REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS
As stated, community association boards may impose “reasonable re- strictions” on the installation or use of solar energy systems.
Reasonable restrictions include those that: (i) limit the installation of so- lar energy systems in common areas (discussed below) to those systems that are approved by a community as- sociation’s board; (ii) require separate interest owners to obtain board ap- proval before installing such a system on another owner’s separate interest; (iii) provide for the maintenance, re- pair, or replacement of roofs or other building components; or (iv) require installers of such systems to indem- nify or reimburse the association for any loss or damage caused by the in- stallation, maintenance, or use of the system.
COMMON AREA INSTALLATIONS
Community association boards may restrict the installation of solar energy systems in the association’s common area, but as of January 1, 2018, they may no longer establish a general poli- cy prohibiting the installation of solar energy systems on the roof of build- ings where owners reside, or on the roof of adjacent garages or carports that have been assigned for owners’ exclusive use.
In addition, boards may no longer re- quire that these types of installation be first put up to a vote of the asso- ciation’s owners as a grant of exclusive use of the association’s common area, which was previously required by stat- ute and frequently in association gov- erning documents.
Despite these changes, as referenced above, boards may still impose “rea- sonable restrictions” on the installa- tion and use of solar energy systems in the association’s common area.
When a community association board reviews an owner’s application to in- stall a solar energy system on a mul- tifamily common area roof that is shared by more than one owner, it must require the applicant to notify each owner of a unit in the building where the system will be located of the submitted application. In addition, the applicant and each future owner of the applicant’s unit must main- tain a homeowner’s liability insurance policy and provide the association with a certificate of insurance within fourteen (14) days of approval of the application, and annually afterwards. Although the statute (California Civil Code § 4746) does not expressly say so, it is likely that boards can condition their approval on owners continuing to comply with this insurance require- ment, and revoke their approval after- wards if owners fail to comply with it.
Boards may also impose additional restrictions on such systems, includ- ing requiring the applicant to submit a “solar site survey” that includes a determination of the “equitable allo- cation of the usable solar roof area” among the owners sharing the same roof, garage, or carport.
(How, exactly, this type of solar site survey is supposed to be performed, when being done for the roof of a building where many owners reside, is a question that was left open by the Legislature.)
Boards may also require owners wish- ing to install such systems in an as- sociation’s common area to agree to be responsible (which is usually ac- complished through a recorded main- tenance covenant “running with the land”) for the cost of any damage caused by the installation, mainte- nance, repair, removal or replacement of the system to the common area or any other owner’s separate interest; the cost of maintaining, repairing and replacing the system until it has been
removed; the cost of restoring the as- sociation’s common area and the own- er’s separate interest after the system is removed; and disclosing the existence of the system (and the responsibilities that are associated with it) to any pro- spective purchaser of the owner’s unit.
Furthermore, if at any time a com- munity association needs to maintain, repair, or replace the roof, the owner of the solar energy system should be responsible for removing the system, storing it, and replacing it when the association has completed its common area work—all without damaging the new or repaired roof.
NEW 2020 REQUIREMENT SYSTEMS
Since 2008, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has had in place what’s known as the “California Long Term Energy Ef- ficiency Strategic Plan.” The Strate- gic Plan establishes a blueprint for energy efficiency in California, and specifies long-term energy efficiency targets, as well as short-term, mid- term and long-term ways for reach- ing those targets. Among the Stra- tegic Plan’s current targets is for all new residential construction in Cali- fornia to be “zero net energy use” by 2020. (At least, that has been the goal.)
To help meet this and other targets, the California Energy Commission publishes a set of Building Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential and Nonresidential Buildings (also known as the “Energy Code”), and updates these standards every three (3) years. The Energy Code contains energy efficiency requirements for new buildings, and for additions to, and alterations of, existing buildings. Te current version of the Energy Code is the 2019 Energy Code, which con- tains the new requirement, beginning
17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
