North Dakota HOA Architectural Review

Section 1: Overview

Start with the lay of the land. North Dakota keeps its statutes thin and puts the covenants first. No statewide homeowners-association code exists, so architectural control authority does not flow from one. It flows from the recorded covenants in planned-community HOAs, or from the condominium declaration in condominiums, and the board or an architectural committee administers it.¹ A concise statute governs condominiums — Chapter 47-04.1 of the North Dakota Century Code, Condominium Ownership of Real Property — and it covers declarations, bylaws, assessments, liens, and a small set of owner rights.¹ Planned-community HOAs run on their recorded covenants and, for their corporate existence, on the North Dakota Nonprofit Corporations Act, Chapter 10-33.²

The solar position is narrow, and it pays to state it precisely. North Dakota offers a voluntary written solar-easement framework under N.D.C.C. §§ 47-05-01.1 and 47-05-01.2. That framework lets a property owner record an easement for solar exposure. It does not void anti-solar covenants, and it does not compel an association to approve a solar installation.³

The court structure stands out too. Trial-level disputes move through the North Dakota District Courts, and appeals go straight to the North Dakota Supreme Court. North Dakota keeps no permanent intermediate appellate court. The Supreme Court can convene a temporary Court of Appeals to hear cases it assigns, but that court does not stand on its own and rarely sits — it dates to 1987, it has written opinions in only 90 cases, and in some years the Supreme Court hands it nothing at all.⁴ The practical effect: one layer of appellate review, and a thin body of state precedent on association architectural questions.

Section 2: Architectural-review framework

2A. Source of architectural authority and community classification

Your first move in North Dakota is to classify the community, because the governing framework turns on the type. A condominium enters the condominium statute when someone records a declaration with the county recorder under N.D.C.C. §§ 47-04.1-02 and 47-04.1-03, and the unit owners or an administrative body then run it under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-07.¹ A planned-community HOA, by contrast, springs from its recorded covenants and takes corporate form — usually a nonprofit corporation — under Chapter 10-33.²

The condominium statute is concise, and it is no full governance code for planned communities. It supplies no architectural-review process, and it reaches planned-community HOAs only where a section says so. For a condominium, precedence runs from the condominium statute, then the recorded declaration — including its declaration of restrictions under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-04 — then the bylaws and rules.⁵ For a planned-community HOA, it runs from the recorded covenants, then the bylaws and any architectural guidelines, with the Nonprofit Corporations Act supplying corporate governance.² So when you review an application, confirm which regime applies first, then find the specific grant of architectural authority in the controlling document.

2B. The approval process and standards of review

North Dakota sets no statutory deadline for an architectural application, no general deemed-approval rule, and no general written-denial requirement. Those process rules come from the recorded covenants or the condominium declaration, not from the statute. One statutory exception stands out — the condominium EV-charging track, which carries its own 60-day deadline, deemed approval, and written-denial rule.⁶

On the merits, North Dakota enforces valid recorded covenants and declaration terms. The condominium statute makes recorded declaration restrictions enforceable equitable servitudes where they are reasonable, binds every owner to them, and requires each owner to comply with the declaration, bylaws, and rules.⁵ The North Dakota Supreme Court reads a restrictive covenant as a contract and gives effect to what the parties intended. In Hill v. Lindner, 2009 ND 130, the Court reversed summary judgment and held that a homeowner's licensed in-home day care violated a covenant limiting use to "residential purposes only." An incidental business use escapes such a covenant, the Court reasoned, only "as long as the business use is casual, infrequent or unobtrusive." The opinion adds that restrictive covenants, though not favored, take full effect when clearly established, and that courts construe covenants strictly in favor of the free use of land — but they will not use strict construction to defeat a covenant's obvious purpose.⁷ So a court will generally uphold an architectural restriction when it serves a legitimate purpose, sits within the association's authority under the governing documents, and applies reasonably and consistently.

Enforcement rests on the recorded covenants or the condominium declaration, and it runs through the courts. The condominium statute authorizes damages, injunctive relief, or other relief for noncompliance, and it creates an assessment lien for common expenses that the association records with the county recorder under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11.⁸ North Dakota runs no ongoing HOA regulator, so enforcement stays private, and the governing documents sit on record with the county recorder. The operating guidance for a professional is direct: classify the community, ground every step of the architectural process in the governing documents, and remember that the statute contributes only narrowly to that process.

2C. Statutory and federal limits on architectural authority

State-law limits on architectural authority are few. On solar, North Dakota offers a voluntary solar-easement framework under N.D.C.C. §§ 47-05-01.1 and 47-05-01.2, and it overrides no HOA solar restriction. An owner may obtain and record a written solar easement, but the state does not void anti-solar covenants.³

Two condominium carve-outs sit inside Chapter 47-04.1. Section 47-04.1-14 says that, "[n]otwithstanding any provision in a covenant, declaration, bylaw, or other rule of a project, an owner or resident may not be prohibited from displaying a political yard sign on the owner's property within sixty days before any primary, general, or special election," though the same section still permits "reasonable restrictions regarding the placement and manner of display of political signs."⁹ Section 47-04.1-16 voids any condominium covenant or bylaw that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts an EV charging station in a unit or a designated parking space, deems an application "approved" if the association does "not den[y] [it] in writing within sixty days from the date of receipt," and holds an administrative body that "willfully violates this section" liable for actual damages plus "a civil penalty to the applicant or other party in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars."⁶ Both provisions govern condominiums. No parallel statutory carve-out is confirmed for planned-community HOAs.

No standalone state flag-display carve-out for associations is confirmed beyond federal law, and neither a drought-tolerant nor a native-landscaping carve-out is confirmed. The federal overlays apply in North Dakota as they do everywhere, and they add to the governing documents rather than replace them. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 protects display of the U.S. flag, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.¹⁰ The FCC OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, limits restrictions on covered antennas and satellite dishes one meter or less in an owner's exclusive-use area.¹¹ And the Fair Housing Act's reasonable-modification right, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A), requires associations to permit owner-funded, reasonable disability-related exterior modifications.¹²

Section 3: Compliance obligations in the architectural-review process

A. Adopting and maintaining architectural standards

Architectural standards in North Dakota rest on a governing-document obligation, not a statutory one. A planned-community HOA draws its authority to adopt and maintain standards from the recorded covenants and bylaws; a condominium draws it from the declaration and the bylaws that the association adopts and records under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-07.¹ The obligation flows from the governing documents. The statute contributes only the recording and bylaw-adoption mechanics for condominiums.

B. Reviewing and deciding applications

The duty to review and decide applications within a set time, to state reasons, or to respond in writing is a governing-document obligation for both HOAs and condominiums, because no general statutory deadline, deemed-approval rule, or written-denial requirement exists.⁶ One statutory review obligation does apply, and it covers condominium EV-charging applications: the administrative body must process the application, must not willfully delay it, must put any denial in writing, and faces a 60-day deemed approval. That duty is statutory, and it rests on N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-16.⁶

C. Honoring statutory and federal owner protections

Solar runs on a voluntary easement framework, not an override, so an association's obligation is simply to recognize a properly recorded solar easement under N.D.C.C. §§ 47-05-01.1 and 47-05-01.2; no statute requires the association to approve a solar installation. The framework is statutory, but it does not override the governing documents.³ Condominium associations must honor the political-sign provision (N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-14) and the EV-charging provision (N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-16) — both statutory, and both specific to condominiums.^{6, 9} Every association must honor the federal overlays as well: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act (4 U.S.C. § 5), the OTARD rule (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000), and the FHA reasonable-modification right (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A)) — federal statutory or regulatory obligations that apply no matter what the governing documents say.^{10, 11, 12}

D. Enforcement and dispute resolution

Enforcement stays private and document-based. For a condominium, the statute makes a failure to comply "grounds for an action to recover sums due for damages, injunctive relief or such other relief as a court of proper jurisdiction may provide" (N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-08) and supplies a recorded assessment lien (N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11) — statutory tools that sit on top of the recorded documents.^{5, 8} For a planned-community HOA, enforcement authority comes from the recorded covenants and proceeds in the North Dakota District Courts, with any appeal going straight to the North Dakota Supreme Court. The state runs no HOA regulator and offers no administrative complaint path for architectural disputes, so the duty to follow any hearing or notice procedure is a governing-document obligation.⁴

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

The North Dakota Legislative Assembly meets every other year, in odd-numbered years, so the sessions that matter here are 2023 (the 68th Assembly) and 2025 (the 69th Assembly).

A. Recent bills

One recent enactment bears directly on architectural review in condominiums.

No other 2023 or 2025 bill amending architectural-review authority, the condominium statute's review process, the solar-easement provisions, or covenant enforcement turned up. The condominium political-sign section (N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-14) is on the books, but we could not confirm its enacting bill and session against a primary source, so we do not report it here as a bill within the reporting window.

B. Recent rulings

No North Dakota Supreme Court decision in the past 36 months squarely addresses HOA or condominium architectural enforcement. Given the state's thin-statute posture and small community-association market, that silence looks expected, not anomalous. The controlling statement of the standard still comes from a 2009 case.

C. Active legislative debates

No active North Dakota proposal touches architectural authority, the solar-easement framework, or a new HOA or condominium carve-out as of the last verified date. HOA Weekly will update this section as the 2027 session approaches.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Step back to the national map. North Dakota sits among the lightest-touch states in the country for architectural review. It is a thin-statute, covenant-primary jurisdiction: a concise condominium statute (Chapter 47-04.1), no dedicated HOA or planned-community act, a voluntary solar-easement framework rather than a solar override, and no permanent intermediate appellate court. What the statute contributes stays narrow and largely condominium-specific — the political-sign provision, the EV-charging provision, and the assessment lien — alongside the federal overlays that apply in every state. For a multi-state operator, the practical message is plain: in North Dakota the recorded covenants or the condominium declaration govern the architectural process, the state does not void anti-solar covenants, and enforcement runs privately through the courts rather than through any state agency. That posture stands in sharp contrast to comprehensive or carve-out-heavy states such as California and Nevada, where detailed common-interest statutes prescribe architectural timelines, solar and landscaping protections, and fining procedures.

HOA Weekly updates its North Dakota Architectural Review coverage each quarter as the Legislative Assembly and the North Dakota Supreme Court act. Federal frameworks — including the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the FCC OTARD rule, and the Fair Housing Act — apply to North Dakota associations on top of state law.

Footnotes

1. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1, Condominium Ownership of Real Property (North Dakota Century Code) ↩
2. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33, Nonprofit Corporations Act (North Dakota Century Code) ↩
3. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 47-05-01.1, 47-05-01.2, Servitudes (solar easements) ↩
4. North Dakota Court System, Court of Appeals (temporary court) ↩
5. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 47-04.1-04, 47-04.1-08, declaration of restrictions and compliance ↩
6. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-16, electric vehicle charging station installation in condominiums ↩
7. Hill v. Lindner, 2009 ND 130 (N.D. 2009) ↩
8. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11, liens against units for common expenses ↩
9. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-14, political-sign display in condominiums ↩
10. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, 4 U.S.C. § 5 ↩
11. FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000 ↩
12. Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A) ↩
13. H.B. 1310, 68th Legis. Assemb. (N.D. 2023), electric vehicle charging station installation in condominiums ↩