Washington HOA Drought-Resistant Landscaping Protection

RCW 64.38.057, part of the Homeowners' Association Act, applies to planned-community associations formed before July 1, 2018 that have not opted into the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA). It does not reach condominiums or communities formed on or after that date; those fall under the nearly identical WUCIOA provision, RCW 64.90.512, which by its own text (RCW 64.90.512(1)(b)) does not apply to condominium associations either. Because RCW 64.90.512 was left off the RCW 64.90.365(1) list of sections that bind pre-2018 communities, ch. 64.38 keeps governing those older HOAs until the whole chapter is repealed January 1, 2028 under 2024 c 321.

Subsection (1) bars governing documents from prohibiting drought resistant landscaping, pollinator habitat (including beehives that comply with local regulation), or wildfire ignition resistant landscaping outright; the association's authority is narrowed to "reasonable rules regarding the placement and aesthetic appearance" of the plantings, and those rules cannot make the landscaping unreasonably costly or effectively infeasible. Subsection (2) adds a drought-specific protection: while a property sits inside a Department of Ecology drought condition order issued under RCW 43.83B.405, the association cannot sanction, fine, or assess an owner or resident for cutting back or stopping the watering of vegetation or lawns for as long as the order runs. Subsection (3) confirms nothing in the section blocks a homeowner from clearing a fire buffer inside the "building ignition zone," defined in subsection (4)(a) as the building plus up to 200 feet of surrounding land. Subsection (4) also defines "drought resistant landscaping" to cover noninvasive arid-adapted plants as well as stone and landscaping rock, so xeriscaping with gravel qualifies, not just plant substitutions. The section was added by 2020 c 9 (sections 2 and 4) and amended by 2024 c 337 (sections 4 and 5); 2020's legislative findings noted association rules "can prohibit private property owners from deciding to use low-water plants or other low-water landscaping practices in place of grass lawns," which the bill was written to stop.

An association that adopts a rule flatly banning drought resistant landscaping, pollinator habitat, or wildfire ignition resistant landscaping, or that sets placement and aesthetic conditions so strict they make the landscaping unreasonably costly or effectively infeasible, has adopted a rule the statute makes unenforceable. Fining or assessing a resident for cutting lawn watering during an active Department of Ecology drought order under RCW 43.83B.405 is likewise barred. RCW 64.38 gives an owner grounds to challenge such rules and fines as void; it sets no separate administrative penalty schedule.