Illinois HOA Solar Rights

Section 1: Overview — Solar rights for HOAs in Illinois

Illinois stands as a strong-protection state for residential solar. The Homeowners' Energy Policy Statement Act, 765 ILCS 165, bars a homeowners' association, common interest community association, or condominium unit owners' association from adopting any bylaw or exercising any power that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of a solar energy system, and it requires the association to adopt a written energy policy statement governing solar installations.¹

The energy policy statement mandate is the distinctive Illinois mechanic: an association must, within 90 days after it receives a request for a policy statement or a member's application, adopt a written statement that explicitly incorporates the Act's minimum standards as its floor.² The statute sits in its own standalone act, not inside the community-association statutes, and by its terms reaches condominiums, governed by the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605, common interest community associations, governed by the Common Interest Community Association Act, 765 ILCS 160, and homeowners' associations alike.¹

The Common Interest Community Association Act carries a size threshold that exempts the smallest associations, so the comprehensive non-condominium statute doesn't reach every Illinois HOA, though the solar act applies regardless of that threshold.³ Illinois joins California (Civil Code Section 714), Florida (Fla. Stat. Section 163.04), Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Texas (Prop. Code Section 202.010) in the strong-protection tier.⁴ The sections that follow set out the statutory framework, the operational limits on association authority, and recent legislative activity.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. The core solar statute: the Homeowners' Energy Policy Statement Act (765 ILCS 165)

The Act was enacted by Public Act 96-1436, effective January 1, 2011, amended by Public Act 102-161, effective July 26, 2021, and amended again by Public Act 103-296, effective July 28, 2023.⁵ Its stated purpose is to encourage solar energy systems and to prevent association measures that carry the ultimate effect of blocking them.¹ Section 15 makes the core prohibition explicit: the adoption of a bylaw or exercise of any power by an association that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of a solar energy system is expressly prohibited.¹ Section 20 extends the same rule to deed restrictions, covenants, and similar agreements running with the land.¹

The energy policy statement mandate shows up in Section 20(b). Within 90 days after an association receives a request for a policy statement or an application from a member, the association must adopt a written energy policy statement. That statement must explicitly include, as its minimum standards, the terms of Section 20, and it may also address the location, design, and architectural requirements of solar energy systems and whether wind, rainwater collection, or composting systems are allowed.¹ The statement may not condition approval on the consent of adjacent property owners, may not inquire into a property owner's energy usage, may not impose conditions impairing the operation of a system or negatively affecting a component's industry-standard warranty, and may not require post-installation reporting. An owner may not be denied permission based on the ownership or financing method chosen for the system.¹

The reasonable-restriction standard is calibrated tightly. Under Section 20(a), an association may determine the specific configuration of the elements of a system on a given roof face, but it may not prohibit elements from being installed on any roof face, and any such determination may not reduce the production of the system by more than 10 percent, measured as estimated annual electrical production.¹ An association may not require specific technology, such as solar shingles instead of traditional panels. It may impose reasonable conditions on maintenance, repair, replacement, and removal of damaged or inoperable systems, so long as those conditions aren't more onerous than the association's analogous conditions for nonsolar projects.¹ Covered devices are defined in Section 10 and include solar collectors, solar storage mechanisms such as batteries, and complete solar energy systems used to generate electricity or to heat or cool.¹

2B. Cross-community-type application and the community statutes

765 ILCS 165 stands as a standalone act. It's not part of the Condominium Property Act or the Common Interest Community Association Act, and it doesn't depend on either for its force. Its operative sections apply, by their own terms, to a "homeowners' association, common interest community association, or condominium unit owners' association," so a single statute governs solar authority across all three community types.¹ Condominiums otherwise answer to the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605, and non-condominium common interest communities to the Common Interest Community Association Act (CICAA), 765 ILCS 160.^6,3

CICAA doesn't reach every non-condominium association. Under Section 1-75, a common interest community association organized under the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 and having either 10 units or fewer, or annual budgeted assessments of $100,000 or less, is exempt from the Act unless it affirmatively elects coverage by a majority of its directors or members.³ A small association below that threshold answers to its recorded declaration and the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986, 805 ILCS 105, rather than to CICAA's full provisions.³ Illinois is not a Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act state, so those features don't apply.

The community acts and recorded declarations serve as the ordinary source of architectural-review authority, letting boards review exterior changes for design and placement. 765 ILCS 165 confines that authority where solar is concerned. An association still reviews a solar application, but only through a compliant energy policy statement and only within the reasonable-restriction standard. On the order of precedence, Section 20(c) is decisive: any provision of a declaration or energy policy statement that conflicts with the Act is void and unenforceable as contrary to public policy.¹ The solar act overrides conflicting declaration language regardless of when the declaration was recorded.

2C. The reasonable-restriction boundary and the role of governing documents

Within the boundary the Act draws, an association retains meaningful but limited authority. It may adopt a written energy policy statement, and it may set reasonable location and design rules, including determining the configuration on a given roof face, provided the determination doesn't cut estimated annual production by more than 10 percent and doesn't bar elements from any roof face. It may impose maintenance, repair, replacement, and removal conditions no more onerous than those for comparable nonsolar projects.¹

The energy policy statement serves as the operative document connecting the recorded declaration to a solar application. The Act requires the association to disclose its written statement on request and to include it in the association's declaration.¹ Architectural review of a solar application runs through that statement rather than through general aesthetic covenants, and any covenant that conflicts with the Act falls away under Section 20(c). An association can't rely on a general "no exterior alterations without approval" clause to defeat a compliant installation.

Corporate law and the community acts continue operating in the background. A board still acts through the governance procedures of the Condominium Property Act, CICAA, or, for an exempt small association, the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986. Community association managers who administer these associations for compensation must be licensed under the Community Association Manager Licensing and Disciplinary Act, 225 ILCS 427, administered by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.⁷ Those bodies of law frame how a board adopts a policy and processes an application; 765 ILCS 165 sets the substantive limit on what the policy may say.

Section 3: What an Illinois association can and cannot do regarding solar

A. What an association cannot do

An association may not adopt a bylaw or exercise any power that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of a solar energy system.¹ It may not impose a location or configuration determination that reduces estimated annual production by more than 10 percent, prohibit elements from any roof face, require specific technology such as solar shingles, condition approval on adjacent-owner consent, inquire into energy usage, impair system operation, void component warranties, or require post-installation reporting.¹ It may not refuse to adopt or apply a compliant energy policy statement as the Act requires.¹

B. What an association may do

An association may adopt a written energy policy statement that incorporates the Act's minimum standards and may add reasonable location, design, and architectural requirements within the statutory limits — the adoption itself stays mandatory, while the added reasonable rules stay discretionary.¹ It may determine the configuration on a given roof face so long as it doesn't bar elements from any roof face and doesn't reduce estimated annual production by more than 10 percent, and it may impose maintenance, repair, replacement, and removal conditions no more onerous than those for comparable nonsolar projects.¹

C. The energy-policy-statement requirement and approval process

The written statement must explicitly include the Act's terms as minimum standards and may address location, design, and architectural requirements.¹ An application must be made available in hard copy on request or through the association's website, without a solar-specific form and without a fee higher than for other property-change applications, and it must be processed within 30 days of submission, or within 120 days if submitted before the association has adopted a written statement.¹

D. Dispute resolution and remedies

Any provision of a declaration or energy policy statement that conflicts with the Act is void and unenforceable as contrary to public policy.¹ If an association fails to adopt a compliant statement or to process an application on time, the owner may proceed with installation after giving written notice of the failure and 10 business days to cure, during which the association may only adopt the statement or process the application and may not seek injunctive relief or impose fines.¹ A willful violation exposes the association to actual and consequential damages, and the prevailing party in litigation under the Act is entitled to costs and reasonable attorney's fees.¹ Disputes get heard in the Illinois Circuit Court, with appeals to the appropriate district of the Illinois Appellate Court and discretionary review by the Illinois Supreme Court.⁸

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published Illinois Appellate Court or Illinois Supreme Court opinion, and no Rule 23 order, decided between July 2023 and July 2026 interprets or applies 765 ILCS 165 as it governs association authority over an owner's rooftop solar.¹⁰ The recent Illinois appellate solar decisions concern utility-scale solar-farm siting under the Counties Code, 55 ILCS 5/5-12020, not association authority, and they aren't on point.¹¹ The most-cited association solar dispute, brought by The Orchards Homeowners Association against homeowners Mark and Jennifer Bassler in St. Clair County Circuit Court over front-facing rooftop panels at 2813 Fairway Drive in Belleville — the installer told trade press that full compliance with the association's rear-only rule would cut the system's capacity by about 35 percent — resolved when the association dropped the suit in the fall of 2022 without producing an appellate opinion, so it set no binding precedent.¹² As a result, the statutory text and its 2021 and 2023 amendments, rather than case law, control the analysis.

C. Active legislative debates

The active area of debate concerns plug-in and portable solar, reflected in SB3104's attempt to fold plug-in systems into the solar act's protection. No pending proposal would weaken the core prohibition or the energy policy statement mandate.⁹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Illinois sits in the first of three broad solar-rights categories: strong-protection states whose statutes void or limit association solar restrictions, including Illinois (765 ILCS 165), California (Civ. Code Section 714), Florida (Fla. Stat. Section 163.04), Arizona (A.R.S. Sections 33-1816 and 33-1268), Colorado (C.R.S. Section 38-30-168), Nevada, and Texas (Prop. Code Section 202.010).⁴ The second category, solar-easement-only states, enables voluntary easements between neighbors but doesn't override associations. The third, no-protection states, leaves the recorded declaration in full control. Illinois's distinctive feature is a cross-community-type statute that not only bars prohibition but affirmatively requires each association to adopt and apply a compliant energy policy statement.² For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is direct: an Illinois association cannot prohibit solar and must adopt and apply a compliant energy policy statement, processing applications on the statutory clock.

HOA Weekly's Illinois Solar Rights coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Illinois courts act. No federal rule comparable to the FCC's OTARD rule extends to rooftop solar, so Illinois's state statute controls here.

1. Homeowners' Energy Policy Statement Act, 765 ILCS 165/1 et seq. (Illinois General Assembly, full text of Sections 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45) ↩
2. 765 ILCS 165/20(b) (energy policy statement; 90-day adoption requirement) ↩
3. Common Interest Community Association Act, 765 ILCS 160/1-75 (small-community exemption: 10 units or fewer, or annual budgeted assessments of $100,000 or less) ↩
4. Solar Access Laws by State (Palmetto), cross-referencing Cal. Civ. Code Section 714, Fla. Stat. Section 163.04, Tex. Prop. Code Section 202.010, and comparable state statutes ↩
5. Public Act 103-0296 (formerly HB2174), amending the Homeowners' Energy Policy Statement Act, eff. July 28, 2023; prior amendments P.A. 96-1436 (eff. 1-1-11) and P.A. 102-161 (eff. 7-26-21) ↩
6. Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/1 et seq. (Illinois General Assembly) ↩
7. Community Association Manager Licensing and Disciplinary Act, 225 ILCS 427/15 (license required to provide community association management services), administered by IDFPR ↩
8. Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (Illinois Appellate Court, five judicial districts; Illinois Supreme Court discretionary review) ↩
9. Illinois General Assembly, Bill Status for SB3104 (Plug-In Solar Energy Systems), 104th General Assembly; last action 5/22/2026, Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments ↩
10. Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, opinion search (no published Appellate Court or Supreme Court opinion or Rule 23 order interpreting 765 ILCS 165 in the July 2023–July 2026 window) ↩
11. ArentFox Schiff, "Illinois Appellate Courts Split on County Authority on Solar Siting" (recent appellate solar decisions arise under the Counties Code, 55 ILCS 5/5-12020, not 765 ILCS 165) ↩
12. Illinois State Bar Association, Daily Legal News, "Belleville homeowners association drops lawsuit over installation of solar panels" (Oct. 27, 2022); installer capacity-reduction figure reported by pv magazine USA, Aug. 20, 2021 ↩