Home Owners Associations already block solar, unfortunately I give this a 0% chance of getting approved in any neighborhood that has one :(
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Don't shoot the messenger. I don't agree with it either.
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Don't shoot the messenger. I don't agree with it either.
“Forced” in the sense that they voluntarily enter them by buying a house in an HOA.
Each HOA (or lack thereof) is a property of the house you are looking to buy. Complaining about being forced to take the HOA is like complaining about being forced to be a part of the county.
No, it's like complaining that the lawn has been saturated with salt so that it can never grow properly, and a previous owner somehow managed to legally enshrine that so that you can't fix it.
They’re not - they’re free to buy a house without an HOA
If enough of us do this, the price of HOA properties will drop due to decreased demand and people will more broadly recognize HOAs as the liability they are.
Nobody wants to live under the thumb of an HOA.
Without the HOA busy-bodies, suburban neighborhoods tend to turn into the kind of place most people would not aspire to live.
Often, HOAs are annoying. More often it's like teenagers who hate it when mom makes them clean their rooms.
From my perspective, the HOA has done little except offer a pool, and insist once that I remove an almost completely invisible stump in my front lawn that was over my water line.
Annoying things my HOA does: I had to replace some plants in my yard because they were not technically shrubs, and the rules said I had to have shrubs.
But I’ve also seen that in some areas all you have is HOAs because nothing was developed before those communities and whatever is outside can be pretty crappy.
The whole goal of smaller and more localized governing bodies is that you have easier access to change them. The only thing stopping you is getting the support of your neighbors.
Just because there are elections doesn't make it a fair system.
I have an HOA in my neighborhood for example. It has no power to levy fines at all.
More specifically, it's run by people who live in the area they are governing and have nothing else to do with their time.
Not sure what can be done about this; it's a general failure mode of democratic systems at every level (and many non-democratic as well): over time, the power goes to those who prioritize getting the power. I.e. career politicians.
(Yes, I'd classify the few people who show up at our HOA-equivalent meetings as career politicians, and the small group of troublemakers in my block of flats as the opposition :).)
> Americans love freedom and small government so much, they have to invent a worse and more invasive replacement.
The same group of Americans, too. HOAs were like a GPL for racists.
If you have an overriding right to a ham antenna, you can threaten to put one up if they don't back down over something else. (To be clear, this would be a good thing.) If you already have one, you could threaten to expand it.
And there are laws being passed across the country making solar access a legal right for all home owners.
Plus, I doubt these would work on typical suburban houses, given their roof pitch. Houses would need to be designed with flat roofs in mind in order to accommodate these things. Thus, you're looking at this being applied to new construction in most of the USA.
on what grounds?
again, I think the whole notion is silly and counterproductive, just reporting on reality.
Basically:
If the buildings are condos or townhomes, then the building is owned by the HOA. In a condo, the homeowner owns from the paint inwards. In a townhouse, the HOA owns the structural elements, but in short, the homeowner owns the sheetrock and paint on "their" side of the walls. Exterior walls and roofs are owned by the HOA.
If the buildings are detached single family houses, then the building is owned by the homeowner.
OP is right, HOAs can be a nightmare for someone wanting to install solar. I’m dealing with this in one of my units currently.