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Homeowners associations are becoming more common in New York and throughout the Northeast. And one of the most common questions we get from homeowners who live in an HOA is some version of: “I live in an HOA and they told me I can’t get solar panels. Can they actually stop me from going solar?”
While some HOA boards will approve your installation without any friction, others will push back, stall, or even try to impose conditions that make the whole thing more difficult than it needs to be. And a very small number will deny the request outright, even though New York State law gives you significant protection against exactly that.
Knowing where you stand legally before you ever walk into that conversation with your HOA board is one of the most impactful things you can do to move the process forward. So let’s go through exactly what the law says, what your HOA can and can’t do, and what your options are if they push back.
New York’s Solar Rights Act
In August 2021, New York enacted the Solar Rights Act, which added Article 9-C to the Real Property Law. The law prohibits homeowners associations from adopting or enforcing any rules or regulations that would effectively prohibit, or impose unreasonable limitations on, the installation or use of a solar power system. While similar laws have been in place prior, this new version changed the landscape considerably for New York homeowners who live of an HOA.
But there’s something worth understanding before you bring this up at your next board meeting. New York’s law prohibits unreasonable restrictions. It does not automatically cancel every HOA rule that touches on solar. Whether specific restrictions cross the line into being unreasonable is still a judgment call in some cases, and the courts don’t blindly overturn every aesthetic-based HOA solar rule across the state.
What the law does clearly is give you strong legal footing to challenge a denial. It requires your HOA to justify any rejection in writing. And it establishes that an outright ban is off the table entirely.
What Your HOA Cannot Do
Under the Solar Rights Act, your HOA cannot adopt rules that effectively prevent you from installing solar at all. They cannot impose restrictions that make installation impractical, prohibitively expensive, or significantly less effective than it would otherwise be. This is the core element of the law, and it matters most when challenging any sort of rejection from your HOA.
The law specifically calls out two types of restrictions that are considered unreasonable on their face. The first is any restriction that prevents your system from performing at its maximum efficiency. The second is any restriction that increases the cost of your installation or ongoing maintenance by more than 10% compared to what it would cost without the restriction.
Production Restrictions: Let’s say your HOA requires that all panels be installed on the north-facing slope of your roof, simply because it is not facing the street or on the front of your house. Your south-facing front roof gets significantly more sun. If that placement meaningfully reduces your system’s output, that restriction is unreasonable under the law and is not enforceable against you.
Cost Increase Restrictions: Your HOA requires you to use a specific installer they’ve handpicked, and that installer’s pricing is substantially higher than what you’d pay on the open market. If following their requirement pushes your costs up by more than 10%, that restriction is also unreasonable. The law puts real limits on how much control your HOA can exercise over your costs.
What Your HOA Can Still Require
The Solar Rights Act doesn’t strip your HOA of all authority over how a solar installation looks or gets done. They can still impose reasonable requirements, as long as those requirements don’t undermine your system’s performance or significantly increase its cost.
Examples of requirements that are generally considered reasonable include asking that any external wiring be concealed or run neatly along the roof lines, requiring that you use a licensed and insured installer, specifying that roof penetrations be minimized and properly sealed, and requesting a written agreement that you’ll remove and reinstall the panels at your own expense if roof work is ever needed. These are all requirements that any reputable installer would meet.
The key distinction here is the overall intent of the Homeowners Association. An HOA can care about how an installation looks and that it’s installed properly. What they cannot do is use those concerns as cover for blocking solar access entirely. The law draws that line clearly, even if some boards haven’t gotten the memo yet.
What To Do If Your HOA Denies Your Solar Panel Application
Here’s something most homeowners don’t know when they begin the process of going solar. Under the Solar Rights Act, if your HOA denies your solar installation request, they are legally required to provide you with a detailed written statement with the exact basis for the rejection. This must include specific examples of their concerns that resulted in rejection.
If you receive a denial that isn’t backed by a specific, legally defensible reason, you have grounds to challenge it. The Solar Rights Act includes a private right of action, which means you can take legal action against your HOA if they violate the law. In many cases, a single letter from an attorney citing Article 9-C of the Real Property Law is enough to resolve the dispute before it ever gets to that point.
The most important thing you can do is document everything throughout this process. Keep records of every bit of communication with your HOA board. Include the exact date you submitted your application along with every response you receive. This paper trail helps hold everyone accountable if you need to escalate, and having it organized from the beginning puts you in a much stronger position.
The Condo & Co-op Exception
This is an important limitation to understand before you get too far into researching solar for your home. The Solar Rights Act as written applies to homeowners associations where individual homeowners own their unit and the roof above it. It does not pertain to condominiums or co-ops where the roof is owned by the corporation or the association as shared property.
If you live in a condo or co-op, the roof most likely doesn’t belong to you. That changes everything about how this process works and it’s most likely a dead end.
Your path to solar in that case runs through the building’s board, not through the Solar Rights Act. You’re not fighting for a legal right, you’re making a case to a group of people who may or may not be interested in hearing it. That’s a very different conversation, and going into it without understanding that distinction is a good way to waste a lot of time.
If this is your situation, the most useful first step is speaking with a New York real estate attorney who has experience with solar law before you do anything else. Getting clear on what you can and can’t do from the start will save you a lot of frustration down the road.
How To Make The Process Go Smoothly
Even with solar access laws on your side, a smooth approval process is always faster and less stressful than a confrontational one. A few simple things can make the difference between a quick approval and one that takes several months to navigate.
- You should submit a complete, professional application. Include your system specs, panel placement diagrams, and your installer’s information. The more thorough your submission, the less room your HOA has to ask questions that delay the process.
- Reference the Solar Rights Act by name in your application. Most HOA boards are not solar law experts, and making it clear that you’re aware of your legal rights often changes the tone of the conversation immediately. You don’t need to be aggressive about it. Just make it clear that you’ve done your homework.
- Work with a NYSERDA Quality Installer. It signals to your HOA that the project will be handled professionally and to a high standard, which addresses the most common concerns boards have about approving installations. Empire Solar has worked through hundreds of HOA approvals across the Hudson Valley and throughout upstate New York. We know what boards want to see and how to structure an application that moves through the process without unnecessary delays.
At Empire Solar, we take care of every step mentioned above, and we go further than most installers are willing to. If your HOA board needs to meet before approving your installation, we’ll show up to that meeting with you. Most solar companies leave that entirely up to their customers.
Final Thoughts
Living in an HOA doesn’t mean solar is out of reach. New solar access laws give homeowners meaningful protection against unreasonable restrictions, require any denial to be justified in writing, and establish clear limits on what your association can impose. The process takes more coordination than a straightforward installation, but it’s one we navigate regularly and successfully for our customers.
If you’re in an HOA and you want to understand if going solar would be possible for your specific property, we’d be happy to walk you through it. Empire Solar has installed solar for over 7,300 New York homeowners since 2015. We’re one of only 4 installers in the entire state to hold NYSERDA’s Platinum Installer Award. We can show you exactly what your system would produce, what your savings would look like, and what the approval process typically looks like in your area.
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