Arkansas HOA ADUs & Modifications

Key Findings

• HB 1503 is a municipal statute, not an HOA-preemption statute. Act 313 of 2025, codified at Ark. Code § 14-56-205 and effective January 1, 2026, binds cities and preserves "restrictive covenants concerning accessory dwelling units entered into between private parties."
• No Arkansas solar, EV, or landscaping protection reaches associations. The 2019 Solar Access Act (Act 464, which began as SB 145) governs net metering and financing, not covenant authority.
• Federal overlays supply the only outside limits. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the FCC's OTARD rule (antennas and dishes, not solar), the Fair Housing Act reasonable-modification standard (which the Arkansas Fair Housing Act mirrors), and ADA Title III bind associations no matter what the declaration says.
• The governing framework splits by community type. The Arkansas Horizontal Property Act covers condominiums; the recorded declaration plus the Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 govern planned communities, and the corporation act supplies corporate formalities only.
• No qualifying recent Arkansas appellate ruling exists. A search of the Arkansas Judiciary's opinions and appellate updates turned up no Court of Appeals or Supreme Court decision in the past 36 months that turns on architectural control, covenant enforcement, or ADUs.

Details

Section 1: Overview

Arkansas constrains a homeowners' association's authority over modifications almost entirely through federal overlays. The state has enacted no solar-access, electric-vehicle-charging, or landscaping protection that limits what an association can require or forbid an owner to build or install, and its 2025 accessory dwelling unit (ADU) law preempts municipal zoning only while expressly preserving private covenants.¹ Governing authority splits by community type. Condominiums and horizontal-property regimes fall under the Arkansas Horizontal Property Act (Ark. Code § 18-13-101 et seq.), while the recorded declaration (the CC&Rs) governs planned communities, supplemented by the Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 (Ark. Code § 4-33-101 et seq.), which supplies corporate formalities only.² So ADU permissibility is really a two-part question: municipal zoning under HB 1503 (Act 313 of 2025) and the CC&Rs, with no HOA-level state preemption of covenants.³ The outside limits that bind every Arkansas association, whatever the declaration says, are federal: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the FCC's OTARD rule for antennas and satellite dishes, the Fair Housing Act reasonable-modification requirement, and ADA Title III for common areas that operate as public accommodations.⁴ That places Arkansas in the "municipal reform, covenants preserved" camp, apart from HOA-preemption states such as California and Colorado, where state law voids covenant restrictions on ADUs.⁵ The sections below lay out the framework, the compliance duties it creates, and the recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The legal framework

2A. Architectural review authority and the role of the declaration

For condominiums and other horizontal-property regimes, authority over alterations and design review flows from the Arkansas Horizontal Property Act together with the recorded master deed and bylaws. The Act requires a master deed describing the land, each unit, and the common elements, and it requires bylaws that set the form of administration and provide, in the statute's own words, "that a majority of at least fifty-one percent (51%) is required to adopt decisions."⁶ The Act reaches only those regimes that expressly elect to be governed by it by recording a master deed; it does not cover every planned community.⁷

For planned communities, architectural authority sits entirely in the recorded CC&Rs. Arkansas has no comprehensive planned-community statute and has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.⁸ The Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 governs an association organized as a nonprofit corporation and supplies rules on directors, meetings, and member rights, but it sets no architectural standards; associations incorporated before December 31, 1993 that did not elect into the 1993 Act remain under the older nonprofit act at Ark. Code § 4-28-201 et seq.⁹ A typical declaration creates an architectural control committee with authority to review and approve or deny exterior changes before work begins, as recorded Arkansas declarations such as Bella Vista's show.¹⁰

When an Arkansas court reviews a covenant-enforcement or design decision, the declaration and the common law drive the analysis, not a state architectural statute. Arkansas follows strict construction: it does not favor restrictions on land use, requires them to be clearly apparent, and construes them in favor of the free use of land, with the parties' intention as expressed in the covenant controlling wherever the language is clear.¹¹

2B. Protected modifications and federal overlays

Arkansas has created no state protected-modification categories. No Arkansas solar-access law reaches HOAs: Senate Bill 145 of 2019 (Act 464, the Solar Access Act) addressed solar adoption, net metering, and third-party financing, not covenant authority, and it does not limit an association's ability to regulate or prohibit rooftop solar through the declaration.¹² Research confirms no Arkansas electric-vehicle-charging protection statute and no Arkansas landscaping protection statute that reaches associations. In Arkansas, the declaration governs solar, EV charging, and landscaping — not a statute.

Four federal overlays bind every association regardless of the declaration. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-243) bars condominium, cooperative, and residential real estate management associations from prohibiting display of the United States flag, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules.¹³ The OTARD rule (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000) prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance, or use of covered antennas, satellite dishes one meter or less, and certain fixed-wireless devices within an owner's exclusive-use area; it protects antennas and dishes, not solar panels.¹⁴ The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)) and the Arkansas Fair Housing Act (Ark. Code § 16-123-201 et seq.) require associations to permit reasonable modifications for disability at the resident's expense.¹⁵ ADA Title III (42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.) applies to common-area facilities that operate as public accommodations. The practical point: in a state with no protected-modification categories, the declaration controls solar, EV charging, and landscaping, and the only outside limits are these federal overlays and whatever reasonableness constraint the declaration or the common law imposes.

2C. ADUs: municipal zoning and HOA authority

HB 1503, enacted as Act 313 of the 2025 Regular Session and effective January 1, 2026, sets a statewide municipal baseline, codified at Ark. Code § 14-56-205. It requires municipalities to allow at least one ADU "by right" on a lot that holds a single-family dwelling, and it bars several municipal restrictions — additional off-street parking requirements, owner-occupancy mandates, exterior-match requirements, and impact or application fees above $250; it also caps an ADU at 75 percent of the primary dwelling's floor area or 1,000 square feet, whichever is less.¹⁶ The statute does not void private covenants. It provides that a municipality may not require a restrictive covenant concerning an ADU, but it states expressly that this "does not prohibit restrictive covenants concerning accessory dwelling units entered into between private parties."¹⁷ In a CC&R community, the architectural control committee still enforces covenant restrictions on ADUs, which produces a dual-track process: the city and the association review separately, as the City of Bella Vista and its architectural control committee describe.¹⁸

The two-layer analysis follows. A lawful ADU needs both municipal zoning permission under HB 1503 and compliance with the CC&Rs, and in a CC&R community the declaration is the binding constraint. That contrasts with California, where Civil Code § 4751(a) makes any governing-document provision "that either effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on a lot zoned for single-family residential use ... void and unenforceable" (a provision that applies to planned developments, not condominiums or stock cooperatives), and with Colorado, where HB 24-1152 (codified in the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act at C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5) makes ADU prohibitions by unit-owners' associations void as a matter of public policy.¹⁹ Arkansas's ADU law does not reach covenants. An owner cannot rely on municipal ADU permission alone; check the declaration first.

Section 3: Compliance obligations created by the framework

A. Architectural review process obligations

The declaration and the association's architectural guidelines set the process — application and submission steps, decision timelines, written decisions with reasons, reconsideration, and recordkeeping — because no state statute supplies them for planned communities; for condominiums, the declaration operates inside the state-statute framework of the Horizontal Property Act.²⁰ This holds for both condominiums and planned communities. Where the declaration is silent, no state default timeline fills the gap, so the recorded documents control.

B. Modifications the association must permit

An association must permit display of the U.S. flag (the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act), covered antennas and dishes (the federal OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000), and reasonable disability modifications at the resident's expense (the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), and the Arkansas Fair Housing Act, Ark. Code § 16-123-201 et seq.), and it must maintain ADA-covered common-area accommodations (federal ADA Title III).²¹ This applies to both community types. Arkansas adds no state-protected categories for solar, EV charging, or landscaping; the declaration still governs those.

C. ADU obligations and limits on HOA authority

No Arkansas statute imposes an HOA-level duty to permit ADUs. HB 1503 binds municipalities, not associations — it is a state statute aimed at cities — and the CC&Rs govern ADUs within the community.²² This applies to both condominiums and planned communities, with the declaration controlling in each.

D. Enforcement, dispute resolution, and appeal obligations

Notice and an opportunity to be heard before an association fines an owner for an architectural violation come from the declaration, the association's governing contract; any alternative-dispute-resolution requirement comes from the declaration too.²³ This applies to both community types. Covenant-enforcement litigation starts in the Arkansas Circuit Courts, the trial courts of general jurisdiction, with appeal to the Arkansas Court of Appeals and discretionary review by the Arkansas Supreme Court under the court structure set by Amendment 80.²⁴

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

A search of the Arkansas Judiciary's opinions and appellate updates identified no qualifying ruling from the Arkansas Court of Appeals or the Arkansas Supreme Court in the past 36 months addressing architectural control, restrictive-covenant enforcement, or ADUs. We omit this section rather than fill it with a non-qualifying or unverified case.

C. Active legislative debates

As of the verification date, no active proposal reaches HOA covenant authority over ADUs, solar access, or architectural modifications; the 2025 session's ADU action (HB 1503) aimed at municipalities and left private covenants intact.²⁷

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Arkansas sits in the "municipal reform, covenants preserved" group. It has no state protected-modification categories, the declaration governs modifications, and the 2025 ADU law (HB 1503) binds municipalities but not associations.²⁸ That contrasts with HOA-preemption states such as California, where Civil Code § 4751 voids covenant restrictions on ADUs, and Colorado, where HB 24-1152 reaches unit-owners' associations and PUDs, and with solar-protection states such as Utah (Utah Code § 57-8a-701), Idaho (HB 158), Illinois, California, Arizona, Florida, and Texas — none of which Arkansas has an analog to.²⁹ For multi-state operators, the practical implication is direct: in Arkansas the CC&Rs are the binding constraint on ADUs and on every modification outside the federal overlays.

Four federal frameworks — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, OTARD, the Fair Housing Act, and ADA Title III — bind Arkansas associations regardless of the state framework.

Recommendations

• Check the declaration first, then the city. For any ADU or exterior-modification request in a covenanted Arkansas community, treat the recorded CC&Rs as the controlling constraint and confirm municipal "by right" eligibility second. HB 1503 gives a homeowner no right against the association. This posture holds unless and until the Arkansas General Assembly enacts a covenant-preemption statute for ADUs — that would be the trigger to revise.
• Do not present solar, EV charging, or landscaping as protected. Boards and managers should govern these categories through the declaration and architectural guidelines, and attorneys should tell clients that no Arkansas statute limits association authority over them. Passage of a state solar-access or EV-charging statute reaching associations would change this; none exists now.
• Keep the flag, antenna/dish, and disability-modification carve-outs in writing. Because these four federal overlays bind every association, architectural rules should accommodate them expressly to head off preemption disputes; OTARD in particular suspends enforcement and bars fines while a petition is pending.
• For multi-state portfolios, keep Arkansas separate from the California and Colorado playbooks. ADU intake in Arkansas should not use the "covenant is void" logic that applies under Civ. Code § 4751 or C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5.
• Re-verify HB 1503 implementation after January 1, 2026. Confirm that each relevant municipality's ADU ordinance conforms to Ark. Code § 14-56-205, because conflicting local provisions in effect on or after that date are invalid to the extent of the conflict.

Caveats

• No verified recent case law. The absence of a qualifying 2023-2026 Arkansas appellate ruling reflects the available public sources — the Arkansas Judiciary's opinion listings and appellate updates, and Justia; a Westlaw or Lexis full-text search could surface an opinion those sources do not index. We assert no case because none could be verified against a primary source.
• Horizontal Property Act section text. We confirmed the specific section content (§§ 18-13-104 and 18-13-108) through the Arkansas Code chapter structure and reliable secondary reproductions; treat the official Arkansas General Assembly code portal as the controlling text.
• Nonprofit act coverage. Whether a given association falls under the 1993 Act (§ 4-33-101 et seq.) or the older act (§ 4-28-201 et seq.) depends on its incorporation date and any election, so check this per association.
• HB 1503 is prospective. Its effective date is January 1, 2026; municipal compliance and any enforcement interpretations will develop after that date and remain subject to quarterly update.

1. Act 313 of 2025 (HB 1503), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
2. Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993, Act 1147 of 1993 (Ark. Code § 4-33-101 et seq.) ↩
3. HB 1503 Bill Information, Arkansas State Legislature ↩
4. Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule, FCC (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000) ↩
5. Colorado HB 24-1152, Colorado General Assembly ↩
6. Arkansas Horizontal Property Act, Ark. Code § 18-13-104 and § 18-13-108(b)(2), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
7. Arkansas Horizontal Property Act, Ark. Code § 18-13-101 et seq., Arkansas General Assembly ↩
8. Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act adopting states, Community Associations Institute ↩
9. Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993, Act 1147 (Ark. Code § 4-33-101 et seq.); older act at § 4-28-201 et seq. ↩
10. The City, POA and ACC, Bella Vista Property Owners Association ↩
11. Arkansas strict-construction rule discussed in Friends of Lake Erling litigation, citing Forrest Constr., Inc. v. Milam, 43 S.W.3d 140 (Ark. 2001), U.S. Court of Appeals (govinfo) ↩
12. SB 145 of 2019 (Act 464, Solar Access Act), Arkansas State Legislature ↩
13. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, Congress.gov ↩
14. Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule, FCC (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000) ↩
15. Reasonable modifications under the Fair Housing Act and Arkansas Fair Housing Act, Arkansas Department of Inspector General, Fair Housing ↩
16. Act 313 of 2025, § 14-56-205(b)-(e), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
17. Act 313 of 2025, § 14-56-205(c)(9), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
18. Residential Building FAQs (city vs. ACC enforcement), City of Bella Vista ↩
19. Colorado HB 24-1152 (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5), Colorado General Assembly; and California Civil Code § 4751 ↩
20. Arkansas Horizontal Property Act, Ark. Code § 18-13-108 (bylaws), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
21. OTARD Rule, FCC (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000) ↩
22. Act 313 of 2025, § 14-56-205, Arkansas General Assembly ↩
23. Architectural control authority set by declaration, Bella Vista POA ↩
24. Arkansas Court Structure, Arkansas Judiciary ↩
25. HB 1503 (Act 313) status, votes, and dates, Arkansas State Legislature ↩
26. Act 313 of 2025 full text, Arkansas General Assembly ↩
27. Act 313 of 2025, § 14-56-205(c)(9)(B), Arkansas General Assembly ↩
28. HB 1503 Bill Information, Arkansas State Legislature ↩
29. Utah Code § 57-8a-701, Solar energy system, Utah Legislature ↩