It isn't until election season that some people realize they've signed away some of their free-speech rights.

These are people who rent houses or apartments or who have bought property in a community governed by a homeowners association, and who -- whether they knew it or not at the time -- put their name on agreements that limit political expression.

Moriah O'Brien was frustrated to find out recently that the owners of the town house she rents in Blacksburg's Maple Ridge community could keep her from posting election signs.

The Virginia Tech junior asked permission to post signs for Democratic candidates in her windows and was told she couldn't. Manager Candy Lane confirmed Friday that Maple Ridge leases ban residents from displaying posters, flags and election signs in windows or on the grounds.

The restriction on lawn signs is to prevent a tripping hazard, Lane said. But she wouldn't comment on the window policy, saying she couldn't speak for the owners of Maple Ridge.

O'Brien said staff in the rental office told her that under fair-housing rules if they allowed election signs, they'd have to allow other posters, flags and signs, including the Confederate flag.

While O'Brien said she wouldn't want to see offensive signs in the neighborhood, she believes the ban on election signs curtails political participation of students and others who can't afford to buy their own homes.

Kent Willis, director of the Virginia office of the American Civil Liberties Union, agreed. "She has a right to feel disenfranchised. It's a sad state of affairs that renters don't have constitutional rights to use their property to express their political views," Willis said.

While local, state and federal governments by law cannot ban or remove such signs, the owners of the property can, Willis said.

Depending on how a particular lease is worded, "not only can the owner keep you from posting a sign, but the owner can put a sign in the yard you rent, even if you disagree with it," Willis said.

Many, but not all, rental communities in Blacksburg ban lawn and window signs. Maple Ridge, Foxridge and Terrace View disallow them.

But Paula and Keith Bolte of Bolte Development do not. Political signs are allowed in the windows of all their rental properties. Lawn signs, however, are not permitted at apartment complexes, Paula Bolte said.

About 75 percent of all Blacksburg housing stock is rented, according to town records. And more than 17,000 Virginia Tech students live off-campus, many of them in rental housing.

If those students or other renters sign a lease that bans election signs, they have in effect waived some of their constitutional rights.

Even some property owners across Virginia find they have inadvertently signed away some of their free-speech rights when they join homeowners associations.

The ACLU often gets calls from homeowners who move into such communities and find out political signs are banned, Willis said.

In Blacksburg's Woodbine neighborhood, the homeowners association bylaws prohibit political signs, but the ban is not enforced, resident Frank Lau said.

This year the General Assembly considered a bill that would make it illegal for homeowners associations to ban election signs on private property. But it stalled in committee. Willis said the bill may be reintroduced when the legislature reconvenes.

Bottom line: Read that lease or homeowners association contract carefully before signing it, Willis said.

That's not a good enough solution for O'Brien, however.

"When you pay your rent every month, you shouldn't have to shop around for your First Amendment rights," she said.

But Lane of Maple Ridge offered another solution: "Why not buy a bumper sticker? That's their property ... and nobody can do anything about it."