Review procedures

Procedure is not the same as standards

What a committee can regulate, paint, fences, solar panels, is one question. How it has to run its process to get there is a different one, and it is easy to conflate the two. An architectural review committee's authority to review anything at all comes from the declaration itself, and that authority stops where the declaration stops.

"The authority of an association or any architectural, construction improvement, or other such similar committee of an association to review and approve plans and specifications for the location, size, type, or appearance of any structure or other improvement on a parcel... shall be permitted only to the extent that the authority is specifically stated or reasonably inferred as to such location, size, type, or appearance in the declaration of covenants or other published guidelines and standards authorized by the declaration of covenants."

Source: Florida Statutes Section 720.3035, State of Florida

That is a Florida statute, but the principle behind it, that a committee cannot invent power the declaration never gave it, is the starting point for reading any community's procedure.

Where a state sets a minimum process

A handful of states go further and regulate the process itself, not just what gets built. California requires the review procedure to be fair, reasonable, and expeditious, and requires the decision to be made honestly.

"The association shall provide a fair, reasonable, and expeditious procedure for making its decision."

Source: California Civil Code Section 4765, State of California

The same statute requires a written decision, and if the answer is no, it has to say why and how to ask for reconsideration.

"A decision on a proposed change shall be in writing. If a proposed change is disapproved, the written decision shall include both an explanation of why the proposed change is disapproved and a description of the procedure for reconsideration."

Source: California Civil Code Section 4765, State of California

Whether your state imposes anything like this is worth checking against your own state's statute. Where none does, the fairness of the process rests entirely on your declaration, your bylaws, and ordinary good faith.

Where a state scripts the whole sequence

Texas goes further still, for subdivisions of more than 40 lots outside a declarant's control. A denial has to go out in writing, by a traceable method, has to explain itself, and has to tell the owner about the right to a hearing.

"...by certified mail, hand delivery, or electronic delivery..."

Source: Texas Property Code Section 209.00505, State of Texas

Notice the qualifier: more than 40 lots, and not while a declarant still controls the committee. Smaller Texas subdivisions and declarant controlled communities fall outside this statute entirely, so confirm your community is even covered before you rely on it.

Most communities: the declaration is the whole procedure

Outside a handful of states, and outside every category no state has legislated, there is no outside statute filling in the process. The declaration and any architectural guidelines adopted under it are the entire procedure: who applies, who decides, and what happens if nobody responds. Find your community's actual steps in your declaration and bylaws, and confirm whether your own state has an architectural review procedure statute before assuming there is none.