Assholes leaving house without maintenance for 8 years and letting it become eyesore are the reason to have HOA. With HOA owner would have got escalating fines for not keeping up house up to community standards and house would have been foreclosed in a year or so. No need to burn it down.
Look, if you care about what your neighbours house looks like, then go move to some US suburb.
In most rural areas in the world if you don't like what your neighbours house looks like you can go pound sand. People generally like the fact that noone can tell them what they do on their own property.
