Can my HOA stop me from installing solar panels in Utah?

Sometimes an HOA can stop you installing solar in Utah, yes. That surprises people, because solar salespeople often say state law guarantees your right to install. It does not, quite.

Utah Code § 57-8a-701 protects you from an association’s rules. It does not protect you from its declaration. Which document your restriction lives in decides the entire question, and it is the first thing to check.

This matters more here than in most of the state, because so much of Washington County is governed by associations, including nearly all of the newer growth areas.

The distinction that decides it

An association’s rules cannot ban solar. The statute says no governing document other than a declaration may prohibit an owner of a lot with a detached dwelling from installing a solar energy system. Rules, regulations, design guidelines, board policies — none of those can impose a ban. That distinction between statute and governing documents runs through the whole subject, and Utah’s HOA laws sets out the rest of it.

This comes up hardest in communities with design review. Pepperwood is guard-gated with a substantial amenity set, and Maple Hills and The Cove at Herriman Springs both carry associations that maintain shared assets — so read the design guidelines, not just the CC&Rs.

A declaration can. Your CC&Rs are not covered by that protection. If the prohibition is written into the declaration, it stands.

So when a board tells you solar is not allowed here, the useful question is not whether they are right. It is: which document says so? Ask them to point you to it. A prohibition sitting in the design guidelines is a different situation from one sitting in the CC&Rs.

An association can vote a ban in

This is the part almost nobody mentions, and it is worth knowing before you invest in a system.

An association may amend its declaration to impose a prohibition with the approval of at least 67% of allocated voting interests. It may amend an existing prohibition away with at least 51%.

The practical consequence: an association that permits solar today can prohibit it later, with a supermajority. That is a meaningful risk if you are counting on adding panels in a few years rather than now. It is also why the minutes of recent association meetings are worth reading — they tell you what a community is actually arguing about.

Attached dwellings are protected only conditionally

If your home shares a building — a townhome or condominium — the protection is narrower and comes with conditions that must all be met:

• The association must have no ownership interest in the roof or building exterior
• The association must have no maintenance, repair or replacement obligation for the roof or building exterior
• Every owner in the building must agree to the installation

In practice, that last condition is the one that stops most attached-dwelling installations. If the association maintains your roof — which is common in townhome communities — the protection does not apply at all.

Even where solar is allowed, conditions can be attached

Permission is not the end of it. Where an association allows solar, the statute still lets it impose real conditions:

• Require compliance with applicable building and electrical standards
• Require roof-mounted panels not to extend above the roof line, or to match the roof’s color and texture
• Require ground-mounted systems not to be visible from the street
• Charge you the reasonable cost of reviewing your application
• Make you jointly and severally liable for enforcement costs

None of these are unreasonable on their face. Together they can change what you are able to install, where you can put it, and what it costs — which is why plans should go to the association before equipment is ordered, not after.

The condition that surprises people most

An association can require you to record a deed restriction against your lot, running with the land, indemnifying the association for any loss or damage caused by the system, including attorney fees.

Read that twice. It runs with the land. It does not end when you sell, and it becomes something a future buyer’s attorney or title company will see.

That is not a reason to abandon the idea. It is a reason to read what you are signing, and to understand that a solar installation in a covenanted community can leave a permanent mark on your title.

The 5% test is narrower than people think

You will hear that an association cannot restrict solar if doing so reduces output by more than 5%. That is roughly right but often misstated.

The test applies to restrictions on a system’s size, location or manner of placement. Such a restriction is permitted where it decreases production by 5% or less and increases installation cost by 5% or less.

Both conditions, not either. And it governs how a system is placed — it is not a general override that forces an association to permit solar it has properly prohibited in its declaration.

What to actually do, in order

1. Read your declaration first. Before you get quotes, before you talk to an installer. Do not rely on what a neighbor did or what a board member said. If you cannot find your CC&Rs, the management company or the county recorder has them.

2. Ask which document any restriction lives in. Rules and declaration are different animals. Get the answer in writing.

3. Read recent meeting minutes. They will tell you whether solar is a live argument in your community, and whether an amendment is being discussed.

4. Submit plans and get written approval before ordering anything. Verbal approval from a board member is worth nothing later — not to the association, and not to a buyer’s agent reviewing your file at resale.

5. Read any deed restriction before you sign it. Understand that it survives your ownership.

6. Keep the paperwork. Approval letters, plans, permits, warranties. You will want them when you sell, and reconstructing them years later is unpleasant.

Why this matters at resale, not just at installation

This is the part I care about most, because it is where I see it go wrong.

A solar installation that never received written association approval is a defect in your file. When you sell, a buyer’s agent asks for the approval, and if it does not exist, you are explaining an unpermitted alteration in the middle of a transaction. That is a bad moment to discover the paperwork was never done.

Improvements that are documented add value; improvements that raise questions do not. The same panels, with and without an approval letter, are two different assets.

If you are buying a home in this county that already has solar, ask for the association approval alongside everything else. A thorough southern Utah inspection covers the roof and the systems, but no inspector will tell you whether the HOA signed off.

I am Kelsey Earl, a Realtor with Keller Williams South Valley, and the pattern I see is a signed solar contract before anyone read the CC&Rs. Reverse that order and this is a short conversation instead of an expensive one.

What to do next

If you are weighing solar on a home in an association here, read your declaration before you take a sales call. It is the single step that determines whether the rest of the conversation is worth having, and it costs you an hour.

And the money side of solar changed twice recently — the federal credit and how exported power is credited — so the HOA question is only half of what you need to know before signing anything.

If you are buying or selling a home here that has panels on it, send me the address and I will tell you what to ask for before it becomes a problem at closing.

(Utah Code § 57-8a-701, Solar Access, as amended by Chapter 207, 2025 General Session, effective 7 May 2025. This is general information, not legal advice — for a specific property, read that property’s declaration and take advice on it.)