Common Rules & Restrictions

The order that actually controls a dispute

Most of what is in this course lives in one place: your association's Declaration (CC&Rs), then Bylaws, then Rules and Regulations, in that order of authority. A board's power to make a rule is delegated by the Declaration, and it does not run any further than the Declaration allows.

Four things can sit above the governing documents. A narrow set of federal statutes protects specific things, a satellite dish, the U.S. flag, an assistance animal, familial status, and preempts a conflicting rule on that one topic and nothing else. State statutes and state constitutions vary enormously, and a few override the declaration on a single point. Model codes (fire, building, health) and common-law doctrines apply no matter what the rules say, and a board cannot waive them by staying silent.

"unreasonably delays or prevents installation, maintenance, or use"

Source: 47 CFR 1.4000, Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule, Federal Communications Commission

That is the FCC's own language for the narrow federal rule protecting small satellite dishes and certain antennas, one of the strongest overrides in this course, and it still only reaches the antenna types the rule defines. See Satellite dishes and antennas.

None of these layers hand a resident, or a board, general authority over an unrelated topic. A resident cannot point to the antenna rule to justify a dish that also breaks an unrelated setback rule.

The beliefs that get boards into trouble

"The First Amendment protects my political sign." Usually false. An HOA is a private, contractual body, not a government actor, so ordinary free-speech protections generally do not reach its rules. New Jersey's Supreme Court found an exception in its own state constitution, ordering an association to allow a resident's political signs, but that is a state constitutional holding, not a national rule. Full lesson: Political signs.

"Service animal and assistance animal mean the same thing." They do not, and the two come from different laws. The ADA's service animal definition, used for places open to the public like a rented-out clubhouse, is limited to trained dogs. The Fair Housing Act's assistance animal standard, used for a resident's own home, has no species or training requirement, only a disability and a disability-related need. Full lesson: Pets.

"My state protects short-term rentals, so the HOA can't stop me." Not necessarily. A state law that bars a city or county from banning short-term rentals is a limit on government power. It does not override the association's own recorded restrictions, which remain enforceable as a private contract between the association and its owners. Full lesson: Short-term rentals.

Why so many lessons say check your state

For a wide swath of the topics in this course, parking limits, noise thresholds, towing signage, trash rules, there is no federal law and no reliably general state rule. That is governing-document and local-ordinance territory, and the honest answer is to read your own CC&Rs, rules, and municipal code rather than assume a number that might not apply to you.

Towing shows how differently two states can handle the same problem. Utah requires conspicuous signage, in a specified size, color, and format, at every property entrance before a nonconsensual tow. California instead requires the towing company, and separately the property owner authorizing the tow, to notify local police within a short window after the vehicle is removed. Both are real, verified examples; neither is the rule everywhere.

Signage requirements and police-notification windows for non-consent towing vary by state and municipality. Confirm your own state's towing statute, and loop in counsel, before authorizing a tow. See Towing.