Colorado HOA Fence & Exterior

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

In Colorado, control over fences, paint, siding, roofing, trim, exterior structures, and the appearance of landscaping begins with the recorded declaration, the CC&Rs, and the architectural guidelines a community adopts under it. But the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act reaches further into that control than any other state's law in this matrix. It overrides contrary declaration provisions on flags, signs, religious displays, solar devices, xeriscape and drought-tolerant landscaping, and fire-hardened building materials.² The Act, known as CCIOA, sits at C.R.S. § 38-33.3-101 et seq. It took effect July 1, 1992, it draws on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, and it governs condominiums, cooperatives, and planned communities; communities created before July 1, 1992 answer to only a partial, enumerated set of CCIOA sections under § 38-33.3-117.^1,7 The heart of this page is § 38-33.3-106.5, a single public-policy section that lists the exterior features an association may not prohibit, while it still leaves the association free to adopt reasonable, content-neutral, and aesthetic rules within each of those limits.² No Colorado statute sets a general deadline for acting on an architectural application, and none creates a general deemed-approval rule; the declaration sets application timelines, with one narrow statutory exception for fire-hardened-materials fencing.^4,8 Among the states this matrix covers so far, Colorado gives owners the strongest statutory overrides, ahead of Arizona and alongside California, and far from CC&R-primary states such as Arkansas and Alabama. The sections below map where exterior authority comes from, the statutory limits on that authority, the architectural-review process, the compliance obligations, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

The recorded declaration and the architectural guidelines and rules adopted under it are where architectural and exterior authority starts in a Colorado common interest community. Most of the substantive exterior standards — approved fence styles, paint palettes, siding materials, setbacks — come from the declaration, not from statute. CCIOA supplies the framework those documents operate within. The Act, at C.R.S. § 38-33.3-101 et seq., took effect July 1, 1992, builds on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, and applies to condominiums, cooperatives, and planned communities.¹ For communities created before July 1, 1992, CCIOA applies only the enumerated sections listed in § 38-33.3-117, so boards and owners running an older community should confirm which provisions reach it; the separate real-property statute that voids solar and fire-hardened-materials covenants, C.R.S. § 38-30-168, applies to covenants affecting real property no matter when the community was created.^3,7 CCIOA lets the declaration vary many default rules, but § 38-33.3-106.5 opens with the words "notwithstanding any provision in the declaration, bylaws, or rules and regulations of the association to the contrary," and that phrase overrides contrary declaration provisions on the listed features.² Precedence runs from CCIOA's mandatory provisions, § 38-33.3-106.5 among them, down to the declaration, then the architectural guidelines, then board rules; rules and guidelines cannot exceed the authority CCIOA and the declaration grant, and CCIOA § 38-33.3-302(3)(b) requires that decisions on architectural or landscaping applications follow the standards and procedures set out in the declaration or in duly adopted rules or bylaws.⁹

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

Section 38-33.3-106.5 lists the exterior features an association may not prohibit, and it pairs each one with what the association may still regulate. The subsection letters below track the current consolidated statute.²

Flags (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(a)). The association may not prohibit the display of a flag on an owner's property, in a window, or on an adjoining balcony, and it may not regulate flags by subject matter, message, or content. It may bar flags that carry commercial messages, and it may adopt reasonable, content-neutral rules on the number, location, and size of flags and flagpoles, but it may not prohibit installing a flag or a flagpole.² HB21-1310 (2021) broadened this provision from the U.S. flag and service flags to any noncommercial flag.¹⁰ The U.S.-flag portion lines up with the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005; the broader any-noncommercial-flag protection is a matter of Colorado state law.

Signs (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(c)). The association may not prohibit the display of a sign on an owner's property or in a window, and it may not regulate signs by content, though it may bar commercial messages and set reasonable, content-neutral rules on number, placement, and size.² HB21-1310 replaced the older rule — which had let associations ban political signs except during a window that ran 45 days before through 7 days after an election — with protection for any noncommercial sign at any time, subject to content-neutral limits; the 45-day window is prior law and no longer states the current rule.¹⁰

Religious displays (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(c.5)). The association may not prohibit a religious item or symbol on the entry door or door frame of a unit, except where the item threatens public health or safety, hinders the door's operation, violates the law, is obscene, or covers an area greater than 36 square inches.²

Renewable energy (solar) devices (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1.5) and the separate statute § 38-30-168). Under § 38-33.3-106.5(1.5), an association may not effectively prohibit renewable energy generation devices as defined in § 38-30-168.² Separately and distinctly, C.R.S. § 38-30-168 makes any covenant, restriction, or condition affecting real property that effectively prohibits or restricts installing or using a renewable energy generation device void and unenforceable; the definition covers solar energy devices, qualifying wind-electric generators, and heat pump systems. That statute allows aesthetic provisions that place reasonable restrictions on dimensions, placement, or external appearance, but only if they do not raise the device's cost by more than 10 percent or cut its performance or efficiency by more than 10 percent.³ These are two separate statutes, and you should cite them as such.

Xeriscape, nonvegetative turf, and drought-tolerant landscaping (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i) and (1)(i.5)). The association may not prohibit xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes for ground cover on property the owner is responsible for, and it may not require turf grass.² The protection splits across two subsections. Subsection (1)(i)(I)(A), as amended by SB23-178 (2023), applies only to a unit that is a single-family home sharing one or more walls with another unit, and not to a detached single-family home; it lets the association adopt design or aesthetic guidelines, regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings and hardscapes, and restrict nonvegetative turf grass to rear-yard locations only.^2,11 Subsection (1)(i.5) applies only to detached single-family homes, not to attached homes or condominiums; it bars an association from prohibiting nonvegetative turf in the backyard, from unreasonably requiring hardscape on more than 20 percent of the landscaping area, from denying an owner an option built on at least 80 percent drought-tolerant plantings, and from prohibiting vegetable gardens, and it requires the association to pick at least three preapproved water-wise garden designs for front yards.² Under HB21-1229 (2021), the landscaping protection does not reach an association that includes time-share units.² Associations keep the authority to adopt bona fide safety requirements, to protect fire buffers and defensible space, and to protect grading and drainage.²

Flammable roofing and fire-hardened building materials (§ 38-33.3-106.5(2) and (3)). The association may not require cedar shakes or other flammable roofing materials.² As added by HB24-1091 (2024), any provision that prohibits installing, using, or maintaining fire-hardened building materials on an owner's property is void, and the association may not prohibit those materials — though it may adopt reasonable standards for the design, dimensions, placement, and external appearance of fire-hardened materials used for fencing, so long as those standards do not raise fencing cost by more than 10 percent or require a review period longer than 60 days.^4,12 The parallel real-property statute, § 38-30-168(5), likewise voids covenants that restrict fire-hardened building materials.³

Fences. Colorado has no statewide residential fence-height statute and no spite-fence statute; the declaration and local ordinance set residential fence height and materials, and Colorado's partition-fence statutes (C.R.S. § 35-46-112 and § 35-46-113) handle cost-sharing for agricultural and grazing boundary fences, not suburban fences.¹³ Residential pool and spa barrier requirements work as a safety floor drawn from building and safety codes adopted locally — commonly Appendix G of the International Residential Code or the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code — rather than from a single statewide residential mandate; the Code of Colorado Regulations sets barrier standards for public and semi-public pools.¹⁴

Because § 38-33.3-106.5 operates "notwithstanding any contrary declaration provision," a CC&R that bans a protected feature is unenforceable to that extent, even when the declaration predates the statute and even when the owner agreed to it at closing.²

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

CCIOA imposes no general deadline for acting on an architectural application and creates no general deemed-approval rule; where the declaration is silent, the declaration alone sets application timelines.⁹ The one statutory exception is narrow: under § 38-33.3-106.5(3)(c), an application to install fire-hardened building materials is deemed approved if the association does not act within 60 days.⁴ That application deadline is distinct from the written-governance-policy requirement in § 38-33.3-209.5, which directs every association to adopt a set of written policies — including a covenant-enforcement policy with notice and hearing procedures and a schedule of fines — but does not itself set a clock for architectural applications.⁵ CCIOA § 38-33.3-302(3)(b) requires that decisions approving or denying architectural or landscaping applications follow the standards and procedures set out in the declaration or in duly adopted rules or bylaws, and that boards not make them arbitrarily or capriciously; that reasonableness-and-good-faith standard is a statutory command, and Colorado common law reinforces it, because courts will not enforce covenants or architectural decisions applied in bad faith, arbitrarily, or capriciously.⁹ Architectural standards should be in writing and available to owners, in line with the § 38-33.3-209.5 policy requirement, before the association enforces them.⁵ Before an association imposes a fine or seeks forced removal, it must give notice and an opportunity to be heard before an impartial decision maker under § 38-33.3-209.5, and it must follow the cure-period and notice sequence that HB22-1137 added.^5,6

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

The association must adopt and make available written architectural standards and the governance policies that § 38-33.3-209.5 requires, including a covenant-enforcement policy (STATUTORY).⁵ It must review and answer architectural applications under the standards and procedures in the declaration or the adopted rules, and not arbitrarily or capriciously, under § 38-33.3-302(3)(b) (STATUTORY), within whatever timeline the declaration sets (CONTRACTUAL) — except that a fire-hardened-materials fencing application is deemed approved after 60 days of inaction under § 38-33.3-106.5(3)(c) (STATUTORY).^4,9 It must respect the § 38-33.3-106.5 limits on flags, signs, religious displays, solar, landscaping, and fire-hardened materials, and the § 38-30-168 solar and fire-hardened protections (STATUTORY).^2,3 It must apply standards uniformly and give notice and an opportunity to be heard before it enforces, consistent with § 38-33.3-209.5 and HB22-1137 (STATUTORY).^5,6

B. Homeowner obligations and rights

An owner must submit an application and win approval before installing a fence or doing exterior work where the declaration requires it, and must comply with the approved plans and the published standards (CONTRACTUAL).⁹ An owner keeps the statutory right to install solar devices, to use xeriscape and drought-tolerant landscaping, and to display protected flags, signs, and religious displays despite a contrary CC&R, subject to the reasonable rules the statute allows (STATUTORY); the landscaping right varies by community type, reaching attached single-family homes under § 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i), detached single-family homes under (1)(i.5), and not time-share associations under HB21-1229.^2,3 Where the association fails to act within a required or declared timeline, or acts unreasonably or selectively, the owner may challenge the decision, and for a knowing violation of the detached-home landscaping rules the statute authorizes a civil action for up to $500 or actual damages after a 45-day cure notice (STATUTORY).²

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

An association's remedies include fines within the HB22-1137 limits and process, injunctive relief, forced removal or restoration, and recovery of enforcement costs or attorney fees where the documents authorize it (STATUTORY as to process and fine caps; CONTRACTUAL as to the underlying covenant).⁶ For non-safety covenant violations, HB22-1137 requires two 30-day cure periods before legal action, caps fines at $500 per violation, and permits a fine only every other day; a violation the association reasonably determines threatens public safety or health requires only a 72-hour cure period before a fine (STATUTORY).⁶ Whether unpaid fines can become a lien and be foreclosed is limited by statute; HB22-1137 forbids foreclosing a lien filed solely for unpaid fines, and foreclosure for unpaid assessments requires a balance that equals or exceeds six months of assessments plus an individual board vote (STATUTORY).⁶ Enforcement must follow the association's § 38-33.3-209.5 policies and the HB22-1137 process, and after HB25-1043 (2025) the association must strictly comply with lien and foreclosure requirements (STATUTORY).^5,15 Homeowner defenses include selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment, the restriction exceeding the authority CCIOA or the declaration grants, and the restriction being void under § 38-33.3-106.5 or § 38-30-168 (STATUTORY and common-law).^2,9

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Three recent measures shape how Colorado communities handle solar devices, foreclosure, and collections.

B. Recent appellate rulings

One recent published decision bears on whether an association's authority exists at all.

C. Active legislative debates

Colorado's legislature keeps amending this area. The 2026 session enacted HB26-1007 on portable solar devices and considered, but did not pass, HB26-1201, which would have narrowed non-English-language notice accommodations. More proposals touching landscaping, solar, fire-hardening, and enforcement are likely in the sessions ahead, so treat every bill status on this page as something to reverify against leg.colorado.gov.¹⁶

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Colorado gives owners the strongest statutory overrides in this matrix. Section 38-33.3-106.5 gathers the flag, sign, religious-display, solar, landscaping, and fire-hardening protections into a single public-policy section, which puts Colorado ahead of Arizona and alongside California, and far from CC&R-primary states such as Arkansas and Alabama and from moderate Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act states such as Connecticut. Two features set Colorado apart: its xeriscape and nonvegetative-turf protection, which reflects Front Range water-conservation policy, and its fire-hardened-materials protection, which reflects hard wildfire experience such as the December 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County, the most destructive fire in state history, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes.¹⁹ For a multi-state operator, the practical lesson is direct: a CC&R that bans a § 38-33.3-106.5 feature is unenforceable to that extent, and design guidelines must stay inside the statute's "may regulate" boundaries on content-neutral, aesthetic, safety, and placement rules.

HOA Weekly's Colorado Fence and Exterior coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Colorado appellate courts act, and § 38-33.3-106.5 draws frequent amendments. Federal frameworks also apply to Colorado associations regardless of the state framework, including the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC OTARD antenna rule, and the Fair Housing Act and the ADA for reasonable accommodations affecting exterior features, with fuller treatment to come.

1. Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 38, Article 33.3, Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (§§ 38-33.3-101 to -123), official Office of Legislative Legal Services publication ↩
2. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5, Prohibitions contrary to public policy (flags (1)(a); signs (1)(c); religious displays (1)(c.5); renewable energy (1.5); landscaping (1)(i) and (1)(i.5); flammable roofing (2); fire-hardened materials (3)) ↩
3. C.R.S. § 38-30-168, Unreasonable restrictions on renewable energy generation devices or fire-hardened building materials (covenants void and unenforceable; 10-percent aesthetic limits) ↩
4. Colorado Division of Real Estate, HOA Center Advisory: HB24-1091 (fire-hardened fencing standards may not increase cost by more than 10 percent or require review exceeding 60 days; § 38-33.3-106.5(3)(c)) ↩
5. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-209.5, Responsible governance policies, due process for imposition of fines (written covenant-enforcement policy; notice and hearing before an impartial decision maker) ↩
6. Colorado General Assembly, HB22-1137, HOA Board Accountability and Transparency (2022), effective August 2022 (two 30-day cure periods, 72-hour cure for safety violations, $500 fine cap per non-safety violation, foreclosure limits) ↩
7. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-117, Applicability to preexisting common interest communities (enumerated sections applying to pre-July 1, 1992 communities) ↩
8. Colorado Division of Real Estate, HOA Information and Resource Center, Frequently Asked Questions (architectural and landscaping decisions governed by declaration standards and procedures) ↩
9. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-302(3)(b), Powers of unit owners' association (decisions on architectural or landscaping applications made per declaration standards and procedures and not arbitrarily or capriciously) ↩
10. Colorado General Assembly, HB21-1310, HOA Regulation of Flags and Signs (2021), effective September 7, 2021 ↩
11. Colorado General Assembly, SB23-178, Water-wise Landscaping in HOA Communities (2023) ↩
12. Colorado General Assembly, HB24-1091, Fire-Hardened Building Materials in Real Property, approved and effective March 12, 2024 ↩
13. C.R.S. §§ 35-46-112 and 35-46-113, partition fences for agricultural and grazing land (cost-sharing), Colorado Revised Statutes ↩
14. Code of Colorado Regulations, 5 CCR 1003-5, public and semi-public swimming pool standards, including barrier requirements (Colorado Secretary of State) ↩
15. Colorado General Assembly, HB25-1043, Owner Equity Protection in Homeowners' Association Foreclosure Sales (2025), effective October 1, 2025 ↩
16. Colorado General Assembly, HB26-1007, Improve Customer Use of Distributed Energy Resources (2026) (portable-scale solar generation devices as energy efficiency measures on and after January 1, 2027) ↩
17. Colorado Division of Real Estate, 2024 Legislative Updates, HB24-1337 (attorney-fee cap of lesser of $5,000 or 50 percent; mediation prerequisite; 180-day redemption right), effective August 7, 2024 ↩
18. Frisco Lot 3 LLC v. Giberson Limited Partnership, LLLP, 2024 COA 125 (No. 22CA2219), Colorado Court of Appeals, Division VII, announced December 12, 2024 (official Colorado Judicial Branch opinion) ↩
19. Colorado Public Radio, "New law means an HOA can't stop you from hardening your home against wildfires" (March 15, 2024), reporting on HB24-1091 and Marshall Fire context ↩