Kentucky HOA ADUs & Modifications

Key Findings

• Kentucky is a declaration-governed state, and that fact drives almost everything. The recorded declaration decides what an owner may build or change — additions, exterior work, solar panels, EV charging, landscaping, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — because the Commonwealth has no HOA solar-rights statute, no EV-charging protection, no landscaping protection, and no ADU-preemption law. The one categorical state carve-out for modifications is political yard signs.
• Two dates decide which statute supplies the procedure. Planned communities created after June 29, 2023 answer to the 2023 Planned Community Act (KRS 381.785–.801). Condominiums created after January 1, 2011 answer to the Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101–.9207), while pre-2011 condominiums stay under the 1962 Horizontal Property Law. Older planned communities are contract-first — their covenants, the Nonprofit Corporation Act, and common law.
• The Planned Community Act is real, procedural, and narrowly substantive. It reaches association formation, budgets, reserves, insurance, records access, open board meetings, assessments, liens, an 80% default amendment supermajority, notice-and-hearing before fines, and political-sign protection. It does not mandate solar or ADUs.
• No statute voids covenants that restrict ADUs — the opposite of California and Colorado. In Kentucky, ADUs turn on municipal zoning plus the recorded covenants, and the covenants can say no.
• Political-sign protection grew in 2025. HB 27 amended KRS 381.800 to reach every planned community in the Commonwealth and to void any contrary provision in a governing document.
• A 2024 law — HB 472, creating KRS 381.803 — lets a city ask a court to appoint a receiver for a planned community that fails to maintain its infrastructure or common areas.
• Four federal overlays bind every association regardless of the declaration: U.S. flag display, FCC OTARD antennas, Fair Housing Act reasonable modifications, and ADA Title III. Never credit them to Kentucky statute. The Commonwealth has no HOA regulator, no state ombudsman, and does not license community association managers.

Details

SECTION 1 — Overview

Kentucky runs on a date-tiered, multi-statute framework, and there is no single "Kentucky HOA Act." The statute that supplies governance procedure depends on the community's type and its creation date. Planned communities — the non-condominium HOAs — created after June 29, 2023 answer to the 2023 Planned Community Act, KRS 381.785 to 381.801, which the General Assembly enacted as 2023 SB 120 and the Governor signed on March 20, 2023.¹ Condominiums split on a different date, January 1, 2011: the Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101–.9207) governs those created after that date,² while the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805–.910), enacted in 1962, governs the older regimes.³ Older planned communities are contract-first: their recorded covenants govern, backed by the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS ch. 273) or the Nonprofit Association Act (KRS ch. 273A) and common-law covenant principles.⁴

For member modifications, the declaration does the heavy lifting. Kentucky has no solar-rights mandate, no EV-charging protection, and no landscaping or drought-tolerant protection binding on associations, so the covenants govern each of those categories. The one categorical state carve-out is political yard signs: KRS 381.800 bars an association's governing documents from prohibiting outdoor political-sign display within a set election window, and as amended by 2025 HB 27 that protection now reaches every planned community in the Commonwealth.⁵ Critically, no Kentucky statute voids covenants that restrict ADUs — unlike California and Colorado. ADUs turn instead on municipal or county zoning plus the recorded covenants. Four federal overlays apply regardless of the declaration and must be labeled federal, never Kentucky statute: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC OTARD rule, the Fair Housing Act's reasonable-modification duty, and ADA Title III for qualifying common-area public accommodations.

SECTION 2 — The legal framework

2A. Which statute governs

The first step is always the same: identify the community type — planned community or condominium — and its creation date. That determines which statutory layer sits on top of the declaration.

For planned communities, the dividing line is June 29, 2023, the effective date of 2023 SB 120. The Planned Community Act applies its substantive provisions to planned communities, but it expressly does not invalidate provisions that a recorded document already contained before the effective date, and its requirement to record a declaration to establish a community reaches only communities formed after that date.⁶ Planned communities formed on or before June 29, 2023 are effectively contract-first: their authority comes from the recorded covenants, supplemented by the corporate formalities of the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS ch. 273) and common-law covenant enforcement. The Act itself directs new associations to organize as nonprofit corporations under KRS ch. 273 or as unincorporated nonprofit associations under KRS ch. 273A, and it borrows the director-conduct standards of KRS 273.215 and 273.229.

For condominiums, the dividing line is January 1, 2011. The Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101–.9207), enacted in 2010 and effective January 1, 2011, applies to condominiums created after that date and modernizes governance, budgets, reserves, disclosures, meetings, records, assessments, and liens. Do not overstate it: the Condominium Act is UCIOA-influenced but limited to condominiums — Kentucky has not adopted UCIOA as a general common-interest code. A handful of enumerated provisions reach back to pre-2011 condominiums, but only for events occurring after January 1, 2011 and without invalidating existing declaration provisions; most notably, the executive board of a pre-2011 condominium may rely on the Act to handle any public-safety or public-health issue, and a pre-2011 condominium may amend to adopt Act provisions. The Horizontal Property Law does not reach condominiums created after January 1, 2011.²

The practical upshot: in Kentucky, the governing documents carry more weight than they do in statute-heavy states like California or Florida, because no comprehensive common-interest code sits on top of them.

2B. Architectural review and protected categories

Architectural review in Kentucky is fundamentally a creature of the declaration. The declaration and any architectural guidelines set the substance — what may be built, in what style, through what approval process — while the applicable statute, if any, supplies only procedure. For post-2023 planned communities, the Act adds procedural scaffolding: written notice and an opportunity to be heard before fines, damage charges, or individual assessments; owner access to records subject to reasonable standards and enumerated exceptions; and open board meetings except in executive session.⁷ It does not tell a board what aesthetic standards to adopt. Kentucky courts enforce validly adopted restrictive covenants according to their terms and require architectural discretion to stay within the governing documents.⁸

The only categorical state-law override of the declaration for modifications is political yard signs. KRS 381.800 provides that an association's governing documents "shall not prohibit the outdoor display of political yard signs," subject to a display window — no earlier than 30 days before, and no later than 7 days after, any special, primary, or regular election, unless a longer local-ordinance period applies — and it permits reasonable rules on placement, size, and manner. As amended by 2025 HB 27 (2025 Ky. Acts Ch. 32, effective June 27, 2025), the section now reaches all planned communities in the Commonwealth, and any provision of an existing governing document that contravenes it is void.⁹

There is no Kentucky HOA solar-rights statute, no EV-charging-station protection, and no landscaping protection. Kentucky does have a solar-easement statute, KRS 381.200, but it is a voluntary conveyancing device — a solar easement created in writing between parties, subject to normal recording rules and not acquirable by prescription — not an HOA mandate; it does nothing to limit an association's power to restrict solar installations.¹⁰ As a result, solar panels, EV chargers, and landscaping all live with the declaration. A Kentucky board may lawfully restrict or prohibit them unless the covenants say otherwise.

2C. ADUs and federal overlays

Kentucky has no statewide statute that overrides or voids association covenants on accessory dwelling units. ADUs turn on a two-layer analysis: first, municipal or county zoning, which decides whether an ADU is permitted as a land-use matter; and second, the recorded covenants, which control within a covenant-governed community. Even where a city has legalized ADUs by zoning, a recorded covenant restricting or prohibiting them remains enforceable in Kentucky, because no state statute strips that covenant of effect. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, for example, adopted zoning regulations for ADUs — LFUCG Zoning Ordinance § 3-12, including a pre-application conference requirement — but those zoning rules do not void private covenants.¹¹

That is the opposite of the posture in California, where a governing-document provision that "effectively prohibit[s] or unreasonably restrict[s]" an ADU or junior ADU on a single-family lot is void and unenforceable,¹² and in Colorado, where HOAs in "subject jurisdictions" cannot ban ADUs.¹³ In Kentucky, the declaration controls.

Four federal overlays apply regardless of the declaration, and you must label them federal, never Kentucky statute:

• The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 bars a condominium, cooperative, or residential real estate management association from adopting or enforcing any policy that restricts an owner's display of the U.S. flag on property under the owner's separate ownership or exclusive use, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules and the U.S. Flag Code. The Act carries no private right of action.¹⁴
• The FCC OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, stops associations from impairing the installation, maintenance, or use of covered antennas and satellite dishes one meter or less in diameter in an owner's exclusive-use area; the burden of justifying a restriction falls on the association.¹⁵
• The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), requires associations to permit reasonable modifications for residents with disabilities, generally at the resident's expense.¹⁶
• ADA Title III reaches common-area facilities that qualify as public accommodations.¹⁷

SECTION 3 — Compliance obligations

A. Architectural review process obligations

The substance of architectural review lives in the DECLARATION, and it binds BOTH planned communities and condominiums of any age. The declaration and architectural guidelines define what modifications need approval and what standards apply; there is no statutory architectural-review code in Kentucky. For planned communities, the Planned Community Act adds a STATE STATUTE layer of procedure: before it imposes a fine, damage charge, or individual assessment, the board must give the owner written notice and an opportunity to be heard, and it must keep board meetings open and records accessible — subject to the non-invalidation carve-out for pre-June 29, 2023 documents. For condominiums created after January 1, 2011, the Kentucky Condominium Act governs alteration of units and executive-board procedure, with an enumerated reach-back to older regimes.¹⁸

B. Modifications the association must permit

Political yard signs are a STATE STATUTE matter for ALL PLANNED COMMUNITIES: under KRS 381.800 as amended by 2025 HB 27, governing documents may not prohibit outdoor political-sign display within the statutory window, and contrary provisions are void. U.S. flag display is FEDERAL and reaches BOTH community types, as are compliant antennas and satellite dishes in an owner's exclusive-use area under OTARD and resident-paid reasonable disability modifications under the Fair Housing Act. Solar, EV charging, and landscaping stay with the DECLARATION for BOTH types — no Kentucky statute compels an association to permit them, so the covenants control.

C. ADU obligations and limits on HOA authority

ADUs answer to the DECLARATION plus municipal or county zoning, and this holds for BOTH community types. No Kentucky statute voids covenants on ADUs. In a covenant-governed community the declaration controls; municipal zoning — for instance, LFUCG Zoning Ordinance § 3-12 — governs the land-use question but does not preempt private covenants. An owner who wins a municipal ADU approval still needs the declaration on their side.

D. Enforcement, dispute resolution, and appeal obligations

Assessment liens are a STATE STATUTE matter, and the priority differs by type. The Planned Community Act (KRS 381.799 range) creates a continuing lien for unpaid assessments that is prior to other liens except tax and governmental liens and prior-recorded mortgages, while the Condominium Act's lien (KRS 381.9193) beats most other creditors but not a properly recorded first mortgage.¹⁹ For contract-first planned communities, enforcement runs through corporate governance under the Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS ch. 273) plus the declaration, and owners enforce through the courts. Trial happens in Kentucky Circuit Court, the court of general jurisdiction that hears civil matters over $5,000 and real-property title disputes; appeal lies as of right to the Kentucky Court of Appeals — an intermediate appellate court of fourteen judges sitting in panels of three — with discretionary review by the seven-justice Kentucky Supreme Court.²⁰ There is no dedicated regulator: Kentucky has no HOA regulator, no state ombudsman, and does not license community association managers. Enforcement is owner-driven.

SECTION 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

Kentucky's recent activity clusters around three things: the political-sign amendment, a receivership backstop for neglected communities, and a pair of appellate rulings that enforce covenants and duly adopted amendments. Each item below is labeled plainly and verified against a primary source.

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

Kentucky's Court of Appeals is not rewriting HOA law from the bench. It is doing something more grounded: enforcing recorded covenants and duly adopted amendments according to their terms. Two recent decisions show the pattern. Both are marked "Not to be Published," so their citation is limited — use them for persuasive value, and anchor briefs in the published Hensley v. Gadd.

C. Active legislative debates

Municipal ADU zoning reform stays contested in Kentucky's larger cities — Lexington-Fayette most visibly — where legalizing ADUs has drawn neighborhood-association pushback. Those debates are zoning matters, and they do not touch private covenants. As of July 2026, no Kentucky bill preempting HOA covenant authority over ADUs, or mandating solar or EV access, has been enacted.

SECTION 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Kentucky sits firmly in the declaration-governed camp: a date-tiered, multi-statute framework — the Planned Community Act for post-2023 HOAs, the Condominium Act for post-2011 condos, the Horizontal Property Law for older condos, and nonprofit-corporation and common law for the rest — with political-sign protection but no solar, EV, or ADU preemption. That makes it materially more permissive of association control over modifications than the preemption states.

Set it against the ADU-preemption states — California and Colorado — where covenants restricting ADUs are void or unenforceable; and against the solar-protection states, like Indiana, whose solar chapter sits within the Indiana Homeowners Association Act,²⁶ and Hawaii, where HRS § 196-7(a) provides that "no person shall be prevented by any covenant, declaration, bylaws, restriction, deed, lease … from installing a solar energy device on any single-family residential dwelling or townhouse that the person owns," and voids any provision to the contrary.²⁷ Kentucky has none of these.

The practical implication for multi-state operators is direct: a national playbook will over- or under-restrict in Kentucky. Do not import California ADU or solar assumptions — here the covenants control, and a board can lawfully deny solar, EV, ADU, and landscaping requests the declaration does not protect. And do not assume Kentucky's political-sign window matches another state's. Read the declaration first, confirm the community's type and creation date to pick the right statutory layer, then apply the four federal overlays on top.

Recommendations

1. Triage every community by type and creation date first. That single step selects the governing statutory layer. Post-June 29, 2023 planned community → Planned Community Act. On or before that date → contract-first, covenants plus KRS ch. 273 plus common law. Post-January 1, 2011 condo → Condominium Act. Pre-2011 condo → Horizontal Property Law. Watch for any new legislation that extends the Act's substantive provisions retroactively.
2. Rewrite sign policies now. Under KRS 381.800, as amended by 2025 HB 27, a flat ban is void statewide. Replace bans with reasonable time, place, manner, and size rules keyed to the 30-days-before / 7-days-after window.
3. Treat solar, EV, ADU, and landscaping as pure declaration questions. There is no state floor or ceiling, so draft or amend covenants deliberately. If a board wants to permit or restrict these, the covenants must say so. That changes only if Kentucky enacts a solar-access, EV, or ADU-preemption bill — none exists as of July 2026.
4. Label federal overlays as federal in every owner communication. The flag Act, OTARD, the Fair Housing Act's reasonable-modification duty, and ADA Title III bind the association regardless of the declaration. Remember that OTARD reaches only exclusive-use areas, not common elements, and that the flag Act carries no private right of action.
5. Audit common-area and stormwater maintenance. KRS 381.803 exposes a neglectful planned community to city-initiated receivership. Fund reserves and document maintenance.
6. Cite covenant and architectural precedent cautiously. Roberts and Panaretos are persuasive on waiver and amendment enforceability, but they are unpublished; anchor briefs in the published Hensley v. Gadd, 560 S.W.3d 516 (Ky. 2018).

Caveats

• Unpublished opinions. Roberts v. Ballard Woods HOA (2025-CA-0578-MR) and Panaretos v. Villas at Claymont Springs (2024-CA-1229-MR) are both marked "Not to be Published." Under the Kentucky Rules of Appellate Procedure their citation is limited; use them for persuasive value and reasoning, not as binding authority.
• Excluded fabrication. A case titled "Gibson v. Kentucky Properties Owners Association," cited by at least one secondary source, could not be located in any primary or reputable court source and is excluded as likely fabricated. Do not cite it. The same source also misdescribes UCIOA as applying to Kentucky planned communities established after 2011 — that is inaccurate, and we did not rely on it.
• Subsection precision within the Planned Community Act. The Act was codified from SB 120's Sections 1–17; confirm the exact codified subsection on the Kentucky Legislature site before quoting it in a filing.
• Municipal ADU rules change frequently. The LFUCG § 3-12 reference is illustrative; verify the current municipal code text, and note that other jurisdictions — for example, Louisville Metro — run their own regimes. None override private covenants.
• Currency. Statutory status reflects enactments through the 2025 Regular Session as published on the Kentucky Legislature site; re-verify against the 2026 session before publication.
• Federal law is federal. The flag Act, OTARD, the Fair Housing Act, and ADA Title III are not Kentucky statutes; they bind associations on their own, apart from the state framework, and Kentucky gets no credit for them.

1. The Planned Community Act, 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 23 (S.B. 120), codified at KRS 381.785–.801 (signed Mar. 20, 2023; effective June 29, 2023) ↩
2. KRS 381.9103, Application and construction of KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207 (Kentucky Condominium Act applies to condominiums created after January 1, 2011; enumerated reach-back to pre-2011 regimes) ↩
3. KRS 381.810, Definitions for KRS 381.805 to 381.910 (Horizontal Property Law, enacted 1962) ↩
4. Kentucky Revised Statutes ch. 273, Religious, Charitable, and Educational Societies — Nonprofit Corporations (and Nonprofit Association Act, KRS ch. 273A) ↩
5. KRS 381.800, Display of political yard signs — Conditions ↩
6. KRS 381.786, Planned communities subject to KRS 381.785 to 381.801 — Filing (applicability; non-invalidation of pre-existing recorded provisions) ↩
7. Planned Community Act, KRS 381.785 to 381.801 (open board meetings, records access, and notice-and-hearing before fines), Kentucky Revised Statutes ch. 381 ↩
8. Hensley v. Gadd, 560 S.W.3d 516 (Ky. 2018) (restrictive covenants enforceable according to their terms absent waiver) ↩
9. 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 32 (H.B. 27), amending KRS 381.800 (effective June 27, 2025; reaches all planned communities; contrary governing-document provisions void) ↩
10. KRS 381.200, Deeds construed to include buildings and appurtenances — Solar easements (voluntary conveyancing device; not an HOA mandate) ↩
11. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Zoning Ordinance § 3-12, General regulations for accessory dwelling units (Code of Ordinances) ↩
12. Cal. Civ. Code § 4751 (governing-document provision that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts an ADU or junior ADU on a single-family lot is void and unenforceable) ↩
13. Colo. H.B. 24-1152 (2024), Accessory Dwelling Units (HOAs in subject jurisdictions may not ban ADUs) ↩
14. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572 (4 U.S.C. § 5 note) ↩
15. 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) Rule ↩
16. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), Fair Housing Act, reasonable modifications for residents with disabilities ↩
17. 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq., Americans with Disabilities Act Title III (public accommodations) ↩
18. Kentucky Condominium Act, KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207 (alteration of units and executive-board procedure), Kentucky Revised Statutes ch. 381 ↩
19. KRS 381.9193, Lien for assessments (Kentucky Condominium Act); see also the continuing-lien provision of the Planned Community Act, KRS 381.799 range ↩
20. Kentucky Court of Justice (Circuit Court jurisdiction under KRS 23A.010; Kentucky Court of Appeals; Kentucky Supreme Court) ↩
21. 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 32 (H.B. 27), amending KRS 381.800, Display of political yard signs ↩
22. 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 150 (H.B. 472), creating KRS 381.803, receivership for planned communities that fail to maintain infrastructure or common areas ↩
23. The Planned Community Act, 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 23 (S.B. 120), codified at KRS 381.785–.801 ↩
24. Roberts v. Ballard Woods Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. 2025-CA-0578-MR (Ky. App. Apr. 10, 2026) (not to be published) ↩
25. Panaretos v. Villas at Claymont Springs Cmty. Ass'n, Inc., No. 2024-CA-1229-MR (Ky. App. Dec. 5, 2025) (not to be published) ↩
26. Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3.5 (solar chapter within the Indiana Homeowners Association Act) ↩
27. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 196-7 (covenant or restriction preventing installation of a solar energy device on a single-family dwelling or townhouse is void and unenforceable) ↩