Washington HOA Flag Display

Section 1 — Overview: Flag display rules for Washington HOAs

Washington protects flag display through a layered set of statutes, and the rule that governs any given community turns on two things: what kind of community it is, and when someone created it. For homeowners' associations that predate July 1, 2018, the Washington Homeowners' Associations Act forbids governing documents from banning the outdoor display of the United States flag (RCW 64.38.033).¹ For communities created on or after that date, WUCIOA — RCW 64.90 — protects the installation of a flagpole for the United States and Washington state flags (RCW 64.90.510),² and WUCIOA will govern every community association by January 1, 2028.³ The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (4 U.S.C. § 5) sets a national floor for the United States flag, but it gives no one the right to sue, so Washington's own provisions carry the weight, because a state court can enforce them.⁴ Washington is a UCIOA state: its WUCIOA, RCW 64.90, built on the 2008 Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, is replacing the older Homeowners' Associations Act, RCW 64.38, and the two Condominium Acts, RCW 64.34 and RCW 64.32.⁵ The WUCIOA protection, which the legislature amended in 2024 through SB 5796, bars an association from prohibiting a flagpole for the United States or Washington state flags, though it still allows reasonable rules on location and size.² The framework is moving: the provision that applies depends on the community's type and creation date, and everything consolidates under WUCIOA on January 1, 2028.³ A dispute travels from the Superior Court to the Washington Court of Appeals, which sits in three divisions, and then to the Washington Supreme Court.⁶ The sections below lay out the federal floor, the Washington provisions, the governing framework, and the recent legislative and judicial activity.

Quick-Reference Table

Section 2 — The legal framework

2A. The federal floor: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005

The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, codified at 4 U.S.C. § 5 (Pub. L. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572), took effect when the President signed it on July 24, 2006.⁴ It says a condominium association, a cooperative association, or a residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy, and may not enter into any agreement, that would restrict or prevent a member from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property the member separately owns or has the right to possess or use exclusively.⁴ Those three entity types — condominium associations, cooperative associations, and residential real estate management associations — cover the common forms of community association. The act allows reasonable restrictions: nothing in it authorizes a display that conflicts with the Federal Flag Code or with any reasonable time, place, or manner rule the association needs to protect a substantial interest.⁴ The act reaches only the flag of the United States, displayed consistent with the Federal Flag Code (4 U.S.C. ch. 1, §§ 1 through 10);⁷ it does not protect the Washington state flag, or military, POW/MIA, or other flags. One limitation controls enforcement: the act contains no enforcement mechanism and creates no private right of action. A federal court said exactly that in Murphree v. Tides Condominium at Sweetwater by Del Webb Master Homeowners' Ass'n, holding that the act "does not provide any enforcement mechanism, or explicitly create a private right of action for individuals such as Murphree to bring a lawsuit against a condominium association."⁸ An owner therefore cannot sue an association under the federal act itself; practical enforcement runs through state law and the recorded governing documents.

2B. Washington's flag provisions: RCW 64.38.033 (pre-2018 HOAs) and WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.510 (post-2018 communities)

Washington layers its own protections on top of the federal floor, and which provision applies depends on the community's type and creation date. The framework is in transition, because SB 5796 (2024) makes WUCIOA govern all community associations by January 1, 2028.³

For homeowners' associations created before July 1, 2018, RCW 64.38.033 says governing documents may not prohibit an owner or resident from displaying the flag of the United States outdoors on the owner's or resident's property, as long as the display follows the federal flag display law, 4 U.S.C. Sec. 1 et seq.¹ The governing documents may set reasonable rules on the placement and manner of the display, and they may not prohibit a flagpole, subject to reasonable rules on the location and size of the flagpole.¹ This provision speaks only to the United States flag; it does not reach the Washington state flag. It also stands apart from RCW 64.38.034, which addresses political yard signs and is a distinct topic.⁹

For condominiums and planned communities created on or after July 1, 2018, WUCIOA governs, and its flag provision is RCW 64.90.510. The legislature originally adopted WUCIOA as SB 6175, effective July 1, 2018, and built it on the 2008 Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.⁵ As amended in 2024 by SB 5796, RCW 64.90.510(1)(a) says an association may not prohibit display of the flag of the United States, or the flag of Washington state, on or within a unit or a limited common element, except that it may adopt reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions it needs to protect a substantial interest.² RCW 64.90.510(1)(b) says the association may not prohibit installing a flagpole for the flag of the United States or the flag of Washington state, on or within a unit or a limited common element, subject to reasonable rules on the location and size of the flagpole.² The WUCIOA right therefore reaches a flagpole installation and covers the Washington state flag alongside the United States flag.

For condominiums created before WUCIOA, no flag provision exists. Condominiums created between July 1, 1990, and July 1, 2018, fall under the Washington Condominium Act (RCW 64.34), and condominiums created before July 1, 1990, fall under the Horizontal Property Regimes Act (RCW 64.32).⁵ Neither statute contains a flag provision, so for those communities the United States flag rests on the federal floor (4 U.S.C. § 5) and the recorded CC&Rs. The CC&Rs govern the other flags — military, POW/MIA, first-responder, Blue and Gold Star service, decorative, sports, and foreign — because no Washington statute compels them.

The relationship to the federal act is straightforward: the federal act protects the United States flag but carries no private right of action,⁸ while RCW 64.38.033 and RCW 64.90.510 are state statutes a state court can enforce, and WUCIOA adds both a flagpole-installation right and the Washington state flag. For a board or manager, the practical move is to classify the community by type and creation date, then apply RCW 64.38.033, WUCIOA RCW 64.90.510, or the federal floor, and to watch the January 1, 2028 transition.

2C. The governing framework and CC&Rs

Washington regulates community associations through several RCW chapters, and it is a UCIOA state. WUCIOA (RCW 64.90), enacted in 2018 and built on the 2008 UCIOA, governs communities created on or after July 1, 2018.⁵ The 2024 amendments (SB 5796, the "WUCIOA for all" legislation, which adopts elements of the 2021 UCIOA) extend WUCIOA to all community associations by January 1, 2028.³ Until then, older communities stay under the earlier statutes: RCW 64.38 for pre-2018 planned communities, RCW 64.34 for condominiums created 1990 through 2018, and RCW 64.32 for condominiums created before 1990.⁵ Corporate structure runs through the Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act (RCW 24.03A),¹⁰ and an association must record its governing documents to enforce them.

The recorded declaration and CC&Rs govern the flag questions the statutes do not reach — including military, POW/MIA, and other flags, along with the specifics inside the reasonable-rule allowance — subject to RCW 64.38.033 and WUCIOA RCW 64.90.510. The order of precedence runs like this: the federal act and the applicable Washington flag provision, then the recorded declaration and CC&Rs together with the applicable statute, then the bylaws, then the rules. On enforcement, Washington has no dedicated HOA regulator that adjudicates disputes, so the process starts in court. Trial-level disputes move through the Washington Superior Courts. Appeals go to the Washington Court of Appeals, which sits in three divisions (Division I in Seattle, Division II in Tacoma, and Division III in Spokane), and you should identify the right division for any cited ruling. The Washington Supreme Court sits at the top.⁶ For a property manager, the operational summary reads: identify the statute by community type and date, apply the recorded documents within the reasonable-rule limits, and expect a court, not an agency, to resolve any contested flag matter.

Section 3 — What a Washington association can and cannot do

A. Flags the association must permit

• State statute (pre-2018 HOA): outdoor display of the United States flag on the owner's or resident's property, consistent with the federal flag code, under RCW 64.38.033.¹
• State statute (post-2018 community under WUCIOA): display of, and installation of a flagpole for, the United States flag and the Washington state flag, on or within a unit or a limited common element, under RCW 64.90.510.²
• Federal (pre-2018 condominium): the United States flag on residential property within the member's separate ownership or exclusive-use area, under the federal floor at 4 U.S.C. § 5, together with the CC&Rs.⁴
• CC&R-based: no Washington statute compels the military, POW/MIA, first-responder, Blue and Gold Star service, or other flags; those rest on the CC&Rs.

B. Reasonable conditions the association may impose

• State statute (pre-2018 HOA): reasonable rules on the placement, manner, and size of the display, including the size of the flagpole, under RCW 64.38.033; a reasonable rule may require a shorter or wall-mounted pole.¹
• State statute (post-2018 community): reasonable rules on the location and size of the flagpole, and reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions on the display that protect a substantial interest, under RCW 64.90.510.²
• CC&R-based: conditions on other flags through the recorded CC&Rs.
• The limit across all of these holds: the association may not use a rule to prohibit the protected display or the flagpole installation.

C. Actions the association may not take

• State statute (pre-2018 HOA): prohibit outdoor display of the United States flag, under RCW 64.38.033.¹
• State statute (post-2018 community): prohibit display of the United States or Washington state flag, or prohibit installing a flagpole for those flags, under RCW 64.90.510.²
• State statute (both regimes): impose a rule that is not reasonable, or apply an otherwise valid rule through selective or pretextual enforcement.
• CC&R-based: the military, POW/MIA, and other flags stay under the CC&Rs, so an association may restrict those where the recorded documents allow.

D. Enforcement and dispute resolution

A state court enforces RCW 64.38.033 and WUCIOA RCW 64.90.510, unlike the federal act, which carries no private right of action.⁸ Washington has no HOA regulator that adjudicates disputes, so a flag dispute begins in the Superior Court, with appeal to the Washington Court of Appeals (the right division: I, II, or III) and then the Washington Supreme Court.⁶ The interplay with fining authority is direct: a fine that rests on a restriction RCW 64.38.033 or RCW 64.90.510 overrides cannot stand, because the underlying prohibition is void. Boards and managers should also track the January 1, 2028 transition, after which WUCIOA governs all communities and the RCW 64.90.510 standard applies across the board.³

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Washington's most consequential recent action on flags rides inside its broad community-association overhaul, and it took effect in 2024.

B. Recent rulings

No Washington court in the relevant window has decided a flag case, but one recent appellate decision on a sibling topic is worth flagging precisely so no one misreads it as flag law.

C. Active legislative debates

No pending Washington bill specific to community-association flag display surfaced as of the last verification date.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Washington sits among the more protective, comprehensive UCIOA states in the national spectrum of HOA flag-display law, and it runs a layered, transitioning framework: RCW 64.38.033 for pre-2018 HOAs, and WUCIOA RCW 64.90.510, which adds a flagpole-installation right and covers the Washington state flag, for post-2018 communities and, from January 1, 2028, for all communities. That puts Washington above the many states whose statutes protect only the United States flag, such as Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia (Va. Code § 55.1-1820),¹³ and alongside states that protect additional flags, such as Arizona and Florida. Florida's statute (Fla. Stat. § 720.304) names the U.S. flag, the official flag of the State of Florida, a flag of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Coast Guard, a POW-MIA flag, and a first responder flag, and it caps a freestanding flagpole at 20 feet ("Any homeowner may erect a freestanding flagpole no more than 20 feet high on any portion of the homeowner's real property, regardless of any covenants, restrictions, bylaws, rules, or requirements of the association").¹⁴ Arizona's statute (A.R.S. § 33-1808) names an even broader list — the American flag or a uniformed-services flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Arizona state flag, an Arizona Indian nations flag, the Gadsden flag, a first responder flag, a blue star or gold star service flag, and any historic version of the American flag — and it ties the flagpole cap to the home's roofline.¹⁵ For a multi-state operator, the practical takeaway holds: in Washington the applicable flag rule depends on the community's type and creation date; WUCIOA's flagpole-installation right and its coverage of the Washington state flag set the post-2018 regime apart; the framework consolidates under WUCIOA by January 1, 2028; and a civil dispute runs from the Superior Court through the Court of Appeals to the Washington Supreme Court. The federal United States-flag floor reads identical in every state, so the U.S.-flag baseline does not change at the Washington border.

HOA Weekly updates its Washington Flag Display coverage each quarter as the Washington State Legislature and the Washington Supreme Court act. Several federal frameworks — the flag act, plus the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — apply to Washington associations regardless of the state framework.

Footnotes

1. RCW 64.38.033, Flag of the United States — Outdoor display — Governing documents (Washington State Legislature) ↩
2. RCW 64.90.510, Regulatory authority — Limitations — Governing documents — Association may adopt certain rules; subsections (1)(a), (1)(b), (1)(c); session-law note [2024 c 321 s 322; 2018 c 277 s 323] (Washington State Legislature) ↩
3. Senate Bill Report, SB 5796 (2024): Applicability and Transition — the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, Washington Condominium Act, and Homeowners' Associations Act repealed effective January 1, 2028; WUCIOA applies to all common interest communities beginning January 1, 2028 (Washington State Legislature) ↩
4. 4 U.S.C. § 5, Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-243, July 24, 2006, 120 Stat. 572), statutory note under 4 U.S.C. § 5 (U.S. Code, uscode.house.gov) ↩
5. Chapter 64.90 RCW, Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (Washington State Legislature) ↩
6. Washington Courts, court structure: Superior Courts, Court of Appeals (Division I Seattle, Division II Tacoma, Division III Spokane), and the Washington Supreme Court (courts.wa.gov) ↩
7. 4 U.S.C. ch. 1 (§§ 1–10), The Flag / Federal Flag Code (U.S. Code, uscode.house.gov) ↩
8. Murphree v. The Tides Condominium at Sweetwater by Del Webb Master Homeowners' Ass'n, No. 3:13-cv-713-J-34MCR (M.D. Fla. Mar. 31, 2014) (cross-verification of holding that the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act provides no enforcement mechanism or private right of action) ↩
9. RCW 64.38.034, Political yard signs — Governing documents (Washington State Legislature) ↩
10. RCW 24.03A.005, Short title (Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act) (Washington State Legislature) ↩
11. SB 5796 (2023-24) bill summary and history: Governor signed March 28, 2024; Chapter 321, 2024 Laws; effective date June 6, 2024 (Washington State Legislature) ↩
12. Landesberg v. Fairway Village Homeowners Ass'n, 546 P.3d 502, Wash. Ct. App. Div. II, filed April 9, 2024 (political yard signs under RCW 64.38.034) (courts.wa.gov) ↩
13. Va. Code § 55.1-1820, Display of the flag of the United States; necessary supporting structures; affirmative defense (Virginia Code) ↩
14. Fla. Stat. § 720.304, Right of owners to peaceably assemble; display of flags; SLAPP suits prohibited (Florida Legislature, Online Sunshine) ↩
15. A.R.S. § 33-1808, Flag display; political signs; caution signs; for sale, rent, or lease signs; political and community activities; definitions (Arizona State Legislature) ↩