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What Neighbors Are Complaining About Now: Zombies

Whether it’s unmowed lawns or over-the-top holiday light displays, it often doesn’t take much to rile up the neighbors. The latest offense: A Nashville, TN, couple may have dug their own graves by placing a zombie sculpture in their front yard, next to the driveway.

Jim Grinstead and his wife received a letter last week from the Bayview Homeowners Association, which is dead set on their removing Clawed, the zombie that looks like he’s, um, clawing his way out of the ground. The dead dude has “lived” on the couple’s property for the past five years, but was moved from his previous location by the front door last week after they finished landscaping their yard.

“He’s kind of part of our family,” says Grinstead, 61, a construction industry publisher who has lived in the middle-class neighborhood for the past nine years. “When you go out and decorate your lawn with flowers or birdbaths or whatever, it reflects who you are and how others see you. Humor is a big thing for us.”

But their HOA isn’t laughing. (No brains for them!) Calls to the group were not immediately returned.

The HOA’s letter, dated April 20, states that during a recent inspection of the community, “it was noted that there is a zombie in your yard that needs to be removed” and that if the couple didn’t comply, they could be charged for it.

Grinstead wasn’t pleased with the tone of the letter.

“It seems they should have some way of approaching people in a more neighborly fashion,” says the “Walking Dead” fan.

The couple looked into taking the undead dispute to court, but decided to drop it—leaving Clawed’s final resting place up in the air.

It’s extremely difficult for homeowners to win legal battles against their HOA—even when the fate of a beloved undead character is at stake, says Evan McKenzie, author of “Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government.”

“Homeowner associations are very powerful,” says McKenzie, also a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“They can [stop] people from doing things that could potentially hurt property values,” he says, explaining that HOA rules are often all that stands in the way of neighbors painting their home bright purple or moving their extended family into a trailer in their driveway. “But they can go overboard.”

When they do, homeowners often don’t have grounds to protest because they typically signed contracts with the HOA, agreeing to its rules and restrictions on the maintenance and appearance of their homes, when they bought their residences.

And if the homeowners lose their legal battle, they’re responsible for paying their HOA’s legal fees in addition to their own—which can quickly reach tens of thousands of dollars.

“You have to be very sure you are right before you go forward [with a lawsuit], and you have to be very sure it’s worth it,” McKenzie says.

Despite the Grinsteads’ decision to drop the legal dispute, Clawed’s days of terrorizing the neighbors may not be over.

“If I tell you what I’m going to do, I may get in trouble again,” says the tight-lipped Grinstead. “He will find a home where he can live happily and safely outside. He may end up on someone else’s property; you just never know.”

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Can’t get enough crazy neighbor complaints? Neither can we. Check out these stories:

When a Festive Display of Christmas Lights Sets Off the Neighbors

This Neighbor Battle Is a Real Chicken Fight

What Made One Man Leave an Obnoxious Sign on His Lawn?

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