North Carolina HOA ADUs & Modifications

Section 1: Overview — ADUs and modifications in North Carolina

North Carolina regulates what a homeowner may build or change through two tracks of statute, both drawn from the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act and both split by the date a community came into being. On top of those statutes sits the recorded declaration, and the declaration controls architectural review most directly. Here is how the tracks divide. The North Carolina Planned Community Act, Chapter 47F, governs planned communities created on or after January 1, 1999, and it applies a defined list of its sections retroactively to older communities.¹ The North Carolina Condominium Act, Chapter 47C, governs condominiums created after October 1, 1986, and it too carries a retroactive list.² The North Carolina Unit Ownership Act, Chapter 47A, governs condominiums created before October 1, 1986.³ So the first move in any modification question is to identify which statute applies, because the answer turns on two things: the type of community and the date it was created.

On one category, and only one, the legislature has stepped in: solar. N.C.G.S. § 22B-20 voids any covenant that prohibits a solar collector on residential property, or that has the effect of prohibiting one. But the statute carves out condominiums created under Chapter 47A or 47C that sit in multi-story buildings with horizontal unit boundaries, and it lets an association still regulate where a collector goes and how it is screened, so long as the rule stops short of preventing reasonable use.⁴ ADUs are a different story. Whether an owner may build one remains a question of municipal zoning and the community's declaration; no North Carolina statute reaches association documents on ADUs. Four federal rules apply no matter what the state does: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC's OTARD rule for antennas and satellite dishes, the Fair Housing Act's reasonable-modification requirement, and ADA Title III for common areas that serve as public accommodations.^5,6,7,8 The sections that follow lay out the framework, the compliance obligations, and the recent activity in the legislature and the courts.

Section 2: The legal framework

2A. The two-track structure: Chapters 47F, 47C, and 47A

North Carolina has no single, omnibus community-association statute. Which act governs depends on whether the community is a planned community or a condominium, and on when it was created. The Planned Community Act, Chapter 47F, applies in full to planned communities created in the state on or after January 1, 1999.¹ A developer creates a planned community by recording a declaration, executed the same way a deed is, in every county where any part of the community sits.⁹ For planned communities created before January 1, 1999, only a defined list of sections applies. Under G.S. 47F-1-102(c), that list runs to G.S. 47F-1-104 (variation), 47F-2-103 (construction and validity of the declaration and bylaws), 47F-2-117 (amendment of the declaration), 47F-3-102(1) through (6) and (11) through (17) (association powers), 47F-3-103(f) (board members and officers), 47F-3-104 (transfer of special declarant rights), 47F-3-107(a), (b), and (c) (upkeep), 47F-3-107.1 (fines and suspension), 47F-3-108 (meetings), 47F-3-115 (assessments), 47F-3-116 (liens), 47F-3-118 (records), and 47F-3-121 (American and State flags and political signs), along with 47F-3-120 (declaration limits on attorneys' fees).¹ Those sections govern only events that occur on or after January 1, 1999, and they do not wipe out existing declaration provisions. A pre-1999 planned community can also opt into the full Chapter, but only if lot owners holding at least 67 percent of the votes amend the declaration to do so.¹

The Condominium Act, Chapter 47C, applies to condominiums created in the state after October 1, 1986.² A defined list of its sections reaches back to condominiums created on or before that date, including G.S. 47C-2-103 (construction and validity of the declaration and bylaws), 47C-3-102(a)(1) through (6) and (11) through (16) (association powers), 47C-3-103 (board members and officers), 47C-3-107.1 (fines and suspension), 47C-3-116 (liens), 47C-3-118 (records), and 47C-3-121 (American and State flags and political signs).² Here the two tracks part ways. A pre-1999 planned community may opt into its full Chapter; a pre-October-1986 condominium may not opt into Chapter 47C. The North Carolina Supreme Court said as much in the Executive Office Park of Durham foreclosure case, holding that these older condominiums cannot adopt the whole Chapter but may still rely on the enumerated sections that apply retroactively.¹⁰ Otherwise, condominiums created before October 1, 1986, answer to the Unit Ownership Act, Chapter 47A, under which unit ownership begins with the recording of a declaration.³

Chapters 47C and 47F both borrow from the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, but North Carolina wrote in its own provisions and never enacted a single unified act, so do not overstate the uniformity. The North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act, Chapter 55A, supplies a corporate overlay, because associations usually organize as nonprofit corporations.¹¹ G.S. 47F-1-108 makes that Act, and other principles of law, supplemental to Chapter 47F except where the two conflict.¹² Within any community, the declaration, the bylaws, and the articles of incorporation remain the working source of architectural-review authority, so long as they do not conflict with the applicable act.^13,14

2B. Solar under § 22B-20, and statutory flags

The solar statute anchors North Carolina's modification framework, because it is the one place the legislature has actually voided covenant prohibitions on a specific improvement. Lawmakers enacted it in 2007, effective October 1, 2007. N.C.G.S. § 22B-20(b) says that, except as subsection (d) provides, any deed restriction, covenant, or similar binding agreement that runs with the land and prohibits — or has the effect of prohibiting — a solar collector on residential property is void and unenforceable. The statute defines residential property to leave out any condominium created under Chapter 47A or 47C that sits in a multi-story building with units bounded horizontally as the declaration describes. That is the condominium carve-out, and inside it the declaration governs solar. Subsection (c) keeps an association's authority to regulate where a collector goes and how it is screened, as long as the rule does not prevent the reasonable use of the collector. Subsection (d) lets an association restrict a ground-visible collector on the facade facing common or public access, on a roof surface sloping down toward that access, or in the strip running across the facade to the property lines. Subsection (e) lets the court award costs and attorneys' fees to the winning party.⁴

The North Carolina Supreme Court read the statute in Belmont Ass'n, Inc. v. Farwig, decided in 2022.¹⁵ An association had used its general architectural-review authority to deny street-facing rooftop panels on aesthetic grounds. The court held that applying the authority that way had the effect of prohibiting the installation and the reasonable use of solar, so the restriction was void under subsection (b). The court put it plainly at paragraph 21: "We hold that the restriction at issue here does have the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar panels and the reasonable use of solar panels and, accordingly, the exception contained in subsection (c) of the statute does not apply. Since neither statutory exception applies, we hold the restriction violates N.C. G.S. § 22B-(20)(b)." Subsection (d), the court reasoned, reaches only restrictions that expressly ban collectors in the listed spots, not ones that merely have that effect. The practical result: in a planned community, a covenant that effectively bans solar is void, but an association may still write genuine location-and-screening rules within the reasonable-use limit, and it may expressly restrict ground-visible collectors in the subsection (d) zones. This page treats solar at the framework level; our dedicated Solar Rights coverage takes the category in full.

Statutory flag protection stands apart from solar, and the two should not be run together. G.S. 47F-3-121 for planned communities, and G.S. 47C-3-121 for condominiums, provide that no restriction on the use of land may be read to regulate or prohibit the display of the flag of the United States or of North Carolina, at a size no greater than four feet by six feet, flown consistent with federal flag customs. A registration-date distinction applies: for a restriction registered before October 1, 2005, the restriction must specifically use enumerated terms such as "American flag" or "North Carolina flag"; for a restriction registered on or after October 1, 2005, the prohibition works only if it appears on the first page in boldface capital letters using the prescribed language. Both flag sections apply retroactively to pre-cutoff communities under the 47F-1-102(c) and 47C-1-102(a) lists. The same sections also address political signs.^16,17

2C. ADUs, the no-statute categories, and federal overlays

Accessory dwelling units answer to municipal zoning and the declaration, not to any statute that reaches association documents. Land-use authority in North Carolina sits with cities and counties under Chapter 160D, and ADU rules change from one jurisdiction to the next — Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Durham each set their own.¹⁸ No state statute forces an association to permit an ADU against its declaration. Every ADU preemption bill introduced has failed or stalled, and — this is the key point — each one expressly preserves private covenants. So an association whose declaration bars secondary dwellings, or limits a lot to one dwelling, keeps control no matter what local zoning allows. This corrects an error that keeps surfacing in secondary sources, which describe House Bill 409 from 2023 as an enacted statewide ADU law. It is not. HB 409 passed the House but died in the Senate, and it never became law.¹⁹ North Carolina, then, does not belong with the HOA-preemption states such as California, with Civil Code § 4751, or Colorado, with HB 24-1152.^20,21

Several categories that other states legislate have no North Carolina HOA-specific statute at all. A search against the current Chapter 47F and 47C section lists and the General Statutes turns up no state law limiting an association's authority over electric-vehicle charging, landscaping, or clotheslines and drying devices. One commercial vendor site asserts a North Carolina "right to charge" at "G.S. 47F-3-121.1 and 47C-3-121.1," but no such sections exist in the General Statutes, and the claim should be treated as wrong. Absent a statute, each of these categories lives with the declaration, subject only to the federal rules below. Where you might have assumed a state EV, landscaping, or clothesline statute, the reality is that none exists.

Four federal frameworks apply to North Carolina associations regardless of state law, and you should never present them as North Carolina statute. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 protects display of the U.S. flag — a federal protection, distinct from the state flag sections.⁵ The FCC's OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, limits restrictions on antennas and satellite dishes within an owner's exclusive-use area.⁶ The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), requires an association to permit reasonable modifications for people with disabilities, generally at the resident's own expense.⁷ ADA Title III reaches common-area facilities that qualify as public accommodations.⁸ Enforcement of the state framework runs through the association's own hearing procedure. Unless the declaration sets its own procedure, the association must hold a hearing before the executive board or an adjudicatory panel of non-board members, with notice of the charge, a chance to be heard and to present evidence, and notice of the decision — under G.S. 47F-3-107.1 for planned communities and G.S. 47C-3-107.1 for condominiums, both retroactive.^22,23 North Carolina has no state HOA regulator and licenses no community-association managers; disputes move through the North Carolina Superior Court (District Court for some matters), then the North Carolina Court of Appeals, with discretionary review by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Section 3: Compliance obligations

3A. Architectural review process obligations

Review authority comes from the declaration, subject to the applicable act (G.S. 47F-2-103 / G.S. 47C-2-103; DECLARATION plus STATE STATUTE; BOTH).^13,14 An architectural committee's discretionary power is enforceable, but the committee cannot wield it arbitrarily; it has to act reasonably and in good faith, a standard North Carolina's appellate courts keep applying. When an association fines an owner or suspends privileges over a modification violation, it must follow the fines-and-hearing procedure of G.S. 47F-3-107.1 for planned communities, or G.S. 47C-3-107.1 for condominiums, unless the declaration sets its own (STATE STATUTE; BOTH; both retroactive).^22,23 That procedure calls for a hearing before the executive board or an adjudicatory panel of members who are neither officers nor board members, written notice of the charge, a chance to present evidence, and notice of the decision. Good practice — though not separately codified as a modification-specific rule — is to issue written decisions and to keep records of applications, approvals, denials, and hearings.

3B. Modifications the association must permit

• Solar collectors, residential property, planned communities: a covenant that prohibits solar, or has the effect of prohibiting it, is void under N.C.G.S. § 22B-20(b) (STATE STATUTE; PLANNED COMMUNITIES).⁴ A void prohibition is not the same as a permissible restriction: the association may still regulate location and screening within the reasonable-use limit (§ 22B-20(c)) and may restrict ground-visible collectors in the facade and downward-sloping-roof zones (§ 22B-20(d)).
• Solar collectors, condominiums: § 22B-20 does not reach condominiums created under Chapter 47A or 47C in multi-story buildings with horizontal unit boundaries; there, the declaration governs (CARVE-OUT; DECLARATION; CONDOMINIUMS).
• U.S. and North Carolina flags: an association may not read a covenant to prohibit a U.S. or state flag up to four feet by six feet, subject to the October 1, 2005 registration distinction (G.S. 47F-3-121 / G.S. 47C-3-121; STATE STATUTE; BOTH; retroactive).^16,17
• U.S. flag (federal): the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 independently protects U.S. flag display (FEDERAL; BOTH).⁵
• Antennas and satellite dishes: the FCC OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, limits restrictions within an owner's exclusive-use area (FEDERAL; BOTH).⁶
• Disability modifications: the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), requires permitting reasonable modifications, generally resident-paid (FEDERAL; BOTH).⁷
• Common-area accessibility: ADA Title III reaches common-area facilities that are public accommodations (FEDERAL; BOTH).⁸

3C. ADU obligations and limits on HOA authority

An association has no statutory duty to permit an ADU against its declaration (DECLARATION; BOTH). Municipal zoning under Chapter 160D binds the locality and decides whether an ADU is allowed as a land-use matter, but it does not override recorded covenants.¹⁸ Where the declaration prohibits secondary dwellings, limits a lot to a single dwelling, or bars rental use, those restrictions control. Boards should measure an ADU request against the declaration first and treat local zoning approval as necessary but not sufficient.

3D. Enforcement, dispute resolution, and appeal obligations

Before it imposes a fine or suspends privileges, the association must follow the fines-and-hearing procedure of G.S. 47F-3-107.1 or G.S. 47C-3-107.1, unless the declaration provides its own (STATE STATUTE; BOTH).^22,23 Both sections allow "a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00)... for the violation and without further hearing, for each day more than five days after the decision that the violation occurs," and such fines become assessments secured by a lien under G.S. 47F-3-116 or 47C-3-116.^24,25 Both sections let the owner "appeal the decision of an adjudicatory panel to the full executive board by delivering written notice of appeal to the executive board within 15 days after the date of the decision." Any extra procedure the declaration requires has to be followed too (DECLARATION). Because North Carolina has no HOA regulator and no manager licensing, an unresolved dispute proceeds to the North Carolina Superior Court, then the North Carolina Court of Appeals, with discretionary review by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

North Carolina's recent bills cluster around two themes: ADU preemption that never quite passes, and a recurring HOA reform package that keeps returning under new numbers. Here is the run — what each measure would do, and where it stands.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

Two appellate decisions frame the current law — one filed this year, one the controlling authority on solar.

4C. Active legislative debates

The recurring debate is whether North Carolina will enact statewide ADU preemption — through SB 495, HB 627, and the ADU provisions of SB 445, all of which preserve private covenants — and whether the multi-session HOA reform package, most recently HB 444, will impose written-decision and mediation requirements on associations. As of July 15, 2026, neither has become law.^26,28,29

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

North Carolina sits among the UCIOA-derived states, but a two-track structure sets it apart: authority splits across three statutes by creation date — Chapter 47F for planned communities from 1999, Chapter 47C for condominiums from October 1986, and Chapter 47A for older condominiums — rather than resting in one unified act. Its solar law takes a split posture. N.C.G.S. § 22B-20 voids planned-community covenant prohibitions on solar, yet it carves out Chapter 47A and 47C condominiums and preserves an association's location-and-screening authority within a reasonable-use limit — a middle path between voiding a covenant outright and deferring to it completely. On ADUs, North Carolina stands well apart from the preemption states such as California, with Civil Code § 4751, and Colorado, with HB 24-1152; here the ADU question is a matter of municipal zoning, and no statute reaches association documents.^20,21 For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is this: the North Carolina statute that applies turns on community type and creation date; a planned-community anti-solar covenant is void, subject to location and screening rules, while condominium solar turns on the declaration; and ADUs stay a zoning-and-declaration question, resolved community by community.

HOA Weekly updates its North Carolina ADUs and Modifications coverage quarterly, as the General Assembly and the North Carolina courts act. The federal frameworks noted throughout — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the OTARD rule, the Fair Housing Act, and the ADA — bind North Carolina associations no matter what the state framework does.

1. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-1-102, Applicability (Planned Community Act; full application to planned communities created on or after January 1, 1999; retroactive list in subsection (c); 67% opt-in in subsection (d)) ↩
2. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-1-102, Applicability (Condominium Act; condominiums created after October 1, 1986; enumerated retroactive list) ↩
3. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47A-3, Definitions — North Carolina Unit Ownership Act, Chapter 47A (condominiums created before October 1, 1986) ↩
4. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 22B-20, Deed restrictions and other agreements prohibiting solar collectors (subsection (b) void; Chapter 47A/47C condominium carve-out; subsection (c) location and screening; subsection (d) ground-visible zones; subsection (e) fees) ↩
5. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572 ↩
6. 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) Rule ↩
7. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), Fair Housing Act, reasonable modifications for persons with disabilities ↩
8. 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq., Americans with Disabilities Act Title III (public accommodations) ↩
9. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-2-101, Creation of the planned community (recording a declaration executed as a deed in each county where any portion lies) ↩
10. In re Foreclosure of a Lien by Exec. Office Park of Durham Ass'n v. Rock, 382 N.C. 360, 879 S.E.2d 169 (2022) (pre-October-1986 condominium cannot opt into Chapter 47C but may rely on enumerated retroactive sections) ↩
11. N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 55A, North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act ↩
12. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-1-108, Supplemental general principles of law applicable (Nonprofit Corporation Act and other law supplemental except where inconsistent) ↩
13. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-2-103, Construction and validity of declaration and bylaws (planned communities) ↩
14. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-2-103, Construction and validity of declaration and bylaws (condominiums) ↩
15. Belmont Ass'n, Inc. v. Farwig, 381 N.C. 306, 873 S.E.2d 486 (2022) (general architectural-review authority applied to have the effect of prohibiting solar is void under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 22B-20(b)) ↩
16. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-3-121, American and State flags and political sign displays (planned communities) ↩
17. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-121, American and State flags and political sign displays (condominiums) ↩
18. N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 160D, Local Planning and Development Regulation (municipal and county land-use and ADU authority) ↩
19. H.B. 409, 2023 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2023), Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units (passed House; died in Senate; never enacted) ↩
20. 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) ↩
21. Colo. H.B. 24-1152 (2024), Accessory Dwelling Units ↩
22. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-3-107.1, Procedures for fines and suspension of planned community privileges or services ↩
23. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-107.1, Procedures for fines and suspension of condominium privileges or services ↩
24. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-3-116, Lien for sums due the association; enforcement (planned communities) ↩
25. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-116, Lien for sums due the association; enforcement (condominiums) ↩
26. S.B. 495, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025), Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units (proposing N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-917; private-covenant carve-out) ↩
27. H.B. 627, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025), Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units (companion to S.B. 495) ↩
28. S.B. 445, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025), Regulatory Reform Act of 2026 (ADU provisions preserving private covenants; passed Senate 46-0 and House 85-28; returned to Senate Rules for concurrence) ↩
29. H.B. 444, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025), Homeowners Association Reform Bill (amending Chapters 47F and 47C; pending House Judiciary) ↩
30. H.B. 542, 2023 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2023), HOA Revisions / Foreclosure Trustee Auctions (died in conference committee) ↩
31. H.B. 959, 2023 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2024), Various Changes to Homeowners' Assoc. Laws (died in committee) ↩
32. Smith v. Forge Creek at Flowers Plantation Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. COA25-1072 (N.C. Ct. App. May 20, 2026) (architectural-review discretion must be exercised reasonably and in good faith; preliminary injunction vacated in part for failure to consider a Rule 65(c) bond) ↩