Solar Power Homeowner Association Conflict

Anyone that takes the steps to go green with solar panels to power their home should be encouraged.  Even the federal government will give you up to 30% in tax credits for the cost of the solar panels on your roof.  It is a win win for the homeowner and the environment.  Nobody loses.  Unless of course you are the person in charge of the homeowner association that your property is bound by.  Before you undertake any home renovations you should do your homework to see what is allowed by the homeowner association.  It would really suck for you if they stipulated when you bought your home that solar panels are not allowed because of the so called eye soar and you just cut a check for thousands of dollars for a new green energy system.

Then again, your solar energy product supplier should warn you in advance about all the possible hurtles that you may face when installing solar panels on your roof, solar heating panels for hot water or heat, a small wind turbine in your back yard, or even a mini hydro electric system if you are lucky enough to have a stream or river run through your property.  It's called customer service and treating your customer like you would a friend.  Thanks for your check, now your on your own is no way of doing business.

Then again, who are the retards in the homeowner association that see solar panels on someones roof that may bring the property values down?  Have you ever seen some of the homes with these panels on them.  Nine times out of ten they are the best looking house in the neighborhood because the actual HOMEOWNER can afford to keep the house and its operating expenses up.

Check this out from AJC...

 CUMMING, Ga. — The government wants you to install solar panels at your house, and will even give you a tax break to do it. But your neighbors? Maybe not.

It's a lesson Angel and David Dobs discovered when their homeowners association north of Atlanta denied their request to install solar panels on their roof. Neighborhood officials said the panels would look out of place and might lower home values in a community that regulates details as fine as the coloring of roof tiles, the planting of trees and the storage of trash cans.

"It's like living under communism — someone gets to dictate every possible thing you do," David Dobs said.

Homeowners associations around the country have banned or severely restricted the installation of solar panels, and the solar industry has pushed back to halt the practice. A recent attempt in Georgia to expand the right to go solar had support from environmentalists and some Republican lawmakers concerned about private property rights but it succumbed to opposition from developers and real estate agents.

The bare bones comes down to knowing all the facts and limitations as a homeowner before you start any home improvement project.  If it is an addition to the outside of your home then there is a damn good chance that you or the company installing the green energy system is going to need to get a building permit.  If you are installing anything on your roof then you pretty much need a building permit.  Solar panels can take up a huge chunk of space on your roof so consider it almost like re-shingling your roof.  The next step is making sure that any contractor installing you system is fully insured to do so on your property before they step one foot on your property.  And you know why you need to know that info but just in case... if they get hurt on your property then you own their injuries etc, etc, etc.  Next step, is making sure you notify your homeowner insurance carrier of the upgrade to your property.  It would be a major suck fest if you pay ten grand to install a new solar panel system on your roof and the dog decides that licking an electrical socket is fun and your whole house burns down while you are at Walmart saving a few bucks on the grocery bill.

As for my opinion on homeowner associations that take the negative road to solar panels of any kind on someones roof, get a freakin' brain!  Solar panels are American independence from foreign imported oil.  These are the same people that said Edison was a moron and gas light would never change, the same people that said the internet and email would never replace writing a letter.  The same people that said that Henry Ford was a fool with his combustion engine contraption.  You get the picture.  The end result is that new technology is not a friend to old minds.

Papamoka