Final week, the Supreme Courtroom of North Carolina issued an order in a case between a Wake County house owner and their house owner’s affiliation (HOA) affirming state regulation that protects owners’ proper to put in rooftop {solar}. The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Affiliation, represented by the Southern Environmental Regulation Middle, submitted a friend-of-the-court temporary on behalf of the owners, as did the North Carolina Lawyer Normal.
The North Carolina Supreme Courtroom reversed a Courtroom of Appeals resolution in Belmont Affiliation v. Thomas Farwig, and upheld the suitable of a home-owner to put in rooftop {solar} {that a} HOA prohibited, fined, and put a lien on the house owner’s house for putting in. The court docket held that HOA provisions granting broad discretionary authority to architectural evaluate committees can’t be used to ban {solar} panels. The court docket additionally affirmed that the HOA’s architectural evaluate committee couldn’t restrict the situation of {solar} panels to the again of the house when that may stop the cheap use of the {solar} panels attributable to roof orientation.
“The ruling issued by the North Carolina Supreme Courtroom is a big achievement for house owner property rights in North Carolina, affirming entry to scrub, renewable energy for these beforehand denied by their HOAs,” stated Peter Ledford, NCSEA’s Normal Counsel and Director of Coverage. “This resolution will scale back a big barrier to the residential {solar} market in North Carolina, supporting jobs within the rooftop {solar} business, and serving to owners decrease their utility payments and clear up the grid.”
The ruling frees up tens of millions of North Carolina properties situated in HOA communities to go {solar}. Blue Raven {Solar}, the {solar} set up firm that put in the system at challenge within the Raleigh neighborhood, stated it couldn’t be happier with the Courtroom’s resolution.
“North Carolina’s owners deserve each proper to go {solar} and scale back their utility payments by way of energy independence,” stated Ben Peterson, Blue Raven CEO. “We’re excited in regards to the state’s future with {solar} energy and the liberty that this resolution brings.”
The HOA had argued that the discretionary denial by its architectural evaluate committee of our buyer’s rooftop {solar}, citing aesthetic issues, was permitted beneath the state’s {solar} entry regulation despite the fact that the shopper and different members of this HOA had no discover of prohibitions or restrictions on rooftop {solar}.
The ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Courtroom holds that the state’s {solar} entry regulation ensures the use and pleasure of rooftop {solar} aside from slender statutorily-prescribed areas, e.g., roof slopes going through a typical space, which might be set forth in writing and recorded in opposition to the property. The Courtroom additionally acknowledged that an HOA requirement that {solar} to be put in on north-facing roof slopes relatively than south-facing slopes quantities to a prohibition of {solar} relatively than only a restriction on panel placement due to the fabric affect {solar} panel orientation has on energy manufacturing and price of {solar}.
Information merchandise from North Carolina Sustainable Energy Affiliation and Blue Raven {Solar}