North Carolina Court Limits Homeowner Groups’ Solar Restrictions

Homeowner associations in North Carolina can’t restrict rooftop solar unless their bylaws explicitly lay out legal prohibitions, the state’s Supreme Court justices said in a majority opinion overturning a lower court decision.

The court ruled that HOAs can’t deny resident applications to install rooftop solar unless they expressly prohibit panels for being visible from the ground. The decision widens solar power access and weakens HOA regulatory abilities by clarifying a 2007 solar access statute, which includes that visibility exception.

The state Supreme Court ruling in Belmont Ass’n v. Farwig reverses and remands the case to the trial court to determine ...