Indiana HOA Fence & Exterior

Quick-reference panel

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

In Indiana, the recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions — the CC&Rs — and the architectural guidelines a community adopts under them do most of the work on fences and exterior appearance. A Homeowners Associations Act layers governance and due-process duties on top, and a small set of targeted statutory overrides draws the outer limits.¹ Two community statutes apply, and which one governs depends on the community type. The Indiana Condominium Act (Ind. Code § 32-25) governs condominiums. The Indiana Homeowners Associations Act (Ind. Code § 32-25.5) governs planned communities formed after June 30, 2009 that may impose mandatory dues, and it reaches associations formed before July 1, 2009 only when their members vote to opt in.^1,2

Indiana's overrides stay moderate. The state protects a political-sign window around elections, shields display of the U.S. and Indiana flags, and, through a 2022 solar law, limits when an association may restrict a solar energy system.^3,4,5 No Indiana statute sets a deadline for acting on an architectural application or creates a deemed-approval rule; the declaration sets those timelines.¹ Nationally, Indiana lands between CC&R-primary states such as Iowa and Georgia, which impose few statutory limits, and strong-override states such as California. The sections that follow lay out the legal framework, the operational obligations, and the recent legislative activity in detail.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

The recorded declaration is where an Indiana association's authority over fences, walls, paint, siding, roofing, trim, exterior structures, and landscaping appearance begins. The declaration usually hands review to a board or an architectural review committee and authorizes written architectural guidelines. Indiana courts read recorded covenants as contracts among the owners, and they generally enforce reasonable restrictions.⁶

Two community statutes supply the governance overlay, and they stay distinct. The Indiana Condominium Act (Ind. Code § 32-25) governs condominiums that recorded condominium instruments lawfully bring under the article.² The Indiana Homeowners Associations Act (Ind. Code § 32-25.5) governs a homeowners association formed after June 30, 2009 that may impose mandatory dues, and it reaches associations formed before July 1, 2009 only when a majority of members vote to opt in.¹ The Homeowners Associations Act runs chapters on applicability, definitions, governance — budgets, records, meetings, proxies, amendments — Attorney General actions, and grievance resolution, but it is not a comprehensive exterior-control code.¹ Most Indiana associations also incorporate as nonprofit corporations under the Indiana Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1991 (Ind. Code § 23-17), which supplies the corporate governance rules.⁷ Indiana has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so those two community statutes, plus the nonprofit act, form the framework.¹

The order of precedence runs from the mandatory statutory provisions for the applicable community type, down to the declaration, then the architectural guidelines, then board rules. Board rules cannot reach past the authority the statute and the declaration grant, and a restriction that collides with a statutory override is unenforceable.

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

Political signs. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-4 bars an association from adopting or enforcing a rule that prohibits a member from displaying a political sign "during the period: (1) beginning thirty (30) days before; and (2) ending five (5) days after; the date of the election to which the sign relates."³ The association may still adopt reasonable rules inside limits: a size rule must allow a sign at least as large as the signs campaigns commonly display (§ 32-21-13-5(1)); a number rule must allow a reasonable number (§ 32-21-13-5(2)); and a location rule may not bar a sign in a window or on the ground of the owner's property (§ 32-21-13-5(3)). The association may remove a sign that breaks a permitted rule (§ 32-21-13-6).³ The statute caps association authority for a defined window, and it reaches associations and covenant-bound subdivisions generally.

Flags. The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 sets the baseline: a condominium, cooperative, or residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy that restricts or prevents a member from displaying the U.S. flag on residential property the member separately owns or has the right to use exclusively, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules.⁸ In 2026, Indiana added its own layer at Ind. Code § 32-21-13.5 (House Enrolled Act 1150). A property owners association's governing documents may not include a covenant or policy that prohibits display of the U.S. flag or the Indiana state flag, though the association may still impose reasonable placement rules.⁴ The provision caps association authority, and by its own terms it applies to governing documents established before, on, or after the effective date.

Solar. Indiana does not flatly bar association solar restrictions. House Enrolled Act 1196 (2022), codified at Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3.5 (P.L.73-2022), lets an association require screening and preapproval procedures and lets it prohibit or force removal of a solar energy system only in limited circumstances, and it creates a homeowner petition process.⁵ Under § 32-25.5-3.5-5, an association may prohibit or require removal only when one of the enumerated reasons applies — for example, that "(1) A court has found that the solar energy system threatens public health or safety," that the system sits on association or commonly owned property, or that a roof-mounted system "extends above or beyond the roof of the dwelling unit by more than six (6) inches."⁹ Under § 32-25.5-3.5-4, a homeowner in a restrictive association may petition the other members. The homeowner must gather signatures equal to at least the lesser of the number needed to amend the governing documents or sixty-five percent (65%) of the members, and once the petition clears that threshold, the board or architectural committee may not deny a compliant request.⁹ The 2022 law conditions association authority rather than erasing it, and it reaches associations under the Homeowners Associations Act.

Landscaping. No Indiana statute shields water-conserving or drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, or artificial turf from association restriction. With no statutory override in play, the declaration and the architectural guidelines set landscaping-appearance authority entirely.¹ (A separate 2026 enactment bars associations from discriminating among motor vehicles or outdoor equipment by fuel source, but that reaches equipment, not landscaping appearance.)⁴

Fences. Residential pool and spa barrier requirements work as a safety floor under Indiana's adopted building and safety code, run through the Indiana swimming pool code (675 IAC 20) and the residential code and enforced by local building departments.¹⁰ Those requirements sit alongside the declaration's fence rules and stay independent of them; an association's aesthetic fence standards cannot waive a code-required pool barrier.

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

Neither the Condominium Act nor the Homeowners Associations Act requires an association to act on an architectural application within a set period, and neither creates a deemed-approval remedy for inaction. The declaration and the architectural guidelines set review timelines, not a statutory clock.¹

The Homeowners Associations Act requires the governing documents to include grievance-resolution procedures that apply to all members, and a claimant — an association included — generally may not start a legal proceeding until it has run that process, which opens with a written notice of claim and lets the other side request a meeting within ten business days.¹¹ As amended in 2026, the Act now authorizes fines statewide, but it conditions them: the board must first adopt a schedule of fines and give the member advance notice of the violation, the amount, and the assessment date. The Act still sets no fine cap and no fine timeline, and it leaves those specifics to the governing documents.¹² Before the 2026 amendment, fine authority rested entirely on the CC&Rs.¹²

An association must make architectural decisions in good faith, keep them reasonable, and apply them uniformly. In Indiana that duty rests mainly on common-law contract and property doctrine governing restrictive covenants, not on a specific exterior-control statute, and Indiana appellate courts have struck down association action that ignored the covenants' own procedures.⁶ Architectural standards stay enforceable only so far as the declaration authorizes them and owners can see them; the records-access provisions of the Homeowners Associations Act reinforce owners' ability to obtain governing documents and board records.¹²

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

The association or its architectural committee must maintain the architectural standards the declaration authorizes and make the governing documents and board records available to members on request — records access is STATUTORY under Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3, while the substance of the standards is CONTRACTUAL, and this applies to § 32-25.5 planned communities.¹² It must review and respond to architectural applications within whatever timeline the declaration sets (CONTRACTUAL; neither community type carries a statutory deadline).¹ It must respect the political-sign window and its rule limits, the flag protections, and the solar limits (STATUTORY; § 32-21-13, § 32-21-13.5, and the federal flag act reach associations and covenant-bound owners, and § 32-25.5-3.5 reaches planned communities).^3,4,5 And it must adopt a schedule of fines and give advance notice before it assesses a fine, then run the grievance-resolution process before litigation (STATUTORY; § 32-25.5-3-12 and § 32-25.5-5; planned communities).^12,11

B. Homeowner obligations and rights

A homeowner ordinarily must submit an application and win approval before installing a fence or starting exterior work, then comply with the approved plans and the published standards (CONTRACTUAL; the declaration sets these).⁶ When the association fails to follow its own covenant procedures or enforces selectively, the homeowner may challenge the action, and Indiana courts have set aside sanctions imposed without the notice the covenants required.⁶ A homeowner may also display political signs during the protected window, fly the U.S. or Indiana flag subject to reasonable placement rules, and pursue a solar installation within the limited circumstances and petition process the 2022 law provides (STATUTORY).^3,4,5

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

The association's remedies include fines — after it adopts a schedule and gives notice — injunctive relief, forced removal or restoration, and recovery of enforcement costs or attorney fees where the declaration authorizes it (fines STATUTORY as to procedure under § 32-25.5-3-12; cost recovery CONTRACTUAL).^12,13 A regular annual assessment that goes unpaid becomes enforceable as a lien on the member's property; other unpaid charges are not automatically lienable, but the association may pursue them in a civil action (STATUTORY; § 32-25.5-3-8 and Ind. Code § 32-28-14).¹⁴ The Indiana Attorney General's Homeowner Protection Unit may act against specific abuses — misappropriation of association funds, board fraud, and proxy or budgeting violations — and may seek court remedies and civil penalties under the Attorney General Actions chapter; this is abuse-specific enforcement, not general regulation, and Indiana keeps no statewide HOA regulator and no community-association-manager license (STATUTORY; § 32-25.5-4).¹⁵ A homeowner's defenses include selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment, a restriction that exceeds the authority statute or the declaration grants, and conflict with a statutory override — a political-sign ban inside the protected window, for instance.^3,6

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

The 2026 session produced three enrolled acts that reach exterior control and HOA governance.

The 2022 solar law (House Enrolled Act 1196), now settled at Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3.5, falls outside the 24-month bill window, and Section 2B covers it as settled law.⁵

B. Recent appellate rulings

Two recent Court of Appeals decisions frame how far covenant and architectural authority reaches.

C. Active legislative debates

The 2026 session produced five major HOA-related enrolled acts at once, and people who watch the process read that volume as a sign the General Assembly will keep coming back to HOA governance and homeowner-rights measures. No active proposal aimed specifically at exterior aesthetic control is pending as of the last verification date.¹⁶

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Indiana is a moderate state. It sits between strong-override states such as California, Colorado, and Illinois, which impose detailed statewide limits on association exterior authority, and CC&R-primary states such as Iowa and Georgia, which impose few. Indiana's overrides stay targeted: a political-sign election window, U.S. and Indiana flag protection, and a solar law that constrains association authority rather than barring it.^3,5 A few features set the state apart — the Homeowners Associations Act's mandatory grievance-resolution process, the Attorney General Homeowner Protection Unit's abuse-specific enforcement, and the 2022 solar law's homeowner petition mechanism.^11,15 For a multi-state operator, the practical point holds: the declaration still drives most exterior questions in Indiana, but a political-sign ban inside the protected window or a flat solar prohibition is unenforceable.

HOA Weekly's Indiana fence and exterior coverage updates quarterly as the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana appellate courts act. Federal frameworks also bind Indiana associations regardless of the state framework — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC OTARD antenna rule, and the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act for reasonable accommodations that affect exterior features, with fuller treatment to come.

Footnotes

1. Indiana Homeowners Associations Act, Ind. Code § 32-25.5 (applicability, governance, grievance resolution, Attorney General actions), Indiana General Assembly ↩
2. Indiana Condominium Act, Ind. Code § 32-25, Indiana General Assembly ↩
3. Display of Political Signs, Ind. Code § 32-21-13; Indiana Attorney General HOA political-signage guidance (Oct. 4, 2024) ↩
4. House Enrolled Act 1150 (2026), P.L.26-2026, adding Ind. Code § 32-21-13.5 (flag display) and related provisions, Indiana General Assembly ↩
5. House Bill 1196 (2022), P.L.73-2022, codified at Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3.5, Indiana General Assembly ↩
6. Linda Slavick Trust v. Christmas Lake Properties Association, Inc., No. 24A-PL-1746 (Ind. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2025), courts.in.gov ↩
7. Indiana Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1991, Ind. Code § 23-17, Indiana General Assembly ↩
8. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, 4 U.S.C. § 5 note, U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel ↩
9. Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3.5-4 (petition; signature threshold) and § 32-25.5-3.5-5 (permitted reasons), Indiana Code (cross-verified against official text) ↩
10. Indiana swimming pool code, 675 IAC 20, and Indiana residential code pool-barrier provisions, Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission / Indiana Department of Health ↩
11. Grievance Resolution, Ind. Code § 32-25.5-5 (§§ 8-11), Indiana Code ↩
12. House Enrolled Act 1115 (2026), adding Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3-12 (fine authority) and amending records/fee provisions, Indiana General Assembly ↩
13. Tracy Talley v. Cheswick Homeowners' Association, Inc., No. 24A-SC-581 (Ind. Ct. App. Feb. 27, 2025) (mem.), courts.in.gov ↩
14. Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3-8 (assessment lien) and Ind. Code § 32-28-14 (homeowners association liens), Indiana General Assembly ↩
15. Attorney General Actions, Ind. Code § 32-25.5-4; Indiana Attorney General Homeowner Protection Unit ↩
16. House Enrolled Act 1152 (2026), Indiana General Assembly ↩