Going solar with a condo or a townhome

As the solar revolution continues to grow, owners of condo, lofts, and townhomes felt left out because they usually had to battle their homeowner's associations to add solar. Times are changing though. HOAs are welcoming solar and in some states, they don't even factor into the equation. So here is an article on the going solar in a condo, and how to deal with HOAs and their regulations.
 

Can My HOA Prevent Me From Installing Solar Panels?

An HOA will only prevent you from installing solar panels if your state requires approval for the installation and then rejects the proposal. 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.
 

What solar access rights look like in different states

There are two major types of solar access rights that protect a citizen’s rights to go solar: solar access laws and solar easements. Both protect your ability to generate solar electricity for your home, but each addresses a different roadblock for homeowners.
 

This way the installation can be on a common roof
 
If a condo owner wants to install solar panels on their own rooftop, adjacent garage, or carport, HOAs can no longer prohibit them or require a member vote for approval. If a condo owner wants to install solar panels onto a common rooftop, garage, or carport, the condo owners might require a solar site survey before the installations. 

The survey determines the breakdown of usable space among all homeowners sharing the area designated for potential solar hardware.
 
While rules on the appearance of buildings and surrounding property is a great way to ensure community standards, many times these rules can restrict people in ways that were never intended.

Thanks to these new laws, California HOAs can’t obstruct solar installations on their properties.  Under the new law, HOAs cannot prohibit solar installations. They must conform to the state solar policy. Here is a quick summary of the law. Covering a parking lot, for example. Everyone gets their own designated solar panels and even though they are all tied together, condo owners won’t end up paying for their neighbors’ electricity.
 

Solar Access Laws

Solar access laws are state-level laws that prohibit or limit restrictions on solar installations. If you live in a state that has a solar access law, your HOA cannot legally prohibit you from installing solar on your property.

That being said, while solar access laws protect property owners from being denied the right to install solar on their roof, they vary from state to state. In most cases, HOAs still have the right to place restrictions on how you install solar on your property.

If you want to move into the future and join the solar revolution, or if you want to find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years.

For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.