The main concern of hoa boards are that solar panels may drastically lower home values especially in cases where only a few homes within a community have panels installed.
Hoa solar panels.
Community officials believe solar panels change the pre planned aesthetics and landscape of the neighborhood and generally look out of place.
The cost saving benefits of the usage of solar energy and the reduction of the carbon footprint of a neighborhood are excellent reasons why homeowners consider solar energy.
For example some solar access laws allow hoas to retain the right to influence the design of a rooftop solar array.
In some cases an hoa may deny you for aesthetic reasons.
The key is to check your state s solar access rights to see if it can prevent you from going solar.
An hoa will only prevent you from installing solar panels if your state requires approval for the installation and then rejects the proposal.
Click on your state below to learn more about local solar access laws.
In many cases hoa members may still need to request permission before installing their solar panels and ensure all electrical wiring is out of sight.
Solar panels clearly fall within this definition.
Many homeowners discover after the fact that their request to install solar is denied by homeowners association board members due to clauses written in their hoa bylaws.
So long as you comply with reasonable restrictions those are stated in civil code 714 1 and 4746 an hoa cannot arbitrarily deny homeowners seeking to install solar energy systems.