HOA Making Gardening Difficult? A Lawyer Explains How Not to Make a Costly Mistake or Risk Removing Your Hard Work

For me, one of the things I like best about gardening is the open-ended creativity I enjoy. If I want to plant only blue flowers in my garden in San Francisco, it’s blue, blue, blue. But be careful, fellow gardeners. This is not necessarily the case if you buy into a community governed by a Homeowners Association (HOA).

HOA communities are almost always governed by specific landscaping rules. These are set out in the HOA's governing documents each owner has to sign. The idea is to set out yard care etiquette that most owners consider attractive and appropriate. It's important to understand that these rules may limit the kind of projects you can undertake. If it is important to you to have a wild, wonderful, or eccentric garden, you might not want to buy into a HOA community.

If you don’t follow the rules, you can get hit with considerable fines. Even worse, the HOA can mandate that you remove the new plants or hardscaping changes in your landscaping.

Can an HOA Tell Me How to Garden?

If you buy into a homeowners’ association community, you get a mix of private property ownership and community rules. The documents you signed include something called CC&Rs, setting out the Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions that restrict each and every owner. There may be other documents as well that control the property.

These rules are intended to keep property values high. One objective is to be sure that the entire community maintains a cohesive aesthetic. This necessarily includes landscaping rules that can limit the choices you make in your garden.

Generally, HOAs require yards and gardens to look neat and tidy. Don't have a full set of lawn care equipment? A combination electric lawn mower, string trimmer, and leaf blower package like this one from Greenworks on Amazon is a good place to start. Battery-powered equipment also tends to be quieter and they have zero emissions. Both of which are likely to keep your HOA happy.

What Are Common HOA Planting Restrictions?

HOA communities have different rules; they are not uniform across the country, across a state, or even throughout a city. That makes it critical to read and understand your HOA landscaping restrictions before you dive into gardening, ideally, before you sign the ownership contract.

The first thing to check for is whether person gardens are permitted. Some HOA communities prohibit personal gardens entirely. Others give residents an “approved list” of plants to use in personal gardens. Some require residents to get approval before planting anything.

To determine how strictly the HOA regulations are enforced, it’s a good idea to ask for a tour of the community. Visit the private gardens of your neighbors. If you love or delight in any of the private gardens, you are likely to be able to duplicate the projects in your yard.

What Other Gardening Issues Can HOAs Regulate?

There are not many limits on what types of landscaping activities a HOA can regulate. That’s because anyone buying into the community signs a contract agreeing to the conditions.

HOA regulations can - and often do - restrict other landscaping issues like lawn maintenance (down to the height of the grass!).

• What type of power equipment can be used and when it can be used
• If and how trees can be trimmed
• All issues around hardscaping
• Before you put in a fence, a patio, a trellis, a greenhouse, or a fountain, you will likely need HOA approval.

How Do I Navigate HOA Restrictions on Landscaping?

Unless you believe an HOA restriction is a violation of some constitutional protection (e.g. different garden rules for different races), your best bet is to get informed of the landscaping restrictions before you buy, then do your best to honor them.

Not reading the documents carefully before signing is generally no excuse. Failure to adhere to the rules will not only ruin any sense of community you might enjoy in your new neighborhood, it may also result in fines and orders to undo projects you have completed.

Instead, work within the rules. Do not start to get creative until you familiarize yourself with the HOA landscaping restrictions. While you may not be able to plant an all-blue garden, there are likely many lovely plants you can include in your private garden. Turn your creativity toward making the best garden you can within the rules.

And don’t hesitate to ask HOA permission when you have a plan you think would meld into community values. A well thought-out and detailed application will go a long way toward approval. Ask your neighbors for advice then get them to support your request with the Association. If you lose your application, there is always an appeal process set out in the guidelines. This often involved submitting a written application for a hearing.