Maine HOA Fence & Exterior

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

In Maine, control over fences, paint, siding, roofing, landscaping appearance, and other exterior changes starts in one place: the recorded declaration — the CC&Rs — and the architectural guidelines an association adopts under it. From there, community type decides what else applies. Condominiums answer to a comprehensive statute. Planned communities do not. And a strong solar override cuts directly into what any association can forbid.¹

Which body of law governs depends on the community, and for condominiums it turns on a single date. The Maine Condominium Act governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 1983. The Maine Unit Ownership Act governs the ones created before that date. Planned communities run on their covenants, with no comprehensive statute behind them.⁷ The centerpiece state-law limit is the solar override at 33 M.R.S. § 1421 et seq., which voids an association's ban on solar energy devices and solar clothes-drying devices while still leaving room for reasonable restrictions.⁸ Federal law, separately, protects display of the U.S. flag.⁴

No Maine statute sets an architectural-review response deadline or a deemed-approval rule, so the declaration and its guidelines set the application timeline and nothing else does.⁵ Nationally, Maine lands in the middle. It pairs a strong solar override with covenant-governed planned communities, sitting between the CC&R-primary states and the strong-override states such as California. The sections that follow lay out the legal framework, the compliance mechanics, and the recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

For every Maine association, the recorded declaration and the architectural guidelines adopted under it supply the primary source of exterior authority. What backs up the declaration depends on the community type. Condominiums created on or after January 1, 1983 fall under the Maine Condominium Act, 33 M.R.S. § 1601-101 to § 1604-118, which the Legislature enacted in 1981 on the model of the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act.¹ Condominiums created before January 1, 1983 fall under the Maine Unit Ownership Act, 33 M.R.S. § 560 et seq.; an owner submits a property to that Act by recording a declaration.⁹ A set of enumerated Condominium Act sections still reaches back to pre-1983 condominiums for events occurring after the Act took effect — among them § 1602-103 (construction and validity of the declaration and bylaws), § 1603-116 (lien for assessments), and § 1603-118 (association records).⁷

Planned communities — the homeowners associations that are not condominiums — have no comprehensive statute in Maine. Their exterior rulebook is the recorded declaration, backed by the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act (Title 13-B) for corporate formalities where the association incorporated, and by common-law contract and property principles. Maine has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act; it remains a 1980 Uniform Condominium Act state.¹ The practical result: in a planned community, the enforceable standard is whatever the declaration and duly adopted guidelines say, subject only to the state-law overrides below and to common-law limits on enforcement.

Precedence runs in order. The mandatory statutory provisions for the community type come first, then the recorded declaration, then the architectural guidelines adopted under it, then the board's rules. Inside the Condominium Act, where the declaration and the bylaws conflict, the declaration wins except where it clashes with the Act.¹⁰

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

Maine sets two statutory overrides that cap an association's exterior authority, plus a federal flag protection and a building-code safety floor for pool barriers.

Solar. Under 33 M.R.S. § 1421 et seq., a legal instrument — the statute defines that to include the rules, bylaws, or regulations of a property owners' association, expressly naming a homeowners association, unit owners association, or condominium owners association, along with deed restrictions, restrictive covenants, and declarations — may not stop a person from installing or using a solar energy device on residential property the person owns, or a solar clothes-drying device on residential property the person leases or rents.² Any such prohibition is void and unenforceable. The statute does allow reasonable restrictions where they are necessary to protect public health and safety, to protect buildings from damage, to protect historic or aesthetic values when a comparable alternative is available at reasonable cost and convenience, or to protect shorelands under shoreland zoning. A legal instrument may still bar solar devices on property held in common with third parties or on a condominium's common elements.⁸ The override caps the authority of homeowners, unit owners, and condominium associations alike, and it applies to legal instruments adopted or created after September 30, 2009.⁸

Landscaping appearance. Maine also enacted a low-impact landscaping protection at 33 M.R.S. § 1451. A restriction — a covenant, deed restriction, declaration, bylaw, or rule governing activity within a condominium or real estate under common ownership — may not place an unreasonable limitation on low-impact landscaping in any area the owner has the exclusive right to use, as long as the owner maintains and regularly tends it. An "unreasonable limitation" reaches one that significantly raises the cost of low-impact landscaping, significantly cuts its efficiency, or forces cultivated vegetation to consist in whole or in part of turf grass.³ The section still lets an association keep reasonable design and aesthetic guidelines on the type, number, and location of features, and it does not apply to historic property listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This override conditions association authority for condominiums and real estate under common ownership. Maine offers no separate statutory protection specific to artificial turf, native plants, or drought-tolerant xeriscaping beyond what the low-impact landscaping definition already covers.

Flags and signs. The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 protects U.S. flag display. It bars condominium, cooperative, and residential real estate management associations from restricting an owner's display of the U.S. flag, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner limits and the U.S. Flag Code.⁴ That is federal law, not Maine law. Research turned up no Maine HOA statute protecting flag display generally and no Maine political-sign or noncommercial-sign statute that reaches associations, so the declaration governs signs and non-U.S.-flag displays.

Fences. Maine has no statewide statute dictating residential fence appearance for associations. Residential pool and spa barrier requirements act as a safety floor through the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC), which incorporates International Code Council model codes; under 10 M.R.S. § 9724(1), "[t]he Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents."¹¹ Separately, Maine's partition-fence statute, 30-A M.R.S. § 2951 et seq., defines a "legal fence" and splits maintenance of a boundary fence between adjoining owners in equal shares while both improve their land; it addresses boundaries and cost-sharing, not an association's architectural control.^12,13 Neither provision caps an association's authority over fence appearance. That stays with the declaration.

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

The Maine Condominium Act sets no deadline for an association to act on an architectural application and creates no deemed-approval rule; the declaration and its guidelines set the timeline and nothing else does. The Act does supply general governance principles. Section 1601-108 provides that "[t]he principles of law and equity, including . . . the law of real property and the law relative to capacity to contract . . . supplement the provisions of this Act, except to the extent inconsistent with this Act."⁵ Section 1601-113 provides that "[e]very contract or duty governed by this Act imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement."¹⁴

Associations are expected to make architectural decisions in good faith, keep them reasonable, and apply them uniformly. For condominiums, that expectation rests on the Condominium Act's good-faith obligation and its supplementation by the general principles of law and equity.^5,14 For planned communities, it rests on Maine common-law contract and property doctrine, under which courts treat recorded covenants as contracts and presume them enforceable unless a specific defect — arbitrary or selective enforcement, for instance — applies. To hold up, architectural standards generally must appear in the recorded instruments or rest on authority the declaration grants. Before an association imposes fines or forces removal, it is expected to give notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

• Maintain the architectural standards, make them available, and review and respond to applications within any timeline the declaration sets. This duty is CONTRACTUAL, and it applies to all community types, because no statute sets a deadline.⁵
• Respect the solar limits of 33 M.R.S. § 1421 et seq.: allow reasonable restrictions, but impose no blanket ban on solar energy devices or solar clothes-drying devices. STATUTORY; applies to homeowners, unit owners, and condominium associations.⁸
• Avoid unreasonable limitations on low-impact landscaping under 33 M.R.S. § 1451 while keeping reasonable design and aesthetic guidelines. STATUTORY; applies to condominiums and real estate under common ownership.³
• Apply standards reasonably and in good faith. For condominiums this follows from the Condominium Act's good-faith obligation; for planned communities it follows from common law. STATUTORY for condominiums, CONTRACTUAL and common-law for planned communities.¹⁴
• Give notice and an opportunity to be heard before enforcing. CONTRACTUAL, informed by common-law fairness.

B. Owner obligations and rights

• Submit an application and obtain approval before installing a fence or undertaking exterior work where the declaration requires it, and comply with the approved plans and published standards. CONTRACTUAL; applies to all community types.
• Where the association fails to respond within a declared timeline or acts unreasonably or selectively, the owner's position turns on the declaration and, for condominiums, the Act's good-faith obligation. No statutory deemed-approval converts silence into consent. CONTRACTUAL.¹⁴
• Install a solar energy device or use a solar clothes-drying device despite a contrary association rule, subject to reasonable restrictions and the common-element exception. STATUTORY; applies to all association types.⁸

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

• Association remedies include fines where authorized, injunctive relief, forced removal or restoration, and recovery of enforcement costs or attorney fees where the declaration or a statute authorizes them. CONTRACTUAL, except where a statute applies.
• For condominiums, § 1603-116 gives the association a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against it or any fine imposed on its owner from the time the charge becomes due; unless the declaration says otherwise, fines and late charges are enforceable as assessments, the lien may be foreclosed like a mortgage, and a judgment in a lien action carries costs and reasonable attorney fees for the prevailing party. STATUTORY; condominiums under the Condominium Act, with § 1603-116 also reaching pre-1983 condominiums for post-effective-date events.^6,7
• Whether an unpaid fine or assessment becomes a lien in a planned community depends on the declaration. Enforcement must follow the declaration's procedure and, for condominiums, the Condominium Act.
• Owner defenses include selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment, a restriction exceeding the authority the statute or declaration grants, and a restriction void under the solar override or unreasonable under the low-impact landscaping statute.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Maine's recent legislative activity on exterior control has centered on landscaping rather than fences, paint, or siding. The foundational measure, LD 649 — "An Act to Promote Water Conservation and Water Quality and Create Habitat for Wildlife, Including Pollinator Species, by Protecting Low-impact Landscaping" — became law in 2023 as Public Law 2023, chapter 376, and created 33 M.R.S. § 1451.³ It predates the past-24-month window, but it set the current landscaping override in place. Within that window, the 132nd Legislature took up a bill to extend the protection further.

B. Recent appellate rulings

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, decided one recent condominium case that bears on declaration interpretation.

No published Law Court opinion from the past 36 months specifically addresses architectural review, fence or exterior appearance restrictions, or the solar override in an association setting.

C. Active legislative debates

Landscaping remains the active front for exterior-related proposals. The failed LD 1132 shows continued interest in expanding the low-impact landscaping protection. As of the last verification date, no comprehensive planned-community statute and no broad new solar or fence override for associations was pending.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Maine sits in the middle of the national spectrum on exterior control. Strong-override states such as California, Colorado, and Illinois layer detailed statutory limits on an association's architectural authority. CC&R-primary states such as Iowa leave most exterior control to the recorded covenants with few statutory overrides. Maine is moderate: it has a strong solar override and a low-impact landscaping override, but its planned communities stay covenant-governed with no comprehensive statute. Its distinctive features are the condominium date cutoff — the Maine Condominium Act on or after January 1, 1983, the Unit Ownership Act before it — the absence of a planned-community statute, a solar override that expressly reaches solar clothes-drying devices, and the absence of an intermediate appellate court, so appeals run from the Superior Court directly to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court. For multi-state operators, the takeaways are direct: a blanket solar ban is unenforceable in Maine, planned-community disputes turn on the declaration rather than a statute, and appeals reach the Law Court in a single step.

HOA Weekly's Maine Fence and Exterior coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court act. Federal frameworks also apply to Maine 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 ADA for reasonable accommodations that affect exterior features.

1. 33 M.R.S. § 1601-101, Short title (Maine Condominium Act), Maine Legislature ↩
2. 33 M.R.S. § 1421, Definitions (Solar Rights), Maine Legislature ↩
3. 33 M.R.S. § 1451, Protection of low-impact landscaping (PL 2023, c. 376), Maine Legislature ↩
4. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572, GovInfo ↩
5. 33 M.R.S. § 1601-108, Supplemental general principles of law applicable, Maine Legislature ↩
6. 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116, Lien for assessments (lien for assessments and fines; foreclosure; costs and attorney fees), Maine Legislature ↩
7. 33 M.R.S. § 1601-102, Applicability (date cutoff and enumerated reach-back sections), Maine Legislature ↩
8. 33 M.R.S. §§ 1421–1424, Chapter 28-A, Solar Rights (§ 1423 right to install; exceptions; reasonable restrictions; effective for instruments after September 30, 2009), Maine Legislature ↩
9. 33 M.R.S. § 560, Short title (Unit Ownership Act), Maine Legislature ↩
10. 33 M.R.S. § 1602-103, Construction and validity of declaration and bylaws, Maine Legislature ↩
11. 10 M.R.S. § 9724, Application (Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code enforcement; municipalities over 4,000 residents; pool fencing standards), Maine Legislature ↩
12. 30-A M.R.S. § 2951, Legal fences, Maine Legislature ↩
13. 30-A M.R.S. § 2952, Maintenance (partition fences shared in equal shares), Maine Legislature ↩
14. 33 M.R.S. § 1601-113, Obligation of good faith, Maine Legislature ↩
15. LD 1132 / SP 453 (132nd Legislature), An Act to Further Protect Low-Impact Landscaping — status and documents, Maine Legislature ↩
16. The Village at Ocean's End Condominium Ass'n v. Southwest Harbor Props. LLC, 2025 ME 85 (Me. Aug. 26, 2025), Maine Supreme Judicial Court (Law Court) ↩