INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI -- A property management company of a 55 and older housing development in Missouri has banned residents from decorating their duplexes with outside Christmas lights and yard decorations.
Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the MACO Management Company on behalf of residents at Grandview Estates, a HUD-subsidized residential complex. MACO Management has prohibited residents from decorating their duplexes with outside Christmas decorations, including lights and yard decorations. Nothing in the lease agreement or regulations supports such a ban and residents have previously displayed Christmas lights and yard decorations for many years.
MACO originally banned Christmas light and decorations citing “Government’s Fair Housing rules. Everyone in the complex is funded in part by Government funds, so we are required to follow their rules.” However, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has no such rule.