Q: I live in a community with a homeowner's association and want to put some solar panels on my roof to be more energy-efficient. Our board members aren't letting me because they say it would violate the rules about how our community is supposed to look. Can they stop me from doing this?
_ Anonymous
A: No. The law gives your community's rules and restrictions a strong presumption of being valid and enforceable, mostly because you voluntarily agreed to follow them. However, even with that presumption, there are some issues that supersede those HOA rules. Energy efficiency is an important public policy issue, and legislation has been enacted specifically to allow certain improvements, such as solar panels and clotheslines, even when a community's rules forbid them.
Homeowner associations are created by the recording of a set of rules and restrictions in the public records, usually by a developer before homes are first sold in the community. Because the homeowners are buying the properties with the restriction in place, they are, in effect, agreeing to live with, and be bound by, those rules and restrictions. They are viewed as a contract with your community. Rules can be changed if enough of the community's owners approve. It's important to remember that when you choose to buy a property in a community association, you agree to follow the rules. If you don't, there can be consequences ranging from fines to foreclosure.
A historic example of this legal doctrine concerns discrimination. It was common before the civil rights movement in the middle of the last century for communities to forbid the sale of properties to racial and religious minorities. Now, of course, such discrimination is banned.
In your case, you should gently ask your board to check with its attorney to confirm this information. You shouldn't have a problem, at least if your association wants to follow the law.
