Home Owner's Association. They have them in most housing developments these days. They tell you what color you can paint your house, what kind of tree you can plant in your yard, what kind of grass you can or can't plant, how high your privacy fence has to be, that you can't park your car in the driveway overnight, that you can't put your trash receptacle out before 7:00 AM for the garbage truck to empty, etc. And for all of those rules and restrictions, you get to pay $XX a month to keep them in power over you.