Guides · Florida · solar

Can a Florida HOA stop you installing solar?

Short answer: no. Florida law prohibits it outright. What your association can do is narrow, and worth knowing before you submit an application.

What the statute says

Fla. Stat. § 163.04

Florida law (§ 163.04) says your HOA cannot prohibit solar collectors — not in the declaration, not by board rule.

No deed restriction, covenant, or declaration may prohibit solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources.

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Fla. Stat. § 163.04(2)

Your HOA can only ask you to move panels within 45 degrees of due south, and only if it doesn't hurt how well they work (§ 163.04(2)).

An association may determine the specific roof location for solar collectors only within an orientation to the south or within 45 degrees east or west of due south, and only if that determination does not impair effective operation.

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Fla. Stat. § 163.04(3)

If an HOA fights a solar installation and loses, it can be ordered to pay the homeowner's attorney's fees (§ 163.04(3)).

The prevailing party in litigation under this section is entitled to costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

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Fla. Stat. § 720.3035

In Florida, your HOA's architectural committee can only enforce what's actually written in the declaration or the published guidelines (§ 720.3035). Florida law does not set a response deadline — that comes from your community's own documents.

Architectural review authority exists only to the extent it is stated, or reasonably inferred, in the declaration or published guidelines. There is NO statutory response deadline and NO statutory deemed approval in Chapter 720 — any clock comes from the declaration.

Read the statute

What your HOA can still do

An association may decide where on the roof panels go — but only within an orientation to the south, or within 45 degrees east or west of due south, and only if that placement doesn't impair how well the system works. In practice that rules out most "move them round the back" requests, because the back of the house frequently faces north.

It can also apply ordinary architectural process: an application form, a plan set, proof of a licensed contractor. Those are reasonable, and supplying them well is most of what gets an application through quickly.

What about a response deadline?

Here Florida differs from California, and a lot of internet advice gets it wrong. Florida Statute § 720.3035 sets no statutory response deadline and creates no automatic approval for architectural review. The widely repeated "30-day rule" is not in the statute. Any deadline that applies to you comes from your own declaration — so the first thing to do is read it, or have someone read it for you.

California is the opposite: under Civil Code § 714 an association that doesn't deny a solar application in writing within 45 days has approved it by operation of law. Read the California guide.

If your HOA denies a solar application

Get the denial in writing, with the specific provision it relies on.
Check whether that provision is one § 163.04 makes unenforceable. Frequently it is.
Reply in writing, courteously, citing the statute, and offer any accommodation that doesn't impair the system.
If it stays denied, talk to an attorney. Florida's statute shifts attorney's fees to the prevailing party, which changes the arithmetic considerably.

wHOA handles this for you. We prepare the application, submit it the way your association accepts submissions, track the deadline that applies, and follow up until there's a decision. Free if your contractor works with us. Request a free pre-check or see how it works for contractors.

This is general information about the law in your state, not legal advice about your situation. Talk to an attorney before relying on it.

Statutes reviewed September 2026. Laws change; verify before relying on this.