Maryland HOA is fining a family $50 a day for Christmas decorations

A Germantown homeowner’s association is waging war on one family’s Christmas display, doling out $50 daily fines for decorations it considers to be a nuisance.

The Salgados said they toned down this year’s display, having cut down on inflatables and other large decorations as seen in pictures provided to WRC-TV, but the fines have been levied regardless.

“Each year our family has a display, and it gets bigger and changes each year, but this year we did tone it down — by a lot,” Supuli Salgado told the station.

The official rules of the Middlebrook Manor South HOA do not ban Christmas decorations or lights outright, according to WJLA-TV, but do prohibit decorative lawn ornaments, loud noises and lights outside the boundary of the homeowner’s property. The Salgados say their decorations are compliant with those restrictions.

“Just some lights and a manger in our garden area of our house, not even on the lawn. The lights are strictly within our boundaries of our land. It’s not going outside. It’s not touching anybody’s yard,” Pahan Salgado told WJLA.

Mr. Salgado also told WRC that “this is not a nuisance or annoyance to the community. … It’s not even making any sounds. It’s completely silent.”

Ms. Salgado told WDVM-TV that the association sent the family a letter saying the display was nevertheless “an annoyance and nuisance to the neighborhood,” dealing out an initial fine of $650 and $50 added each day the decorations were not removed.

The Middlebrook Manor South homeowner’s association told WJLA: “The Association’s goal is to support a safe, respectful, and well-maintained community while ensuring the Association’s governing documents are enforced uniformly and in accordance with Maryland law. The Association does not comment on specific homeowners or individual enforcement actions.”

Nearby resident Jade Johnson told WDVM that she thinks the HOA is “just being nitpicky. Maybe because they have more decorations than a lot of the other people on the block, but it’s still on their property.”

The Salgados have hired attorney David Gardner, who told WRC, “You can see as you go through the neighborhood, there are other homes with similar displays. They might not be as nice or extravagant, but this is a very attractive, traditional Christmas display, and they’re essentially being selectively singled out for enforcement, and we’re going to challenge that, and I would fully expect a court to agree.”

A neighbor of the Salgados, who put up a lit-up reindeer decoration, has also received a letter from the association warning of fines if the reindeer isn’t removed, according to WRC.