Solar easements and solar access laws: how states protect sunlight

A solar easement is a written, recorded agreement in which one owner promises not to block sunlight to another owner's solar collectors. Because it is voluntary, the neighbor has to agree, and often is paid. Once recorded, it runs with the land and binds future owners like any other easement.

Statutes that authorize solar easements usually require the document to describe the protected airspace, often by vertical and horizontal angles, and to address what happens if the easement is terminated.

California Civil Code section 801.5 defines a solar easement as the right of receiving sunlight across real property of another for a solar energy system and lists what the instrument must include. Separately, Civil Code section 714, part of the Solar Rights Act, makes covenants and restrictions that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict solar energy systems void and unenforceable, while allowing reasonable restrictions.

Florida Statutes section 163.04 prevents deed restrictions, covenants and similar binding agreements from prohibiting solar collectors and certain other energy devices on a building's roof, though associations may set the orientation within limits. Florida Statutes section 704.07 authorizes solar easements, and section 704.08 sets out what they must contain.

Because solar easements are voluntary, the neighbor needs a reason to sign. Payment is common, and so is a mutual agreement in which each owner protects the other's roof. Some owners pair the easement with a promise to trim or remove specific trees at the solar owner's expense.

The agreement should define the protected sky space using angles or a three-dimensional description, say whether trees existing at signing are grandfathered, explain how the easement ends if the solar system is removed, and specify any compensation. It should then be signed with the formalities your state requires for recording, typically notarization, and recorded in the county land records so it binds future owners of both parcels.

Before investing in panels, look at the lot from the south. Sun path tools and the Department of Energy's consumer guidance can help estimate whether nearby trees or likely future buildings would shade the array.

Many other states have solar access or easement statutes, and their details differ. Search your state legislature's website for solar easement or solar access, and check your HOA declaration, which may contain its own solar rules subject to state limits.