Rhode Island HOA Solar Rights

Section 1: Overview — Solar rights for HOAs in Rhode Island

Rhode Island doesn't limit a community association's ability to prohibit or restrict solar energy systems through its recorded declaration. A review of the Rhode Island General Laws, Title 34 (Property), and the 2024 through 2026 legislative sessions finds no solar-access statute that voids or overrides declaration-based solar restrictions.¹ The only solar-specific statute in Rhode Island is the Solar Easements Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-40, which lets a property owner acquire a recorded easement for access to sunlight by voluntary agreement with a neighboring owner.² That statute enables private easements and does nothing to override an association's authority over an installation on a unit or lot. Rhode Island's utility-side programs, including net metering and the Renewable Energy Growth Program administered on the customer and policy side, stay separate from association governance and don't constrain what an association may require.³ Condominiums answer to the Rhode Island Condominium Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-36.1, for those created after July 1, 1982, and to the predecessor Condominium Ownership Act, Chapter 34-36, for older ones, while planned-community HOAs operate under recorded CC&Rs, the Nonprofit Corporation Act, and common law.⁴ Nationally, this places Rhode Island in the easement-only category, not the strong-protection category.⁵ The sections that follow set out the statutory framework, the operational rules, and recent activity.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. Solar-access provision (or its absence)

Rhode Island has no solar-access statute limiting a community association's ability to prohibit or restrict solar energy systems. A review of Title 34 (Property) and the 2024 through 2026 legislative sessions confirms that no provision voids declaration-based solar prohibitions, and no bill creating such a provision has been enacted or is pending in a form directed at community associations.¹ The consequence runs direct: an association's authority over an owner's solar installation is set by the recorded declaration and the applicable community-association statute, not by any solar-specific restriction-override. Where a declaration grants architectural authority over exterior modifications, that authority reaches rooftop and ground-mounted solar equipment, subject to general contract and covenant doctrines rather than a statutory cap tailored to solar.

The utility-side boundary matters here. Rhode Island regulates net metering and operates the Renewable Energy Growth Program through the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and the Office of Energy Resources, and it enacted a Residential Solar Energy Disclosure and Homeowners Bill of Rights Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-93, governing solar retailers.⁶ Those are utility-customer, consumer-protection, and energy-policy matters. None of them limits an association's authority over an installation, and none should be read as a solar-access statute for community associations. Several consumer-facing solar marketing pages assert that Rhode Island HOAs "cannot ban solar," but those statements aren't supported by any statute in the General Laws and get contradicted by state-by-state legal compilations that classify Rhode Island as solar-easement-only, including Palmetto's "Solar Access Laws by State" survey, which states that "although Rhode Island residents can create solar easements, there are no statewide solar access laws that HOAs must follow."⁵

2B. The solar easement statute and the governing framework

Rhode Island's Solar Easements Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-40, allows any property owner to grant a solar easement "in the same manner and with the same effect as a conveyance of an interest in real property," created in writing and recorded like any other instrument affecting title.² The statute defines the easement as a right to ensure adequate exposure of a solar energy system and requires the instrument to include, among other things, "a description of the vertical and horizontal angles, expressed in degrees and measured from the site of the solar energy system, at which the solar easement extends over the real property subject to the solar easement."⁷ This works as a voluntary tool: it lets consenting owners protect a system's access to sunlight against future shading. It doesn't give a unit owner a right to install solar over an association's objection, and it doesn't void or limit any declaration provision governing solar. It is an easement statute, not a solar-access statute, and the two shouldn't be conflated.

The governing framework for community types runs as follows. Condominiums created after July 1, 1982 answer to the Rhode Island Condominium Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-36.1, which is based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act.⁸ Condominiums created before that date answer to the predecessor Condominium Ownership Act, Chapter 34-36, though a pre-1982 condominium may voluntarily accept the newer Act, and certain enumerated sections of the newer Act apply to older condominiums regardless.⁹ Rhode Island adopted the Uniform Condominium Act for condominiums; it didn't adopt the broader Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, and it has no comprehensive planned-community statute.⁸ Planned-community HOAs therefore answer to their recorded CC&Rs, the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 7-6, for associations organized as nonprofit corporations, and common law.⁴ This is a meaningful gap: a planned-community HOA in Rhode Island has no dedicated operating statute equivalent to the Condominium Act.

2C. The role of CC&Rs and architectural review

Because Rhode Island has no restriction-override, the recorded declaration and any architectural-review provisions in the governing documents stand as the operative rules for solar. The order of precedence runs straightforward. A solar restriction-override statute, if one existed, would control over conflicting declaration provisions; because Rhode Island has none, the declaration controls, subject to the applicable community-association statute and to general doctrines such as reasonableness, good-faith enforcement, and consistent application. Rhode Island courts treat restrictive covenants as contracts and generally presume they stay enforceable absent a specific reason not to enforce them.

Architectural review operates differently between a condominium and a planned-community HOA. In a condominium, a rooftop is typically a common element or limited common element controlled by the association, so a unit owner ordinarily cannot install rooftop equipment without association approval, and the executive board's authority flows from the declaration, bylaws, and the Condominium Act.¹⁰ In a planned-community HOA, the owner usually owns the roof and the lot, so the association's authority over a solar installation depends on whether the declaration contains an architectural-review or exterior-modification covenant that reaches the equipment. Where the governing documents stay silent, the association's ability to restrict solar is correspondingly limited.

Section 3: What a Rhode Island association can and cannot do regarding solar

A. Approval and architectural review

A solar installation is subject to whatever architectural-review or exterior-modification authority the governing documents grant, and in a condominium the association also draws authority from the Condominium Act's provisions on common elements and upkeep, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-36.1.¹⁰ No solar-specific statute overrides that authority, so approval requirements in the declaration stay enforceable on their own terms.

B. Permissible and impermissible restrictions

Rhode Island has no statute prohibiting solar restrictions and no statutory list of permitted "reasonable" restrictions, so the limits get set by the declaration's terms and by general covenant doctrine rather than by a statutory cap.¹ An association may enforce a validly adopted restriction, including an outright prohibition, if the declaration supports it and the enforcement stays reasonable and consistent; there is no solar carve-out that narrows this authority.

C. Governing-document and disclosure considerations

Solar rules, where they exist, appear in the recorded declaration, the bylaws, or architectural guidelines adopted under them. For condominiums, amending the declaration generally requires approval of unit owners holding at least 67 percent of the votes, or any larger majority the declaration specifies, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-2.17.¹¹ The Condominium Act's resale provisions, § 34-36.1-4.09, require a selling unit owner to furnish a resale certificate disclosing the declaration, bylaws, and rules, which is where any solar restriction would surface for a buyer; this applies to condominiums, not to planned-community HOAs.¹²

D. Dispute resolution and remedies

A solar covenant dispute counts as a civil matter that proceeds at the trial level in the Rhode Island Superior Court, the state's court of general jurisdiction for civil matters exceeding 10,000 dollars and for equity claims.¹³ Rhode Island has no intermediate appellate court, so an appeal from the Superior Court goes directly to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.¹⁴ For condominiums, the Condominium Act authorizes fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules following notice and a hearing, and it provides that a hearing decision must include costs and reasonable attorney's fees where the prevailing party is represented by a member of the Rhode Island Bar, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.20.¹⁵ No comparable statutory fee provision exists for planned-community HOAs, whose remedies depend on the declaration.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted or introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly during the past 24 months creates or amends a provision affecting a community association's authority over owner-installed solar.¹ The solar-related bills active in the 2024 through 2026 sessions run utility-side, consumer-disclosure, permitting, or tax measures, none of which touches association authority. They include HB-5580, a net-metering measure Governor McKee signed on June 27, 2025;³ House Bill 6202, which would place a moratorium on net-metering contracts and heat-pump subsidies, and House Bill 6203, which would repeal the Renewable Energy Growth Program, both introduced in 2025;¹⁶ a sales-tax exemption for solar batteries; and the Residential Solar Energy Disclosure and Homeowners Bill of Rights Act governing solar retailers.⁶ Because those measures operate on the utility, consumer, and tax side rather than on association governance, they sit outside the scope of this page.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No Rhode Island Supreme Court opinion decided in the past 36 months addresses a community association's architectural authority as applied to solar.¹⁷ Community-association matters reaching the Court in that window addressed other subjects, such as condominium meeting-notice and billing disputes, not solar installations or the architectural review of them.

C. Active legislative debates

There is no active proposal in the Rhode Island General Assembly to enact solar-access protection for community-association members that would override declaration-based solar restrictions.¹ Legislative attention to solar in Rhode Island has centered on utility compensation, permitting, and consumer disclosure rather than on association authority.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Solar-rights law across the states falls into three broad categories: strong-protection states whose statutes void or limit association solar restrictions — for example, California Civ. Code § 714, Florida Fla. Stat. § 163.04, Arizona A.R.S. § 33-1816, Colorado C.R.S. § 38-30-168, Nevada under NRS 278.0208 and NRS 111.239, and Texas Prop. Code § 202.010; solar-easement-only states, which enable voluntary easements between owners but don't override associations; and no-protection states, where the declaration fully controls.⁵ Rhode Island sits in the easement-only category. Its Solar Easements Act enables voluntary recorded easements but doesn't limit association authority, and a solar easement statute alone doesn't elevate a state into the strong-protection group. Rhode Island's aggressive state climate policy doesn't change that classification, because climate and utility policy operate separately from association governance. For multi-state operators, the practical implication is that a Rhode Island association retains broader authority over solar than an association in a strong-protection state, and installation approvals turn on the governing documents rather than a statutory solar mandate. Legislative momentum toward association-specific solar protection stays absent.

HOA Weekly's Rhode Island Solar Rights coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Rhode Island Supreme Court act. No federal rule comparable to the FCC's OTARD rule extends to rooftop solar, so Rhode Island's state law controls the question here.

Footnotes

1. R.I. Gen. Laws Title 34 (Property), chapter index (no solar restriction-override chapter; chapter 34-40 is titled "Solar Easements"). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
2. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-40-2, Creation of solar easements. Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
3. Environment America, "Net Metering bill signed into law by Governor McKee" (HB-5580 signed June 27, 2025). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
4. Homeowners Protection Bureau, "Rhode Island HOA Laws, Regulations & Resources" (Condominium Act § 34-36.1, Condominium Ownership Act § 34-36, Nonprofit Corporation Act § 7-6, Solar Easements § 34-40). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
5. Palmetto, "Solar Access Laws by State" ("Although Rhode Island residents can create solar easements, there are no statewide solar access laws that HOAs must follow"; strong-protection state citations). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
6. Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, "Solar" (Residential Solar Energy Disclosure and Homeowners Bill of Rights Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-93-4; net metering and Renewable Energy Growth programs). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
7. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-40-2(b) (required contents of a solar easement instrument, including vertical and horizontal angles). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
8. Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, comparison of MA, RI, and NH condominium acts ("The Rhode Island Condominium [Act]... is based on the 1980 Version of the Uniform Condominium [Act]"). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
9. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.02, Applicability (Condominium Act applies to condominiums created after July 1, 1982; Condominium Ownership Act, chapter 36, for older condominiums; voluntary acceptance and enumerated sections). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
10. R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 34-36.1, Condominium Law (association powers, common elements, and upkeep provisions). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
11. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-2.17, Amendment of declaration (67 percent vote threshold). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
12. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-4.09, Resale of units (resale certificate disclosure to purchasers). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
13. Ballotpedia, "Courts in Rhode Island" (Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction; original jurisdiction over civil matters exceeding $10,000 and equity). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
14. Rhode Island Superior Court overview ("Since Rhode Island has no intermediate appellate court, appeals from the Superior Court" go directly to the Rhode Island Supreme Court). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
15. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.20, Enforcement of declaration, by-laws and rules (fines after notice and hearing; costs and reasonable attorney's fees). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
16. pv magazine USA, "Rhode Island weighs bills to quash solar incentives, net-metering" (House Bill 6202 net-metering/heat-pump moratorium; House Bill 6203 repeal of Renewable Energy Growth Program). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩
17. Rhode Island Supreme Court, Published Opinions (no opinion July 2023–July 2026 addressing association architectural authority over solar). Last verified July 18, 2026. ↩