Virginia HOA Solar Rights

Section 1 — Overview: Solar rights for HOAs in Virginia

Virginia limits a community association's authority to prohibit an owner's solar energy collection device: under current Title 55.1, an association may not bar installation on an owner's individually owned property unless the recorded declaration establishes that prohibition, and it may impose only reasonable restrictions on size, place, and manner.¹ The protection isn't absolute. It operates as a default that a recorded declaration can override; where the declaration itself prohibits solar, the association may enforce that ban.¹ Virginia's framework runs layered: planned communities fall under the Property Owners' Association Act, § 55.1-1800 et seq., condominiums under the Virginia Condominium Act, § 55.1-1900 et seq., and cooperatives under the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act, § 55.1-2100 et seq., each carrying a parallel solar section.² Virginia also maintains a dedicated regulator, the Common Interest Community Board within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, which licenses community association managers and receives association registrations and annual reports.³ Nationally, this places Virginia among the protection states, though the declaration-override carve-out makes the protection conditional rather than a flat statutory ban on all solar restrictions. The sections below set out the statute text, the carve-out boundary, the operational limits on association authority, and the recent legislative and judicial record.

Section 2 — The statutory framework

2A. The solar provision and its carve-out

The controlling provision for planned communities is Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1, titled "Installation of solar energy collection devices," in the Property Owners' Association Act. The Condominium Act carries an identical provision at § 55.1-1951.1, and the Real Estate Cooperative Act at § 55.1-2133.1.² All three use the same operative language. Subsection A defines a "solar energy collection device" as "any device manufactured and sold for the sole purpose of facilitating the collection and beneficial use of solar energy, including passive heating panels or building components and solar photovoltaic apparatus."¹

The general rule and its carve-out sit together in subsection B: "No association shall prohibit an owner from installing a solar energy collection device on that owner's property unless the recorded declaration for the association establishes such a prohibition. However, an association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use."¹ The carve-out is load-bearing. The default bars a prohibition, but a recorded declaration that establishes a solar prohibition displaces the default and the ban stands. A board-adopted rule or regulation isn't sufficient; the prohibition must appear in the recorded declaration itself.¹

Subsection C sets an objective reasonableness test. A restriction is deemed not reasonable if it increases the cost of installation by five percent over the projected cost of the initially proposed installation or reduces energy production by 10 percent below the projected production of the initially proposed installation, and the owner must supply documentation prepared by an independent solar panel design specialist certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and licensed in Virginia.¹ Those five percent cost and 10 percent production thresholds were added by the 2020 General Assembly through Senate Bill 504, identical to House Bill 414, reflected in the historical citation "2020, cc. 272, 795"; SB 504's summary states a restriction "is not reasonable if application of the restriction to a particular proposal (i) increases the cost of installation of the solar energy collection device by five percent over the projected cost of the initially proposed installation or (ii) reduces the energy production by the solar energy collection device by 10 percent below the projected energy production of the initially proposed installation."⁴ Subsection D preserves association authority over common elements and common area, where the association may prohibit or restrict devices outright and may set reasonable restrictions on number, size, place, and manner.¹ All citations here trace to current Title 55.1. The former Title 55 sections and the earlier Title 67 solar sections stand obsolete; Virginia's solar provisions were relocated from former §§ 67-700 and 67-701 to the Title 55.1 sections by 2021 Special Session I, c. 387, a transfer that made no substantive change to the rule.⁵

2B. The layered Title 55.1 framework and the Common Interest Community Board

Virginia organizes common interest communities into three statutes, each in Subtitle IV of Title 55.1. The Property Owners' Association Act governs planned communities and lot-based associations, § 55.1-1800 et seq. The Virginia Condominium Act governs condominiums, § 55.1-1900 et seq., and the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act governs cooperatives, § 55.1-2100 et seq.² The three acts stay distinct; Virginia hasn't adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so its features shouldn't be imported into any of them. Each act carries its own solar section, § 55.1-1820.1, § 55.1-1951.1, § 55.1-2133.1, which is why the operative solar language appears three times in materially identical form.²

The current numbering dates to a recodification. Effective October 1, 2019, former Title 55 of the Code of Virginia was repealed and replaced by Title 55.1, moving the association statutes to their present sections; all prior Title 55 citations are obsolete.⁶

On the corporate side, associations commonly organize as nonstock corporations subject to the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act, Title 13.1. Virginia is also distinctive for its dedicated regulator. The Common Interest Community Board sits within DPOR and regulates common interest community managers, licensing management firms and certifying certain of their employees. Property owners', condominium unit owners', and cooperative associations must register and file annual reports with the Board.³ The annual report requirement appears at § 55.1-1835 for planned communities and § 55.1-1980 for condominiums, each accompanied by a fee credited to the Common Interest Community Management Information Fund.⁷ The Board's authority runs administrative; it is not a solar adjudicator, and its Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman issues only non-binding determinations, not judicial verdicts, on common interest community law.⁸

2C. The carve-out boundary and the role of governing documents

The solar sections define the boundary of association authority in two directions. By default, an association may not prohibit a device on an owner's individually owned property, and any prohibition attempted through a board rule, an architectural guideline, or a resolution sits outside the association's authority unless the recorded declaration supplies the ban. The declaration-override carve-out preserves authority in the opposite direction: where the recorded declaration itself establishes a solar prohibition, the association may enforce it.¹ The order of precedence follows from the statute's text. The solar section limits association authority as a default; the recorded declaration controls where it expressly establishes a prohibition; and a mere board rule cannot substitute for the declaration.

Design and architectural review retains a residual role that operates alongside the carve-out. Even without a declaration prohibition, an association may apply reasonable size, place, and manner restrictions, which can include screening, panel count, and location conditions, provided they don't cross the subsection C thresholds — a five percent cost increase or a 10 percent production reduction against the owner's initial proposal.¹ Architectural review cannot function as a back-door ban: a restriction that effectively prohibits a workable installation, or that exceeds the reasonableness thresholds on the owner's documented showing, stays vulnerable to challenge.

Section 3 — What a Virginia association can and cannot do regarding solar

A. What an association cannot do

Absent a qualifying declaration provision, a Virginia association cannot prohibit an owner from installing a solar energy collection device on the owner's individually owned property, and it cannot manufacture a prohibition through board-adopted rules, architectural guidelines, or resolutions. This mandatory limit, drawn from the solar sections of the Property Owners' Association Act, the Condominium Act, and the Cooperative Act, §§ 55.1-1820.1, 55.1-1951.1, 55.1-2133.1, applies to all three association types.^1,2 The statutory definition of a covered device runs broad, reaching passive heating panels, building components, and photovoltaic apparatus.

B. What an association may do

An association may impose reasonable restrictions on the size, place, and manner of placement of devices on individually owned property, and it may prohibit or restrict devices outright where the recorded declaration so provides. It may also prohibit or restrict devices on common elements or common area regardless of the declaration, and may set reasonable restrictions on their number, size, place, and manner. This basis sits in subsections B and D of the solar sections.¹ The carve-out is the operative limit on the protection: the recorded declaration, not a board rule, is what authorizes a community-wide ban. These authorities run permissive rather than mandatory.

C. The carve-out analysis and approval process

The threshold question in any solar request is whether the recorded declaration establishes a prohibition. If it does, the association may deny; if it doesn't, the association may apply only reasonable size, place, and manner conditions. Where an owner contends a restriction is unreasonable, the statute places the evidentiary burden on the owner to provide documentation from a NABCEP-certified, Virginia-licensed solar specialist showing the restriction breaches the five percent cost or 10 percent production thresholds. An association may require that documentation before installation. This basis sits in subsections B and C of the solar sections.¹

D. Dispute resolution and remedies

Solar disputes get litigated in the Virginia Circuit Courts, the trial courts of general jurisdiction. For civil judgments entered on or after January 1, 2022, an aggrieved party has an appeal of right to the Court of Appeals of Virginia under § 17.1-405, with discretionary further review by the Supreme Court of Virginia; before that date most civil appeals went directly to the Supreme Court of Virginia.⁹ The Common Interest Community Board and its Office of the Ombudsman handle registration, manager licensing, and non-binding complaint determinations, but don't adjudicate solar installation rights.⁸ The solar sections contain no dedicated fee-shifting provision or statutory penalty for solar disputes; remedies follow the general enforcement provisions of each act.¹

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted in the past 24 months amended the Virginia solar sections or otherwise changed a community association's authority over an owner's solar energy collection device. The most recent substantive change to the reasonableness standard was the 2020 enactment of SB 504 / HB 414, which set the five percent cost and 10 percent production thresholds.⁴ The most recent touch on the sections was a 2023 conforming amendment, described below for completeness; it predates the 24-month window and made no change to association authority over solar.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published opinion of the Court of Appeals of Virginia or the Supreme Court of Virginia from the past 36 months, or otherwise located as of July 2026, interprets § 55.1-1820.1, § 55.1-1951.1, or § 55.1-2133.1, or otherwise rules on a Virginia community association's authority over an owner's solar energy collection device. Solar disputes generally resolve at the demand-letter or circuit-court level without generating reported appellate precedent. One commercial website, HOATranslate, asserts verbatim that "Virginia courts have ruled in favor of homeowners under § 67-701 in several reported cases since 2020," a claim tied to the repealed Title 67 section that couldn't be substantiated against any published Virginia appellate opinion and shouldn't be relied upon.¹¹

C. Active legislative debates

As of July 2026, no active proposal to amend the solar sections or their declaration-override carve-out has turned up. Recent Virginia solar legislation, such as the 2026 measure on small portable, "balcony," solar generation devices, addresses utility interconnection and landlord-tenant matters rather than community association authority, and doesn't change the solar sections.¹²

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

State solar-rights laws fall into three broad categories. Strong-protection states void or sharply limit association solar restrictions by statute, including California, Civ. Code § 714; Florida, Fla. Stat. § 163.04; Arizona, A.R.S. § 33-1816; Colorado, C.R.S. § 38-30-168; Nevada, Nev. Rev. Stat. § 278.0208, which provides that a covenant that "prohibits or unreasonably restricts" an owner from using a solar energy system "is void and unenforceable"; and Texas, Tex. Prop. Code § 202.010.¹³ Solar-easement-only states enable voluntary easements but don't override associations. No-protection states leave the declaration in full control. Virginia sits in the protection category, but with a conditional twist: the declaration-override carve-out means a recorded declaration can lawfully prohibit solar, so the protection runs as a default rather than an absolute bar on association restrictions.¹ Virginia's distinctive feature is institutional — its dedicated Common Interest Community Board and mandatory manager licensing.³ For multi-state operators, the practical implication is that a Virginia portfolio requires reading each community's recorded declaration before assuming owners have an installation right, because the declaration, not a uniform state rule, sets the outer limit.

HOA Weekly's Virginia Solar Rights coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Virginia courts act. No federal rule comparable to the FCC's OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, extends to rooftop solar, so Virginia's state statute controls here.

Footnotes

1. Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1, Installation of solar energy collection devices (Property Owners' Association Act), Code of Virginia, law.lis.virginia.gov ↩
2. Va. Code § 55.1-1951.1 (Virginia Condominium Act) and Va. Code § 55.1-2133.1 (Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act), parallel solar provisions, Code of Virginia, law.lis.virginia.gov ↩
3. Common Interest Community Board, Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (regulation of managers; association registration and annual reports), dpor.virginia.gov ↩
4. SB 504, 2020 Regular Session (Virginia Energy Plan; covenants regarding solar power; reasonable restrictions), identical to HB 414, LIS Bill Tracking, lis.virginia.gov ↩
5. Former Va. Code § 67-701 (repealed effective October 1, 2021), Covenants regarding solar power, relocated to Title 55.1 by 2021 Sp. Sess. I, c. 387 (cross-verification; primary history line at law.lis.virginia.gov § 55.1-1820.1) ↩
6. "Effective October 1, 2019, Title 55 of the Code of Virginia (Property and Conveyances) was repealed and replaced by the new Title 55.1," Common Interest Community Board, DPOR, dpor.virginia.gov ↩
7. Va. Code § 55.1-1835, Annual report by association (and § 55.1-1980, Annual report by unit owners' association), Code of Virginia, law.lis.virginia.gov ↩
8. Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman ("An Ombudsman Determination is not a judicial verdict, court decree, Board order or official opinion. It is legally non-binding"), DPOR, dpor.virginia.gov ↩
9. Va. Code § 17.1-405, Appellate jurisdiction — civil matter appeals ("any aggrieved party may appeal to the Court of Appeals from... any final judgment, order, or decree of a circuit court in a civil matter"; effective January 1, 2022), Code of Virginia, law.lis.virginia.gov ↩
10. HB 2235, 2023 Regular Session, Resale Disclosure Act established (identical to SB 1222; 2023 Acts of Assembly cc. 387, 388; approved March 23, 2023), LIS Bill Tracking, lis.virginia.gov ↩
11. No published Court of Appeals of Virginia or Supreme Court of Virginia opinion interpreting §§ 55.1-1820.1, 55.1-1951.1, or 55.1-2133.1 could be located as of July 2026 (statute page, law.lis.virginia.gov; verified against Virginia appellate opinions at vacourts.gov) ↩
12. HB 395, 2026 Regular Session (electric utilities; small portable solar generation devices; Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; 2026 Acts of Assembly, approved April 22, 2026), utility- and tenant-side measure not affecting the association solar sections, LIS, lis.virginia.gov ↩
13. National comparison of state solar-rights categories (Virginia's provision, § 55.1-1820.1, law.lis.virginia.gov); other-state citations California Civ. Code § 714, Fla. Stat. § 163.04, A.R.S. § 33-1816, C.R.S. § 38-30-168, Nev. Rev. Stat. § 278.0208, Tex. Prop. Code § 202.010 provided for editor cross-verification ↩