HB 389: Property; prohibit homeowners' associations from preventing property owners from installing solar energy devices; provisions

Currently, Georgia condominium and homeowners' association rules can block a property owner from installing solar panels, especially when the panels sit on a roof the association is responsible for maintaining. This bill amends Title 44 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated to add new sections covering condominiums, property owners' associations, and neighborhood covenants, all of which say an association cannot prohibit or restrict an owner from installing, maintaining, or using a solar energy device on their roof, even if that roof counts as a shared or common element the association normally maintains. The bill defines a solar energy device broadly, covering equipment for water heating, space heating or cooling, and generating power from sunlight. Associations generally cannot charge a permit fee for installing one. But if the shared roof later needs repair or maintenance, the owner who installed the solar device must pay to remove and reinstall it. These rules would apply to association documents, covenants, and rules created or renewed on or after January 1, 2026.

• Bars condominium associations, property owners' associations, and homeowners' associations from prohibiting or restricting owners from installing solar energy devices on their roofs.
• Voids any existing or future association rule, covenant, or governing document provision that conflicts with this protection.
• Bans associations from charging a permit fee or other fee for installing, maintaining, or using a solar energy device, with one exception.
• Requires the owner who installed a solar device to pay for its removal and reinstallation if the shared roof needs maintenance later.
• Adds a broad legal definition of 'solar energy device' to three separate parts of Georgia property law covering condos, subdivisions, and neighborhood covenants.
• Limits the new rules to instruments, covenants, and association rules created, renewed, or adopted on or after January 1, 2026.

Homeowners and condominium unit owners who want to install solar panels, especially those living under a condominium association, a property owners' association, or a neighborhood covenant; and the associations themselves, which lose some authority to restrict or charge fees for solar installations on shared roofs.

Owners who want solar panels but live under an association with restrictive rules would gain a legal right to install them without needing permission or paying a permit fee, though they would bear the cost if a shared roof needs future repair work because of the panels.

• Section 1 adds a definition of 'solar energy device' to the condominium law's definitions section (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-71).
• Section 2 creates new Code Section 44-3-118, barring condo associations from blocking solar installations on unit roofs and voiding conflicting rules.
• Section 2 also lets associations skip fees for solar installation except for removal and reinstallation costs owners must bear during roof maintenance.
• Section 3 adds the same solar energy device definition to the property owners' association law (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-221).
• Section 4 creates new Code Section 44-3-233.1, applying the same solar protections to lot owners under property owners' associations.
• Section 5 creates new Code Section 44-5-60.1, extending the same protections to homeowners under neighborhood covenants running with the land.
• All three new Code sections apply only to instruments, renewals, or association rules dated January 1, 2026 or later.

1. 2025-02-21House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-13House Second Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-12House First Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-11House Hopper (House)

• Eric Bell (D, HD-075)Primary sponsor
• Betsy Holland (D, HD-054)
• Dexter Sharper (D, HD-177)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)
• Ruwa Romman (D, HD-097)

• solar energy
• homeowners associations
• property law
• condominium rules
• renewable energy