Virginia HOA Solar Panels: Allowed Unless the Recorded Declaration Bans Them (Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1)

The first thing to check in Virginia is not the association's architectural guidelines but the recorded declaration. Section 55.1-1820.1 B of the Property Owners' Association Act states the prohibition and its exception in the same sentence: 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. That is the weak form of a solar-access law. It reverses the default for communities whose documents are silent, which is most of them, but it does nothing for an owner whose declaration already forbids rooftop panels. Virginia did not void existing anti-solar covenants; it required them to be written down in the declaration itself, not merely adopted as a board rule.

Because the recorded document is decisive, the statute forces disclosure at the point of sale. Subsection B requires that any resale certificate issued under § 55.1-2309 contain a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation or prohibition on the owner's right to install or use solar energy collection devices on the property. A Virginia buyer who intends to go solar should read that line of the resale packet before the contingency period closes, because after closing the declaration governs.

The definition in subsection A is narrow and worth quoting when arguing with a board. A "solar energy collection device" is 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. Passive solar building components and solar thermal panels are inside the definition alongside photovoltaic modules. The word "sole" keeps other equipment out: a device sold for a mixed purpose does not qualify, which is why this section cannot be stretched to cover clotheslines, awnings or a solar-assisted attic fan sold as ventilation.

Where the declaration is silent, the association is left with the power to impose reasonable restrictions on the size, place and manner of placement of the device on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use. Note the omission: unlike the flag statute at § 55.1-1820, this section does not give the association a duration restriction, and unlike subsection D it does not give it a number restriction on an owner's own property. Number restrictions appear only for the common elements.

Subsection C is the operative test and the reason the statute has bite. A restriction is deemed not reasonable if applying it to a particular proposal either 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. The benchmark is the owner's own initial proposal, so the sequence matters: submit a designed system with a cost and a production estimate first, then measure the board's counterproposal against it. The burden of proof is on the owner. Subsection C requires the owner to provide documentation, satisfactory to the association, prepared by an independent solar panel design specialist who is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and licensed in Virginia. Virginia is one of the few states that names a specific credential, NABCEP, in its solar covenant statute, and an owner who skips that documentation has not triggered the test.

Common ground is treated differently and more harshly. Subsection D lets the association prohibit or restrict solar devices on the common elements or common area outright, and where it merely restricts rather than prohibits, it may set reasonable restrictions on the number, size, place and manner of placement or installation. A condominium unit owner whose roof is a common element rather than part of the unit is therefore in subsection D territory, not subsection B territory, and the five percent and 10 percent tests do not rescue an installation the association is entitled to bar entirely.

Condominium owners should cite § 55.1-1951.1, the Condominium Act twin, which uses the same definition, the same declaration exception, the same five percent and 10 percent thresholds and the same NABCEP documentation requirement, substituting "unit owners' association" and the condominium instruments throughout.

The provision has an unusual lineage. It was enacted in 2006 (c. 939) in Title 67, the Virginia Energy Plan, as §§ 67-700 and 67-701, amended in 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2014, substantially rewritten by 2020, cc. 272 and 795, moved into Title 55.1 by the recodification, and amended again by 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387 and by 2023, cc. 387 and 388. Older citations to Va. Code § 67-701 are dead numbering and will not resolve on the Virginia Law site.

There is no permit, no state agency and no administrative penalty attached to this section. It is enforced entirely between the owner and the association. If the board denies or conditions an installation, the owner's move is to serve the documentation subsection C requires: a cost and production analysis prepared by an independent, NABCEP-certified, Virginia-licensed solar design specialist showing that the board's restriction adds more than five percent to installation cost or takes more than 10 percent off projected production. 1 B permits. 1-1815, a reasonable opportunity to correct, then a hearing before the board with the right to counsel on at least 14 days' notice by hand delivery or registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, with the result delivered the same way within seven days.

Charges cannot exceed $50 for a single offense or $10 per day for a continuing offense, and no continuing offense may be charged beyond 90 days. 1-1833. 1-1819 A requires the court to award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. 1-2309 resale certificate disclosure requirement to point at.