I guess what I meant mostly when such rules are imposed (your house can only look like this and that from the outside), they would come from a public administration like a city (like in my case) or regional government - not a private org like an HOA. Very probably associations like that exist everywhere in some shape or form, but I figure at least in my country they would have much less power because there tend to be just laws for that. I meanr it's very unlikely for the city government to complain about my windows because my building isn't owned by them and it really looks very inconspicuous from the outside. And I can't think of a government department that goes around the city checking for ugly windows and writing them up like parking tickets. There is a construction police, but this is not the kind of thing they are watching for...