Montana Has No Solar Access Law for HOAs; Only a Voluntary Recorded Easement (§ 70-17-301)

Montana's solar law sits in Title 70, chapter 17, part 3, and it is two working sections long. Section 70-17-301 and section 70-17-302 were both enacted by Chapter 524, Laws of 1979. Section 70-17-303 is repealed. Part 3 is titled "Solar Easements," and that title is the whole story: the legislature created a conveyancing mechanism, not a right.

Section 70-17-301 reads in full: "An easement obtained for the purpose of exposure of a solar energy device must be created in writing and is subject to the same conveyancing and instrument recording requirements as other easements on real property." Two practical consequences follow. First, an oral or handshake agreement with a neighbor about not planting a row of spruce along your south line is worth nothing under this section. Second, because the instrument is subject to the ordinary recording requirements, an unrecorded solar easement will not reliably bind the next purchaser of the burdened lot. Record it with the clerk and recorder in the county where the burdened land lies, the same way you would record any other easement.

Section 70-17-302 tells you what the document must contain. The instrument "must specify at least: (1) the vertical and horizontal angles, expressed in degrees, at which the solar easement extends over the real property subject to the solar easement; and (2) any terms or conditions under which the solar easement is granted or will be terminated." That is a real drafting burden. A Montana solar easement is not a sentence saying "neighbor will not block my panels." It needs sun-path geometry, which usually means a solar site survey giving azimuth and altitude angles for the protected window, and it needs an express statement of any conditions and any termination trigger. An easement missing the degree figures does not meet the statutory minimum.

Nothing in Montana law limits what a homeowners' association may say about solar. Title 70, chapter 17 contains part 1 on servitudes and easements, part 2 on covenants running with the land, part 3 on solar easements, part 4 on wind energy easements, and part 9 on homeowners' association restrictions. Part 9 holds a single section, 70-17-901, and it never mentions solar collectors, photovoltaic panels, solar water heating, or roof-mounted equipment of any kind. Section 70-17-901 works on "types of use," which subsection (6)(e) defines as use for residential, agricultural, or commercial purposes, the ability to rent the property for any amount of time, and the ability to otherwise develop the property in accordance with applicable law. It is a use-and-development provision, not an architectural or equipment provision, and Montana has enacted nothing that tells an architectural committee it must approve a solar array or must answer within a set number of days.

The one Montana angle worth testing is timing. Section 70-17-901(1)(a) prevents an association from entering into, amending, or enforcing a covenant that imposes more onerous restrictions on the types of use of a member's property than existed when that member acquired their interest, unless the member expressly agreed in writing at adoption. An owner whose subdivision had no solar restriction on the day they took title, and whose association later voted one in, has an argument under that section. An owner buying into a subdivision whose recorded declaration already bans roof-mounted equipment has none, because subsection (4) preserves restrictions that applied at the time of acquisition.

Montana also blocks the local-government route in both directions. Section 7-1-111(30) denies a Montana local government "any power to require that buildings be constructed to have solar panels or wiring, batteries, or other equipment for solar panels or electric vehicles." So there is no Montana city or county solar-ready building mandate, and no municipal solar-access ordinance sitting above your covenants either. Separately, Montana's net metering provisions in Title 69, chapter 8 govern your relationship with the utility once the array is installed; they say nothing about covenants and cannot be used against an association.

There is no Montana agency that reviews an association's denial of a solar application. The Public Service Commission regulates utilities, not covenants, and Montana has no HOA regulator. Disputes go to the district court in the county where the property lies.

If an association denies your panels, your options in Montana are contractual and narrow. Section 70-17-210(1) identifies who may start a covenant enforcement action: a party to the agreement containing the covenant or that party's successors in interest, the owner of a burdened or benefited interest, and the association or governing body. That standing runs both ways, so an owner may seek a declaration that a covenant does not reach solar equipment, or that the association applied it inconsistently. Section 70-17-210(2) supplies an abandonment defense where no enforcement action was taken for the period in 27-2-202, and 70-17-210(4) defines an enforcement action as one applied "equally and consistently" to all burdened properties over at least a 2-year period. If other roofs in the subdivision already carry arrays or satellite dishes approved under the same architectural clause, document that. Section 70-17-210(3)(a) bars enforcement altogether by an association that has not met for 15 years where your use is substantially similar to other properties, subject to the (3)(b) carve-outs.

A solar easement dispute is a straight easement action. Because 70-17-301 subjects the instrument to ordinary conveyancing and recording rules, the first question in court is whether the easement was recorded before the burdened lot changed hands, and the second is whether it satisfies 70-17-302 by stating the vertical and horizontal angles in degrees and the terms of grant or termination. A vague easement is the common failure point, not a hostile neighbor. Get the angles surveyed before signing, and record the instrument the same day it is executed.