Lamorinda and the Danville–Blackhawk corridor have the most active architectural review of anywhere we design systems. That is not a complaint — those committees exist because people bought into these communities partly for how they look. But it does mean the first question we get here is almost never about kilowatts. It is: will the HOA let me?
The short answer is that in California an HOA cannot stop you. What it can do is have opinions about where the panels go, and the law puts firm limits on how expensive those opinions are allowed to be.
Everything below is sourced to the statute and to the towns’ own published processes, and dated. It is not legal advice. If your board digs in, a lawyer who works in common interest development law is worth an hour of your money.
Can an HOA in California legally stop you installing solar?
No. Under the Solar Rights Act, California Civil Code §714, any covenant, restriction or condition in your CC&Rs that prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a solar energy system is void and unenforceable.
That is the whole architecture of the thing: the prohibition is void by operation of law. Your board does not have to agree with it, vote on it, or amend the CC&Rs. A rule that bans solar is simply not a rule.
Civil Code §714.1 closes the obvious loopholes for common interest developments. An association may not:
- adopt a policy prohibiting a rooftop solar system for household use on the roof of the building the owner lives in, or on a garage or carport allocated to that owner; or
- require the installation to be approved by a vote of the membership.
Any action taken in violation of those provisions is void and unenforceable. So “we’ll put it to the members at the annual meeting” is not a lawful gate for a solar application on your own roof.
What §714 does allow is reasonable restrictions — ones that do not significantly increase cost or significantly decrease efficiency, or that allow for an alternative system of comparable cost, efficiency and energy conservation benefits. Which brings us to the number that actually decides most disputes.
What can an HOA actually restrict — and what can’t it?
The statute defines “significantly” in dollars and percentages, which is unusually helpful for a piece of California law. For photovoltaic systems, a restriction is unreasonable if it:
- increases the cost by more than $1,000 over the system cost as originally specified and proposed, or
- decreases system efficiency by more than 10 percent as originally specified and proposed.
(For solar water heating and pool heating systems the test is worded differently — an amount exceeding 10 percent of the cost of the system, but in no case more than $1,000, or an efficiency decrease exceeding 10 percent. Most of what we design here is PV, so the $1,000 / 10% pair is the one to hold on to.)
Two words in that PV test matter enormously: as originally specified and proposed. The baseline is your design, as submitted. It is not whatever the committee would have preferred. So when a board says “move the array to the north-facing plane,” the question is not whether that’s a nicer look. It is whether moving it costs you more than $1,000 or drops production by more than 10% against the design you filed. If it does, that restriction is not reasonable under §714.
Things an HOA can reasonably ask for:
- Panels in black-on-black frames rather than silver, where the cost difference is small
- Conduit run inside the attic or painted to match, rather than across a visible elevation
- Equipment (inverters, disconnects, a battery) sited out of view from the street
- Preference for a less visible roof plane, where production and cost are not significantly affected
- Under §714.1, approval of systems in genuine common areas, owner consent for anything mounted on someone else’s separate interest, provisions covering roof maintenance and replacement, and a requirement that the installer indemnify the association for damage
Things it can’t do:
- Prohibit the system
- Require a membership vote
- Push the array onto a plane that costs you over $1,000 or more than 10% of output
- Deny it by silence — see the next section
- Deny it verbally, or by never quite getting round to a decision
What does architectural review look like in Lamorinda and Danville?
The HOA process runs in parallel with the building permit, not before it. They are separate approvals from separate bodies, and confusing the two is the single most common reason a job in these towns runs long.
Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga. Permitting for these three runs through Contra Costa County’s SolarAPP+ portal, which the county lists as covering unincorporated Contra Costa plus Clayton, Hercules, Lafayette, Orinda and the Town of Moraga. SolarAPP+ issues a permit instantly for code-compliant residential rooftop retrofit systems. That is the fast half. The slow half is design, because Lamorinda has the heaviest tree cover of anywhere we work — panel placement, per-panel optimisers or micro-inverters, and sightlines all have to be settled before anything goes to a committee.
Danville. The Town of Danville runs its own SolarApp+ submittal route through the Building Division. Danville’s housing stock skews to large lots, large roofs and tile rather than composition shingle. Tile needs different mounting hardware and a slower, more careful install — it is not a job to rush, and it changes both the drawings and the price.
Blackhawk. Blackhawk is an unincorporated community, so the building permit goes through Contra Costa County, not the Town of Danville. The Blackhawk Homeowners Association’s Architectural Review Committee meets twice monthly, and its own application materials say visible exterior changes — solar explicitly among them — need signed approval before work begins. Two meetings a month is a real constraint on scheduling, and it is the reason we file Blackhawk applications early rather than in parallel with everything else.
Across all of these, statewide SB 379 requires non-exempt California jurisdictions to offer online instant permitting for residential solar and storage up to 38.4 kW AC. Cities over 50,000 people had to comply by 30 September 2023 and smaller ones by 30 September 2024, with the smallest exempt. Nearly every residential system we design sits well inside that ceiling.
How long does approval add to the timeline?
The number that protects you is 45 days.
Under §714, if the association does not deny your application in writing within 45 days of receiving it, the application is deemed approved. The one exception is where the delay results from a reasonable request for additional information. Approval or denial has to be in writing.
Practical consequences:
1. Submit in writing and get proof of receipt. Email with a read receipt, or a portal timestamp. The 45 days runs from receipt, so receipt is the fact you need to be able to prove.
2. Answer information requests fast. A genuine request for more detail can pause the clock. A vague “we need more information” is worth pinning down in writing — ask exactly what is missing.
3. A verbal no is not a denial. Neither is silence. If day 46 arrives with nothing in writing, say so, politely, in writing.
4. Watch the meeting calendar. Blackhawk’s committee sits twice a month. A committee that meets monthly can eat most of the 45 days before it has read anything, which is exactly why the clock exists.
In practice, on a well-prepared application with clean drawings, architectural review in these communities adds a few weeks rather than months. Where jobs go badly is when the design changes after submission and the process restarts.
What do we submit on your behalf?
We design the system and project-manage the job; licensed contractor partners carry out the physical installation. The paperwork is ours.
For an HOA application in Lamorinda, Danville or Blackhawk we prepare and file:
- The site plan and roof layout showing exact panel placement per plane
- Elevation drawings and sightline notes — what is visible from the street and from neighbouring properties
- Equipment specifications, including frame and module colour, and where inverters, disconnects and any battery will be mounted
- Conduit routing, with concealed runs where they are achievable
- A shading and production analysis, which is what turns “we’d prefer the back roof” into a checkable question about the 10% efficiency test
- The contractor’s licence and insurance certificates for the association’s file
- Written responses to any committee conditions, tracked against the 45-day clock
If a committee proposes a change, we cost it and model it, and we tell you plainly whether it lands inside or outside the $1,000 / 10% thresholds. Sometimes the answer is that the committee’s preference is fine and barely affects anything — and if that’s the case, we say so rather than manufacture a fight.
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Thinking about it, and not sure where your HOA stands?
Send us your CC&Rs and a photo of your roof. We will tell you what we expect the committee to ask for before you have committed to anything.
Book a free consultation — no pressure, and no obligation to go ahead. You can also run your own numbers first in our savings calculator, or read how we approach residential design.
Civil Code §714 and §714.1, and the town and county permitting routes described above, verified 30 August 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.