HOA In-Home Business Fail

January 3, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster

No doubt that as HOA leaders, we all have HOA properties in which small businesses operate within the walls of our townhomes and condos and co-ops, possibly even if the rules and regs limit or prohibit such operation. If the board rules unevenly against one business and not another, things can go decidedly sideways. For example, consider this case out of Boise, Idaho, as reported by news outlet BoiseDev:

Two Rivers Homeowners Association emerged victorious in a two-year-long legal fight over the operation of an in-home business, but now the homeowners asked federal housing discrimination investigators to examine the case. At the end of 2023, the Two Rivers Subdivision HOA filed a complaint with Ada County’s Fourth District Court against Yuriy Buchinskiy and his wife, Valentina Buchinskiy, aiming to force them to stop operating their small businesses out of their home in the upscale subdivision. The HOA said they violated the CC&Rs that block any businesses from operating in Two Rivers to keep the area specifically for residents and their visitors, not business traffic.

So we have an HOA couple, who happen to be Ukranian, who operated a clothing alteration business (tailor) out of their HOA. This apparently goes against the covenants, conditions and regulations of the development. But at its core, the couple felt discriminated against, as there are a considerable number of other small businesses operating within the HOA’s walls that were not similarly confronted.

A cornerstone of the Buchinskiys’ legal argument in the case was that the HOA applied its ban on business unevenly. They pointed to more than 100 businesses registered in the subdivision, including one LLC registered to Two Rivers HOA Board President Kevin Zasio and six registered to Eagle City Council Member Craig Kvamme and his wife, who also serves on the HOA board. They argued that these registered businesses, no matter if they are only mailing addresses or other homes being used for meeting with customers, show the HOA is not forcing compliance with the subdivision’s rules evenly.

This does seem a bit complex. On the one hand, a small business that generates ingress and egress traffic is different than that of a small business that is, say, a consultancy in which no traffic is generated. It’s a real dilemma for boards if they don’t decide to crack down with rules in hand across the spectrum.

Last February, the couple filed a counterclaim against the HOA regarding a decision made by the board to allow for rentability of the property’s guesthouse:

When this argument failed, the couple filed a counterclaim in February against the HOA, alleging the neighborhood’s decision to rent out the clubhouse violates the ban on “any grade, business or professional activity.” These rules date back to the founding of the neighborhood and its HOA in 2000, according to legal filings.

A discrimination lawsuit was then filed:

Yuriy Buchinskiy told BoiseDev the HOA said they intended to drop the pursuit of damages, but no paperwork has been formally filed yet with the court. He and his wife filed a housing discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in March of this year over the HOA’s enforcement of the in-home business rules.

You can read the whole story HERE.