Alabama HOA Fence & Exterior

Quick-Reference Panel

Section 1: Overview — How fence and exterior rules work in Alabama

In Alabama, one document does most of the work. The recorded declaration — the CC&Rs — and the architectural guidelines adopted under it set the rules for fences, walls, paint, siding, roofing, trim, exterior structures, and how the landscaping looks. No statute dictates those exterior standards. And the authority splits along a single line: the type of community. In planned communities — the non-condominium HOAs — no statute sets exterior standards at all. The Alabama Homeowners' Association Act (Ala. Code § 35-20-1 et seq.) hands associations formed on or after January 1, 2016 their corporate and procedural rules, but it says nothing about architecture, fences, or signs, so the authority over exteriors rests on contract.⁷ Condominiums follow a different path: the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 (Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 et seq.) governs communities created on or after January 1, 1991, and the older Alabama Condominium Ownership Act (Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq.) governs the ones created before then.^{1, 2}

The state's overrides on exterior control are narrow. There is no solar-access statute, no protection for landscaping or artificial turf, and no HOA sign statute. Only the American flag gets special treatment — a state statute and federal law both protect the right to fly it.^{3, 8} No Alabama statute sets a deadline for an architectural review or turns a board's silence into an automatic approval, so the declaration alone controls those timelines.⁵ Step back, and Alabama lands squarely among the CC&R-primary states — a sharp contrast with the strong-override states like Arizona and California. What follows lays out the legal framework, the day-to-day obligations, and the recent activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

The recorded declaration is where architectural and exterior authority begins in an Alabama community. It usually gives the board, or an architectural review committee, the power to adopt and apply design standards — and those standards draw their force from the declaration, not from any statute. Alabama courts treat CC&Rs as contracts and as restrictive covenants that run with the land. They read them strictly, resolve any genuine ambiguity in favor of letting owners use their property freely, and give clear language its plain meaning.⁹

The split matters. For planned communities, no statute sets exterior standards. The Homeowners' Association Act reaches associations created on or after January 1, 2016 — plus older ones that choose to opt in — and organizes them as nonprofit corporations under Title 10A. But it carries no provisions on architectural review, fences, paint, or signs, and it expressly leaves out associations that the condominium chapters already regulate.⁷ So Title 10A supplies the corporate formalities, and the declaration supplies the authority over exteriors.¹⁰

For condominiums, the 1991 Act governs communities created on or after January 1, 1991, and the older Condominium Ownership Act governs the ones created earlier. The 1991 Act does not create an architectural-review committee, and it does not dictate exterior standards. What it does is set a rule: a unit owner "may not change the appearance of the common elements, or the exterior appearance of a unit or any other portion of the condominium, without permission of the association" (§ 35-8A-211). It also lets the association "regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common elements" (§ 35-8A-302(a)(6)) — and it makes each of those powers answer to the declaration.^{5, 11} The older act draws the same line, barring any material alteration of common elements "except as authorized by the declaration" (§ 35-8-14).¹² Either way, the declaration sets the standard.

The order of precedence is straightforward. A mandatory statutory provision comes first — and that mostly matters for condominiums — then the declaration, then the architectural guidelines, then any board resolutions. Guidelines can never reach beyond the authority the declaration grants. And for a planned community, the rulebook is the declaration, not a state statute.

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

Alabama places few statutory limits on an association's exterior authority. So most CC&R restrictions hold, unless they collide with a specific statute or with federal law.

Solar. Alabama has no solar-access or solar-easement statute reining in an association's authority over solar installations. An HOA here can restrict or flatly prohibit solar collectors through its CC&Rs. The state does recognize private, voluntary solar easements between neighbors — but those are agreements the neighbors strike themselves, not a limit on the association. The point worth flagging: with no statute in play, the CC&R restriction most likely controls.

Landscaping, water-conserving or native plants, artificial turf. No Alabama statute shields drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, or artificial turf from association restriction. So the landscaping-appearance rules in the declaration control.

Flags and signs. The American flag is the exception. An Alabama statute, Ala. Code § 35-1-5, provides that "[n]otwithstanding any covenant, contract, or restriction to the contrary, a person may exhibit or display on his or her property a current flag of the United States not to exceed 40 square feet in size," and it voids any covenant that says otherwise "whether adopted before or after May 21, 2009 ... as a violation of public policy."³ That state protection runs alongside the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which protects flag display nationwide on its own, subject to reasonable rules on time, place, and manner.⁸ Beyond the flag, Alabama offers no HOA-specific statute for political, noncommercial, or other signs — the declaration governs the rest.

Fences. Alabama has no statewide residential pool-barrier statute, and nothing on the books sets a fence height or bans a spite fence in a way that reaches HOAs. The pool and spa barrier requirements come instead from building and safety codes: the Alabama Energy and Residential Codes Board adopts a statewide residential code built on the International Residential Code, and local officials enforce the barrier rules — with some counties, Baldwin, Jefferson, and Mobile among them, adding requirements of their own.⁴ Those barrier standards set a safety floor an association cannot lower. But they are minimums for safety, not a ceiling on what the association can regulate.

Across all of these, the pattern holds. Where a statute exists, it either voids a contrary covenant — that is the flag statute — or sets a safety minimum, as the pool barriers do. Not one of them caps an association's general authority to regulate how the exterior looks.

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

No Alabama statute requires an association to act on an architectural application within any set period, and none turns inaction into an automatic approval. The 1991 Condominium Act demands the association's "permission" before an owner changes the exterior appearance (§ 35-8A-211), but it fixes no deadline for a response and grants no default approval.⁵ For planned communities, there is no statute to impose one at all. So the declaration and the guidelines — and nothing else — set the timelines and decide whether silence ever counts as a yes.

What really constrains an architectural decision is common-law contract and property doctrine, not statute. Alabama courts read restrictive covenants strictly, resolve genuine ambiguities against the restriction, and enforce clear covenant language by injunction.⁹ They also apply equitable defenses. An association has to act in good faith, and a court can withhold equitable relief when the hardship of enforcing a rule runs greatly out of proportion to what enforcement would gain — unless the violator comes to court with unclean hands.^{13, 14} For condominiums, the power to fine carries a statutory requirement of "notice and an opportunity to be heard" before any penalty; for post-2016 planned communities, the Homeowners' Association Act sets a comparable hearing requirement.⁶

To be enforceable, an architectural standard generally has to live in the recorded declaration or draw its authority from it. And for post-2016 HOAs, Alabama's public-filing regime requires the governing documents, CC&Rs included, to be filed with the Secretary of State, which helps keep them within reach of owners.¹⁰ Before any fine or forced removal, the association is expected to follow the enforcement procedure the declaration lays out and to give notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

• Keep the architectural standards the declaration authorizes, and put them within owners' reach; for post-2016 planned communities, the governing documents go on file with the Secretary of State. Contractual, under the declaration — plus a corporate filing duty under § 35-20 for post-2016 planned communities.¹⁰
• Review each application and answer it within whatever timeline the declaration or guidelines set. Contractual; no statutory deadline applies to any community type.⁵
• Apply the standards reasonably, in good faith, and consistently — and write down the decisions. Contractual for planned communities, under common-law covenant doctrine; for condominiums, the association exercises its powers subject to the declaration under § 35-8A-302.¹¹
• Give notice and an opportunity to be heard before levying a fine. Statutory for post-2016 planned communities (§ 35-20-11) and for condominiums that fine under the condominium act; contractual otherwise.⁶

B. Homeowner obligations and rights

• File an application and get approval before you install a fence or take on exterior work wherever the declaration requires it; in a condominium, you need the association's permission to change the exterior appearance. Statutory for condominiums (§ 35-8A-211); contractual for planned communities.⁵
• Follow the approved plans and the published standards. Contractual in planned communities; statutory-plus-declaration in condominiums.
• If the association misses a declared deadline, or acts unreasonably, or enforces selectively, the owner's remedy is contractual and equitable — raised as a defense or an affirmative claim in court. There is no statutory deemed-approval right to fall back on. Contractual.
• The right to push ahead despite a contrary CC&R restriction is narrow here. A statute (§ 35-1-5) and federal law protect flag display, but nothing overrides restrictions on solar, landscaping, or signs, so most exterior restrictions stay enforceable. Statutory — for the flag only.³

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

• The association's remedies run through the Circuit Courts: injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and forced removal or restoration, along with fines and the recovery of costs or attorney fees wherever the declaration or a statute allows it. Contractual — with the fine authority statutory for post-2016 planned communities (§ 35-20-11) and for condominiums.⁶
• Unpaid fines from a post-2016 planned community count as assessments and can back a lien (§ 35-20-11(c), § 35-20-12); condominium assessments and certain charges can become liens too (§ 35-8A-316). Statutory.¹⁵
• Enforcement has to track the procedure the declaration spells out and, where it applies, the statutory hearing requirement. Contractual plus statutory, for the hearing.
• The owner's defenses are several: selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment of a restriction, an ambiguity read against the restriction, a restriction that reaches past the authority the declaration grants, and the equitable doctrines of relative hardship and clean hands. Alabama courts recognize all of these. But the defense that a restriction is void under a statutory override belongs to flag display alone. Contractual and common-law.^{13, 14}

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Alabama's recent legislative work on associations is procedural and aimed at condominiums, not at exterior or fence authority. One bill in the current window is worth a condominium practitioner's attention.

In the past 24 months, no bill created or amended a solar, landscaping, flag, sign, or fence override touching associations.

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

The live debate in Alabama runs to condominium amendment procedures and real-estate licensing, not exterior regulation. No solar-rights, flag, sign, or comprehensive planned-community bill affecting exterior authority is moving. The attention stays procedural — in keeping with Alabama's generally low level of HOA-specific legislation.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Alabama sits firmly in the CC&R-primary camp on exterior control. The strong-override states — Arizona and California among them — rein in association authority with extensive solar, landscaping, and flag or sign protections, and in some cases with statutory architectural-review timelines. Moderate-override states protect a narrower set of features. Alabama does neither: it carries few statutory limits on exterior authority and no comprehensive planned-community statute, which leaves the recorded declaration as the operative rulebook. For a multi-state operator, the takeaway is direct. In Alabama, and especially in planned communities, the declaration rather than a statute governs fences, paint, siding, roofing, and landscaping appearance — so compliance comes down to reading each community's CC&Rs and guidelines. The national current has been running toward more statutory solar and landscaping protection. Alabama has not moved with it.

HOA Weekly updates its Alabama fence and exterior coverage each quarter as the legislature and the courts act. Federal frameworks apply to Alabama associations no matter what the state does — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC's OTARD antenna rule, and the Fair Housing Act and ADA, which reach reasonable accommodations that touch exterior features.

Footnotes

1. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama §§ 35-8A-101, 35-8A-102, Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 (short title; applicability to condominiums created on or after January 1, 1991) ↩
2. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8-1 et seq., Alabama Condominium Ownership Act (condominiums created before January 1, 1991) ↩
3. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-1-5, Display of United States Flag (display up to 40 square feet permitted notwithstanding any contrary covenant; contrary covenants void as against public policy; Act 2009-646) ↩
4. Alabama Energy and Residential Codes Board, Alabama Energy and Residential Code (statewide residential code based on the International Residential Code; Ala. Code § 41-23-80 et seq.; pool and spa barrier requirements enforced through the adopted building code at the local level), Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs ↩
5. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8A-211, Alterations of units (owner may not change the exterior appearance without permission of the association; no response deadline or deemed-approval rule) ↩
6. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-20-11, Powers of the board (reasonable penalties for violations after the member is afforded an opportunity to be heard) ↩
7. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama §§ 35-20-1 et seq., 35-20-3, Alabama Homeowners' Association Act (applicability to developments recorded on or after January 1, 2016, and opt-in associations; inapplicable to associations regulated under Chapters 8 or 8A) ↩
8. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, note to 4 U.S.C. § 5 (associations may not restrict a member's display of the U.S. flag, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules), Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives ↩
9. Lange v. Scofield, 567 So. 2d 1299, 1301 (Ala. 1990) (restrictive covenants are strictly construed, with all doubts resolved against the restriction and in favor of the free use of property) ↩
10. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-20-5, Organization and filing (organization as a nonprofit corporation under Title 10A, Chapter 3; filing of governing documents, including covenants, with the Secretary of State) ↩
11. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8A-302(a)(6), Powers of unit owners' association (association may regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common elements, subject to the declaration) ↩
12. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8-14, Prohibited work (no material alteration of or substantial addition to the common elements except as authorized by the declaration) ↩
13. Englund v. Dauphin Island Property Owners Association, Nos. SC-2024-0414, SC-2024-0437, SC-2024-0528 (Ala. Aug. 29, 2025), Supreme Court of Alabama (via Alabama Appellate Courts Public Portal) ↩
14. Dendy v. Ryan, No. SC-2025-0024, 2025 WL 3684707 (Ala. Dec. 19, 2025), Supreme Court of Alabama ↩
15. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama §§ 35-20-11(c), 35-20-12, 35-8A-316, Liens for unpaid assessments and penalties (penalties treated as assessments; liens for unpaid assessments; condominium assessment lien) ↩
16. Alabama Legislature, HB 260, 2026 Regular Session (Rep. England; amending §§ 35-8A-104, -108, -110, -205, -216, -302, -308, -309, -403, -408, and -414; prohibiting consents and waivers to alter a condominium declaration; expanding equitable remedies), House First Readings ↩