said. “I probably watched between 100 and 150 cars get turned away.”
So what would you do? If it’s clearly a violation of covenants, then the board did the right thing. If the resident was allowed to do this for five years, do they have a point to be able to continue? You be the judge.
Read the whole spooky thing HERE.
