Overview

More and more California homeowners are choosing to install solar panels, and for good reason. With rising utility rates and long-term savings that often make financial sense, solar has become as much an economic decision as an environmental one. Yet many homeowners still run into the same obstacle: an HOA board that says no, delays approval, or demands costly changes that make the project impractical.

California law does not leave this issue to the discretion of HOA boards. Civil Code sections 714, 714.1, and 4746 establish a clear statutory framework that strongly favors solar access. These statutes prohibit HOAs from adopting or enforcing any covenant, restriction, or rule that effectively prohibits the installation of a solar energy system. Notably, the law does not require a total ban to trigger protection. In fact, if an HOA attempts to enforce a solar panel-related restriction that will increase the total cost of the system by more than $1,000, or reduce the system’s expected electricity output by more than 10%, then the HOA cannot enforce its restrictions.

That distinction matters because a lot of bad HOAs have, by now, largely given up on attempting to enforce outright bans, and instead have focused on making it as difficult as possible for homeowners to install solar panels. To accomplish this indirect blocking, bad HOA boards have doubled down by relying on illegal provisions of their association’s architectural guidelines, aesthetic objections, delay tactics, or “compromise” conditions that sound reasonable but, in practice, increase costs or reduce performance beyond what the law permits. Under California law, those indirect tactics are just as unlawful as an outright ban.

This Fact Sheet explains when an HOA may impose restrictions, when it may not, what the $1,000 cost and 10% performance thresholds mean in practice, how the 45-day approval deadline operates, and what tools homeowners have to enforce their rights if their HOAs refuse to comply.

I’ve written a full-length article on your HOA and solar panels titled, “Can Your HOA Stop You from Going Solar? What California Law Really Says.” Or, if you prefer, you can watch an episode from my podcast, HOA HELL, by clicking here.

Key Points

The State of California does not treat solar access as just another architectural preference. The Legislature has declared a strong public policy favoring renewable energy and has enacted laws that dramatically restrict HOA authority accordingly. Civil Code sections 714 and 714.1, together with Civil Code 4746, which is part of the Davis–Stirling Act, do not merely guide HOA discretion. They constrain it. HOA boards may regulate installation procedures, but they may not impose restrictions that undermine the Legislature’s clear public policy in favor of solar energy.

• HOAs cannot directly or indirectly block your efforts to install solar panels. Civil Code 714 (along with 714.1 and 4746) reflects California’s strong public policy favoring solar access and prohibits HOAs from indirectly blocking installation. The statute does not require an outright ban to trigger protection. An HOA violates the law when it imposes any covenant, condition, or rule that effectively prohibits a solar energy system, whether directly or indirectly. That includes restrictions that make the project financially impractical, materially less efficient, or procedurally impossible. Courts evaluate the real-world impact of the restriction in light of the Legislature’s stated public policy favoring renewable energy, not the label that the HOA attaches to it.
• Your HOA can’t impose design changes that will cost you more than $1,000 more than the plan you submitted. An HOA may not require modifications that increase the total cost of the solar energy system by more than $1,000. This is not a guideline. It is a hard number required by Civil Code 714. If an HOA insists on alternate panel placement, custom trim, conduit relocation, screening structures, or other architectural adjustments that push the total system cost beyond that amount, the restriction becomes presumptively unreasonable and unenforceable. The HOA does not get to argue that the change improves aesthetics. The statute measures cost, not visual preference.
• Your HOA can’t force solar panel placement that reduces your system’s expected electricity output by more than 10%. Your HOA may not impose restrictions that reduce your solar system’s expected electricity output by more than 10%, measured in kilowatt hours. That threshold reflects the Legislature’s intent, through Civil Code 714, to prevent boards from undermining system performance by forcing you to reposition your planned panels under the guise of architectural harmony or aesthetics. If a proposed relocation or modification materially reduces production beyond that 10% statutory limit, the HOA cannot enforce it. Production data from the installer controls unless the HOA produces competent, contradictory evidence.
• Your HOA must approve or deny your solar application within 45 days or it loses the right to restrict it. An HOA must approve or deny a solar application within 45 calendar days. If the board fails to act within that timeframe, the application is deemed approved by operation of law. The HOA cannot extend the deadline by remaining silent, requesting informal revisions, or claiming later that you submitted an incomplete application. If the board believes the application lacks required information, it must formally deny it within the statutory window. Silence equals approval.
• Your HOA can’t use aesthetics as an excuse to override California’s solar protections. Aesthetic objections cannot override statutory protections. Civil Code 714 allows “reasonable restrictions,” but it defines reasonableness through the $1,000 cost and 10% output limits. An HOA cannot rely on architectural guidelines, design review standards, or generalized community character or aesthetic arguments to impose conditions that exceed those thresholds. If the condition increases cost beyond $1,000 or reduces output beyond 10%, the restriction fails regardless of how strongly your HOA prefers uniform rooflines.
• Your HOA can only impose real, evidence-based safety restrictions, not theoretical concerns. California law allows HOAs to impose restrictions necessary to protect health and safety, but the board must identify a real and articulable concern supported by credible evidence. A theoretical concern about roof penetration or visual impact does not satisfy this standard. So, an HOA may impose legitimate safety restrictions, but those restrictions must comply with Civil Code 714(c), including the requirement that they not significantly increase cost or reduce system efficiency.
• Condo owners have the right to install solar panels on common area roofs under Civil Code 4746. Civil Code 4746, part of the Davis–Stirling Act, specifically addresses solar installations on common area roofs and parking spaces in condominium developments. An HOA may require an owner to maintain insurance, accept maintenance responsibility, and record covenants addressing future liability. The HOA may not, however, deny installation simply because the roof qualifies as common area. This is a radical departure from most of the Davis-Stirling Act, which almost always allows HOA boards to prevent homeowners from doing anything to common area components. This departure drives home the strength of the public policy favoring solar panels and other alternative energy solutions. You can read more about California’s solar panel laws as they pertain to condominiums in my Fact Sheet titled “Can a California HOA Deny Solar Panels on a Condo Roof?”
• Courts enforce California’s strong public policy in favor of solar access, not board preferences. Courts uphold restrictions only when they comply with the statutory cost, performance, and timing thresholds and when they do not undermine the Legislature’s clear preference for renewable energy. Courts reject restrictions that impose burdens substantially outweighing their benefits, conflict with statutory protections, or attempt to dilute the policy favoring solar panel use through bad faith conditions masked as legitimate HOA concerns.
• Bad HOAs attempt indirect obstruction instead of outright bans. Many bad HOAs now avoid explicit denials and instead rely on delays, unwritten (and illegal) conditions, repeated revision demands, or vague “compromise” or aesthetic requirements. These tactics do not change the statutory framework. If the restriction exceeds cost or output thresholds or violates the 45-day approval deadline, the HOA loses the right to enforce it and you can install your solar panels regardless of what your board might be telling you.
• Civil Code 714 provides real enforcement remedies. If your HOA violates your right to install solar panels and you’re forced to take legal action to compel the HOA to permit you to install your solar system, when you prevail, you are entitled not only to your actual damages, but also statutory penalties of up to $1,000, as well as your attorneys’ fees and costs. The fee-shifting provision significantly alters the leverage dynamic when an HOA refuses to comply with the law.

California law does not leave solar access to HOA discretion. It establishes defined cost limits, defined performance thresholds, defined timelines, and defined enforcement remedies. An HOA may reasonably regulate installation procedures, but only within the limited confines of the law. HOAs may not, however, block, burden, or erode your statutory right to go solar. If your HOA delays, denies, or conditions your solar installation in violation of California law, call us at MBK Chapman, and we’ll set your HOA straight. As the leading HOA lawyers in California, we’re experts at enforcing a homeowner’s right to install solar panels on their roof.

FAQs

About MBK Chapman Fact Sheets

Homeowners searching for answers online will often come across articles that appear authoritative, but are actually written as search-engine marketing content rather than by an experienced HOA lawyer. These pieces tend to prioritize keyword density over clarity, accuracy, or legal context, which often leaves homeowners more confused than informed.

At MBK Chapman, our Fact Sheets are part of our HOA Law Library and are written by Michael Kushner, an HOA lawyer with decades of hands-on experience representing California homeowners. In fact, Michael Kushner is the HOA lawyer who pioneered the systems and strategies used by some of California’s most successful homeowner-side HOA law firms.

Each Fact Sheet is deliberately concise, statute-based, and designed as a quick-reference guide to help homeowners understand key HOA laws and enforcement rules at a glance.

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