‘That doesn’t make sense’: Woman’s HOA spends $18,700 on cleaning supplies in 4 months. Then she asks to see the receipts
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Individuals living in neighborhoods with homeowners associations (HOAs) usually have some complaints about the way that their community is managed and handled. But what happens when an HOA spends a questionable amount of money on something innocuous?
One woman is calling out her HOA for spending roughly $18,700 on cleaning supplies without providing a justification or cleaning invoices. Then she invoked the anger of at least one HOA member, who sent her a long email asking why she was looking into the “maintanence supply situation.”
Ashley (@legallyswiftie13) called out her HOA in a video with more than 242,000 views. After digging, the content creator said she found out that a large portion of money was missing from the total funds from its cleaning supply invoices, leading her to pay for a forensic audit.
Wait, what even is an HOA?
A homeowners association is an organization that “acts on behalf of a group of owners of homes. Those homes might be condos in a high-rise building, a row of townhomes, or a neighborhood of free-standing houses,” according to Britannica Money.
Britannica Money added that HOAs have a largely negative reputation. Individuals living in HOA-covered areas, for instance, usually have to pay fees toward the community. RottenHOA, a consumer advocacy platform, argues that excessive fines, mismanagement of funds, and poor communication are all reasons why people dislike HOAs.
Most HOAs have a board of directors, who are elected from the community at large. These community members can enforce community rules and have fiduciary power. Ashley clarified in one of her videos that she was one such member of her neighborhood's HOA board and that she initially ran as a joke. As of May 2026, Ashley was still a member of the board.
What did Ashley notice?
Ashley said she noticed that her HOA was doing “funny stuff” in July 2025. She said directly that she “caught them embezzling money.” She said in her most recent video that the HOA was spending an amount on cleaning supplies that was “enough to supply an NFL stadium.”
In her update video, she recapped her initial suspicions, saying, “between the months of February 2025 and June 2025, my HOA board spent $18,700.76 on cleaning supplies. I thought that seemed a bit odd.”
Ashley said that when she asked about the cleaning supplies, members of the board did not want to investigate the issue. She added that they claimed there wasn't an issue to begin with.
“They didn't just want me to stop looking into the cleaning supplies, they gaslit me into thinking I was crazy for thinking that this number was a bit off,” she said.
Ashley posted a few screenshots of emails that she said were from HOA board members. In the screenshots, one individual asked her, “What is the end result you are looking for?”
In a later email exchange that Ashley screenshotted, a board member said that she was making a “callous accusation,” regarding the supposed embezzlement.
@legallyswiftie13 Remember when we thought certain people on my HOA board might be embezzling money?
What did Ashley eventually investigate?
Ashley noticed that the invoices for cleaning supplies did not have quantities on them. So she investigated the situation further. After emailing the building manager, the cleaning vendor multiple times, and the HOA, she received copies of the “Staples receipts.” According to her, the total was not $18,700. It was $7,640 post-tax.
She accounted for a supposed 25% markup for the order, but it still came nowhere near the $18,700 total. She claimed that even with the 25% markup, the HOA was missing roughly $9,000 from the total.
“I'm not making any accusations about anybody, but a certain person is really calling for my removal from the board because the only way to stop the forensic audit is to get me off the board,” she said. “Too late, buddy. It's already paid for. It's almost done. I think you'd look really good in orange.”
How did commenters respond?
Viewers who saw Ashley's video generally said something was off with the HOA's numbers. For instance, one individual who claimed to work for a cleaning company said they spent nowhere near as much on supplies, despite having a commercial operation.
“I own a cleaning company, we do around $2M a year… we don't spend that much on supplies,” they said.
Other viewers pointed out that companies such as Staples may not have 25% markups to begin with.
“If you are buying bulk, there should be a markdown not a 25% markup,” another viewer said.
Does Ashley have any updates?
Since posting her cleaning supplies update, Ashley has said on her account that her HOA is facing a lawsuit. She clarified it was not because of an embezzlement scheme. Rather, she told her audience that the organization was facing a racism lawsuit.
In another video, Ashley said that living in an HOA is significantly worse than having a landlord.
“Gen Z and millennials devalue the HOA housing market because they refuse to pay a Karen to embezzle their funds through a fake/ghost landscaping company,” Ashley wrote in the video's caption.
She said that she plans to move in winter 2027. Until then, she has continued living in the same neighborhood, according to her posts.
Buzz News reached out to Ashley via TikTok direct message for more information.
