North Carolina HOA Fence & Exterior

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

In North Carolina, the recorded declaration and the architectural guidelines adopted under it set the rules for fences, paint, siding, roofing, trim, exterior structures, and landscaping appearance. Two uniform-act-derived statutes stand behind those documents, and a small set of statutory overrides — for solar collectors, flags, and political signs — draws the outer limits.

Which statute applies turns on the community type and when someone created it. The North Carolina Condominium Act, N.C.G.S. Chapter 47C, governs condominiums created after October 1, 1986.¹ Condominiums created on or before that date fall under the older Unit Ownership Act, N.C.G.S. Chapter 47A, though several Chapter 47C sections still reach them for later events.² The North Carolina Planned Community Act, N.C.G.S. Chapter 47F, governs planned communities created on or after January 1, 1999, and a defined list of its sections reaches earlier planned communities for events on or after that date.³

The overrides stay narrow. Section 47F-3-121 — and its Condominium Act parallel, § 47C-3-121 — limits restrictions on the United States and North Carolina flags and on political signs, but only when the declaration uses specific capitalized language.⁴ Section 22B-20 voids covenants that prohibit, or effectively prohibit, residential solar collectors, subject to defined exceptions.⁵ And the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 sets the baseline for the United States flag.⁶

No North Carolina statute imposes an architectural-review response deadline or a deemed-approval rule; the declaration sets the application timelines.⁷ North Carolina sits among the strong-statute states, pairing uniform-act-derived statutes with targeted overrides, distinct from states where the recorded covenants are the near-exclusive source of authority. The sections below lay out the framework, the operational obligations, and the recent activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

The recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions — together with the architectural guidelines and rules adopted under it — is the primary source of architectural and exterior authority. Those instruments, not any statute, define what an owner may build, which colors and materials pass, and what an architectural review committee may approve or deny.

Which statute supplements the declaration depends on a two-part classification you must make before any analysis. For condominiums, the North Carolina Condominium Act (Chapter 47C) applies to condominiums created within the state after October 1, 1986; an enumerated set of Chapter 47C sections also reaches condominiums created on or before that date, notwithstanding contrary declaration provisions, but only for events and circumstances occurring after October 1, 1986.¹ Condominiums created on or before October 1, 1986 otherwise remain under the Unit Ownership Act (Chapter 47A).²

For planned communities — subdivision-style homeowners associations — the North Carolina Planned Community Act (Chapter 47F) applies in full to communities created on or after January 1, 1999.³ A defined list of Chapter 47F sections applies to planned communities created before January 1, 1999 unless the articles of incorporation or declaration expressly provide otherwise, and only for events on or after January 1, 1999, without invalidating existing declaration, bylaw, or plat provisions. That list includes § 47F-3-116 (lien), § 47F-3-118 (association records), § 47F-3-121 (flags and political signs), and § 47F-3-107.1 (fines and suspension procedures), with § 47F-3-120 (declaration limits on attorneys' fees) applying to all pre-1999 planned communities and § 47F-1-103 (definitions) applying as needed.³ A planned community with no more than 20 lots, or one restricted to nonresidential uses, is exempt from most of the Chapter unless its declaration opts in.³ Planned communities created before January 1, 1999 and outside the enumerated sections answer to their recorded covenants, the North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 55A), and common law.

Chapters 47C and 47F derive from the uniform acts — the Uniform Condominium Act and the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, respectively — but they are North Carolina statutes with North Carolina-specific provisions, and North Carolina is not one of the conventional UCIOA-adopting states. Any association created after the Planned Community Act's effective date must organize as a nonprofit corporation.⁸

The order of precedence runs from the mandatory statutory provisions for the applicable community type — the Condominium Act or the Planned Community Act, plus § 22B-20 and § 47F-3-121 or § 47C-3-121 — then the declaration, then the architectural guidelines, then board-adopted rules.

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

North Carolina caps association authority over a short list of exterior features. Each limit reaches specific community types.

Flags. Under § 47F-3-121, a covenant regulates or prohibits display of the United States or North Carolina flag — a flag no larger than four feet by six feet, displayed consistent with 4 U.S.C. §§ 5-10 — only if the restriction meets a language test. For restrictions registered before October 1, 2005, it must use specific flag terms; for restrictions registered on or after October 1, 2005, it must appear on the first page in boldface capital letters and state, "THIS DOCUMENT REGULATES OR PROHIBITS THE DISPLAY OF THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA." The protection applies only to property the owner holds exclusively; it does not reach common areas, easements, or rights-of-way.⁴ The Condominium Act carries a parallel provision, § 47C-3-121, in identical terms.⁹ This caps association authority. It works alongside the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which bars covered associations from restricting the United States flag subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules; the North Carolina statute supplies the state rule and additionally covers the North Carolina flag.⁶

Political signs. The same sections bar an association from regulating or prohibiting an owner's indoor or outdoor display of a political sign on exclusively owned property unless the declaration uses the required capitalized language ("THIS DOCUMENT REGULATES OR PROHIBITS THE DISPLAY OF POLITICAL SIGNS"). Even where it permits display, the association may bar signs earlier than 45 days before an election and later than seven days after, and may regulate size and number no more restrictively than any applicable local ordinance; absent a local ordinance, the association must permit at least one sign measuring up to 24 inches by 24 inches.⁴ This provision both caps authority — through the language requirement — and regulates procedure, through the election window and size limits.

Solar. Section 22B-20 voids any deed restriction or covenant that would prohibit, or effectively prohibit, installation of a solar collector on residential property.⁵ The statute carves out exceptions: it does not bar a covenant that regulates the location or screening of collectors so long as the regulation does not prevent reasonable use, and it does not bar restrictions on collectors visible from the ground on the façade facing common or public access, on a roof surface sloping toward those areas, or within the area set off by the façade line. It excludes condominiums created under Chapter 47A or 47C in a multi-story building with horizontal unit boundaries. The North Carolina Supreme Court applied this statute in Belmont Association, Inc. v. Farwig, 2022-NCSC-64 (June 17, 2022), reversing the Court of Appeals and finding that neither the subsection (c) reasonable-use exception nor the subsection (d) visibility exception saved the architectural committee's rejection of rooftop panels; the Court held (¶ 21) that "the restriction violates N.C. G.S. § 22B-(20)(b)" and that "defendants are entitled to summary judgment on the declaratory judgment claim."¹⁰ This is a substantive cap on association authority.

Landscaping. North Carolina provides no general statutory protection for water-conserving or drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, or artificial turf; associations may regulate landscaping appearance through the declaration. The one statutory limit is § 47F-3-122 (with a Condominium Act parallel at § 47C-3-122), which suspends any covenant requirement to irrigate landscaping during a period of severe, extreme, or exceptional drought when a government has imposed water-conservation measures, and bars fines for non-irrigation unless the covenant expressly authorizes them in the required capitalized language.¹¹

Fences. No statute caps association fence rules; a fence must satisfy both the declaration and the safety floor set by the adopted North Carolina Residential Code, which requires a barrier at least 48 inches high around residential swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs, with corresponding gate and spacing rules. Public pools carry parallel requirements under state administrative rule 15A NCAC 18A .2528.¹² These are safety minimums, not limits on association authority.

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

No North Carolina statute imposes an architectural-review response deadline or a deemed-approval rule. Under both the Condominium Act and the Planned Community Act, architectural control flows through the declaration and bylaws, and the application timelines are whatever those instruments set.⁷

What the statutes do supply is a fines-and-suspension procedure. Under § 47F-3-107.1 for planned communities, unless the declaration provides its own procedure, the association must hold a hearing before the executive board or an adjudicatory panel of members who are not officers or board members; the owner must receive notice of the charge, an opportunity to be heard and present evidence, and notice of the decision; a fine may not exceed $100 for a violation and may continue at $100 per day more than five days after the decision; and the owner may appeal to the full executive board within a defined period.⁷ The Condominium Act sets a materially identical procedure at § 47C-3-107.1, including the 15-day window to appeal an adjudicatory panel's decision to the full board.¹³

Beyond the statute, North Carolina courts require an architectural review committee to exercise its discretion reasonably, in good faith, and not arbitrarily.¹⁴ Architectural standards must appear in the recorded instruments or duly adopted rules to be enforceable, and enforcement must stay even-handed. Owners are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard before fines or forced removal.

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

• Maintain architectural standards in the recorded declaration or duly adopted rules and make them available; review applications within any timeline the declaration sets. STATUTORY that the standards must be duly adopted to be enforceable; CONTRACTUAL as to any review deadline, which the declaration alone controls.⁷
• Do not restrict the United States or North Carolina flag or political signs beyond what § 47F-3-121 (planned communities) or § 47C-3-121 (condominiums) allows, and observe the 45-day-before / 7-day-after election window and the size-and-number limits. STATUTORY; the flag and sign caps reach pre-1999 planned communities as well as later ones.^4,9
• Do not prohibit residential solar collectors beyond the exceptions in § 22B-20. STATUTORY; applies to planned communities and to non-multi-story condominiums.⁵
• Follow the § 47F-3-107.1 or § 47C-3-107.1 fines-and-suspension procedure and apply standards reasonably and uniformly. STATUTORY as to the procedure; the good-faith and uniformity duties rest on case law.^7,13

B. Owner obligations and rights

• Submit an application and obtain approval before installing a fence or starting exterior work, and comply with the approved plans and published standards. CONTRACTUAL; set by the declaration and variable community to community.
• Where the association fails to respond within a declared deadline, acts unreasonably, or enforces selectively, the owner may raise those failures as defenses to enforcement. CONTRACTUAL and common-law based.
• Display the United States or North Carolina flag and political signs on exclusively owned property, subject to the statutory limits, unless the declaration uses the required capitalized language. STATUTORY (§ 47F-3-121; § 47C-3-121).⁴
• Install a residential solar collector, subject to the location, screening, and visibility exceptions. STATUTORY (§ 22B-20).⁵

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

• Association remedies: fines and suspension of privileges after notice and hearing (STATUTORY, § 47F-3-107.1; § 47C-3-107.1); injunctive relief and forced removal or restoration; and recovery of enforcement costs or attorney fees where authorized, subject to the § 47F-3-120 limits on declaration attorneys'-fee provisions. The assessment lien (§ 47F-3-116 for planned communities; § 47C-3-116 for condominiums) secures unpaid fines and charges.^7,13
• Limits on enforcement: § 47F-3-121 and § 47C-3-121 (flags and signs), § 22B-20 (solar), § 47F-3-122 (drought irrigation), and the mandatory § 47F-3-107.1 / § 47C-3-107.1 procedures. STATUTORY.^5,11
• Owner defenses: selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment, the restriction exceeding the authority granted by the statute or declaration, the absence of the required capitalized statement for a flag or political-sign restriction, or a solar prohibition void under § 22B-20. A mix of STATUTORY and common-law defenses.¹⁰

Classify the community type and creation date before you state which rules apply, and do not cross-apply Chapter 47C and Chapter 47F: Chapter 47C governs condominiums, Chapter 47F governs planned communities, and Chapter 47A governs pre-1986 condominiums.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

One measure dominates the current session's HOA agenda in North Carolina.

B. Recent appellate rulings

One recent Court of Appeals decision frames how far architectural authority reaches.

C. Active legislative debates

The principal debate centers on House Bill 444's homeowners-association reform package, which across its various editions has proposed architectural-decision procedures, fine caps, mandatory mediation, and a Department of Justice complaint-reporting role; a companion Senate Bill 378 filed in the same session mirrors much of HB 444, and a separate bill filed in April 2025 addressed clarifying deed restrictions on solar collectors.¹⁵

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

North Carolina sits in the strong-statutory-override group, alongside California, Colorado, and Illinois, where uniform-act-derived statutes pair with targeted overrides for solar collectors and for flags or signs. That sets it apart from moderate states and from CC&R-primary states such as Mississippi, where the recorded covenants are the near-exclusive source of authority. North Carolina's distinctive features are its two uniform-act-derived statutes assigned by community type and creation date, the § 47F-3-121 and § 47C-3-121 capitalized-statement requirement that a flag or political-sign restriction must satisfy to be enforceable, and the § 22B-20 solar protection as construed in Belmont v. Farwig. For a multi-state operator, the practical rule is to classify the community type and creation date first, then confirm that the declaration's flag, sign, and solar provisions meet the statutory tests before attempting enforcement.

HOA Weekly's North Carolina fence and exterior coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the North Carolina appellate courts act. Federal frameworks also bind North Carolina associations regardless of the state framework — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC over-the-air reception devices (OTARD) 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. N.C.G.S. § 47C-1-102 (Applicability), North Carolina Condominium Act ↩
2. N.C.G.S. Chapter 47A, Unit Ownership Act ↩
3. N.C.G.S. § 47F-1-102 (Applicability), North Carolina Planned Community Act ↩
4. N.C.G.S. § 47F-3-121 (American and State flags and political sign displays) ↩
5. N.C.G.S. § 22B-20 (Deed restrictions and other agreements prohibiting solar collectors) ↩
6. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572 ↩
7. N.C.G.S. § 47F-3-107.1 (Procedures for fines and suspension of planned community privileges or services), Chapter 47F, Article 3 ↩
8. N.C.G.S. § 47F-3-101 (Organization of owners' association), North Carolina Planned Community Act ↩
9. N.C.G.S. § 47C-3-121 (American and State flags and political sign displays) ↩
10. Belmont Ass'n, Inc. v. Farwig, 2022-NCSC-64 (N.C. June 17, 2022) ↩
11. N.C.G.S. § 47F-3-122 (Irrigation of landscaping) ↩
12. 15A NCAC 18A .2528 (Fences), North Carolina Administrative Code ↩
13. N.C.G.S. § 47C-3-107.1 (Procedures for fines and suspension of condominium privileges or services) ↩
14. Smith v. Forge Creek at Flowers Plantation Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. COA25-1072 (N.C. Ct. App. May 20, 2026) ↩
15. House Bill 444 (2025-2026 Session), Homeowners Association Reform Bill ↩