Not true at all.
City, county, and municipal ordinances dictate the standards for how property is maintained. In some cases HOA's do (home owner's associations).
Bottom line, know the prevailing laws before you buy the property; ignorance does not excuse you from abiding by them.
I DID know when I moved to Mahwah what I was getting into. Mahwah you see was the "chicken farmers" town. None of these regulations were on the books.
I don't blame people for their critical and hostile comments because they were not given the truth. It did sell a lot of papers though I bet ;-)