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Solar Roof - Texas - HOA declined

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I live in Texas.. My HOA told me there isn't jack that can be done to stop a home owner from installing a solar system. Legally they have to allow it..

The only thing my HOA said I can't do is a ground system, or have the panels extend above the roofline..
Our HOA allows ground-based systems as long as the panels do not extend above the fence height. I tried to convince my wife to let me extend our solar by adding a bank of ground mounted panels but she rejected the idea on aesthetic grounds. Something about enjoying her view of the back yard or something...
 
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Our roofing company's legal counsel sent the HOA a letter stating that the CCR's (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) don't define the weathered wood look shingle and the Telsa actually meets this definition as defined by GAF and the nation's number one shingle. Also, the Tesla color matches 2 of the colors available on this shingle. I am happy to share the letter with anyone interested. Waiting on response from roofing company counsel and what the next steps could be. At this point, it is becoming a matter of principle.
 
Our roofing company's legal counsel sent the HOA a letter stating that the CCR's (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) don't define the weathered wood look shingle and the Telsa actually meets this definition as defined by GAF and the nation's number one shingle. Also, the Tesla color matches 2 of the colors available on this shingle. I am happy to share the letter with anyone interested. Waiting on response from roofing company counsel and what the next steps could be. At this point, it is becoming a matter of principle.

Boy can I relate. I have lived in a community for 31 years with a HOA where the place loves to invent, interpret rules against me. Cannot believe the number of times I have had to "fight" them and won. Latest is they did not like my 10 foot nutcrackers, so they worked on a rule that would outlaw them. I guess when they found out I have walked the community getting signatures to force the board to put the rule to a binding vote of the membership, they suddenly decided to table the rule passage for now. Still have my signatures ready to go. So yep, the principal of my nutcrackers are more important than them. :) Go get them.
 
Boy can I relate. I have lived in a community for 31 years with a HOA where the place loves to invent, interpret rules against me. Cannot believe the number of times I have had to "fight" them and won. Latest is they did not like my 10 foot nutcrackers, so they worked on a rule that would outlaw them. I guess when they found out I have walked the community getting signatures to force the board to put the rule to a binding vote of the membership, they suddenly decided to table the rule passage for now. Still have my signatures ready to go. So yep, the principal of my nutcrackers are more important than them. :) Go get them.
Ten foot tall nutcrackers sound either awesome or terrifying. I'm going to hold off on judgment since I'm not part of the HOA. ;)
 
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You may want to check with the TX state rules & regs regarding HOA restrictions on solar. In Florida, they can't restrict them, for example.

Maryland has a similar law preventing unreasonable restrictions. Our solar installer (not Tesla) even had a letter from the state attorney summarizing the law and stating it was their responsibility to enforce state law. The HOA moved quickly after I forwarded that. It wasn’t going to be me vs the HOA. It was going to be the State vs the HOA.
 
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I also got my solar roof application denied because "Black color roofing regardless of the material is not an acceptable color to keep the Mediterranean look and harmony of the neighborhood".
I'm building a new house in a community that consists of clay, tiles roof.
I'm contacting some attorney to get me on a solid legal ground before I fight this with the HOA.

Anyone has any input, I'd love to hear.
 
Well...the Spanish clay look solar tile has been "in development" for years.
I would say you are out of luck for any immediate and not so immediate future for that solar roof design.
Nothing else even close out there from any other company.

Panels or nothing....
Does your HOA even allow panels?
 
Well...the Spanish clay look solar tile has been "in development" for years.
I would say you are out of luck for any immediate and not so immediate future for that solar roof design.
Nothing else even close out there from any other company.

Panels or nothing....
Does your HOA even allow panels?
Yes, we have several houses with solar panels here. In Texas, HOA cant deny solar and they denied mine for the color which is strange.
 
May be worth a call to the states attorneys office to learn what state law is and whether they will defend it. Completely different equation if the HOA is paying legal fees to fight the state attorney compared to just having to wear you down…
 
Hi All,

HOA declined our solar roof last week and I was wondering if anyone had any experience around this? Not sure if it's worth appealing or just cancelling the order. The reason given was that the roof has to be "weathered wood" asphalt even though there's a clause for solar shingles and plenty of houses have solar panels. For reference, this is all I see regarding solar shingles in the HOA bylaws:
  1. Solar shingles. Any solar shingles must:
a. Be designed primarily to:​


i. be wind and hail resistant;​
ii. provide heating/cooling efficiencies greater than those provided by customary composite shingles; or​
iii. provide solar generation capabilities; and​



b. When installed:​
i. resemble the shingles used or otherwise authorized for use on property in the subdivision;​
ii. be more durable than and are of equal or superior quality to the shingles used or otherwise authorized for use on property in the subdivision;​
iii. match the aesthetics of the property surrounding the Owner’s property.​


I'm assuming that the b, i and b, iii are what they're going off of but I guess I figured if solar panels were ok that a solar roof would be too. Any advice or previous experience would be greatly appreciated! TIA!
May be worth a call to the states attorneys office to learn what state law is and whether they will defend it. Completely different equation if the HOA is paying legal fees to fight the state attorney compared to just having to wear you down…
I was the president of a small HOA outside Austin for over 10 years and a few years back legislation was passed that specifically prohibits HOA's from invoking any measures that limit solar power, and pretty much gutted many of our covenants. Have you consulted an attorney?
 
The lovely part of this is that it’s the state attorneys responsibility to prosecute violators of state law. You don’t have to spend money on an attorney. The SA office here provided a form letter essentially saying this after which my HOA had no further objections.
 
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The lovely part of this is that it’s the state attorneys responsibility to prosecute violators of state law. You don’t have to spend money on an attorney. The SA office here provided a form letter essentially saying this after which my HOA had no further objections.
That is good to know. Our executive committee had liability insurance for the officers which included a bit of free attorney time, so we asked him to give us a brief on our CCR's and he came back with a few thing we could no longer prohibit. The primary three were zeroscaping, propane tanks in the yard, and solar panels on the roof. So we modified our rules to avoid any future liability and/or fines for which the HOA could be held liable.
 
I wonder how that applies to the solar roof. They probably can't reject the active portions of the solar roof, as those are "solar panels" but can they reject the inactive portions of the system, since that is "just" roofing and not solar panels?
Depends on the roof. For the Tesla Solarroof, the IRS added a clause saying that non-active components required for the Solarroof system could be included in the cost since the non-active components were required for an installation. So if any HOA has issues with the solar roof non-active parts they can take it up with the IRS.
 
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