North Carolina HOA landscaping during a drought

Two things have to line up for the protection to kick in. First, the area has to be in a severe, extreme, or exceptional drought under the US Drought Monitor or a designation by the Secretary of Environmental Quality. Second, the Governor, a state agency, or a local government has to have imposed water conservation measures. When both are true, the HOA cannot make owners water their lawns and cannot fine them for not doing it. The statute defines landscaping broadly: lawns, trees, shrubbery, and other ornamental or decorative plants.

The override depends on the document. For covenants recorded on or after October 1, 2008, an association can still enforce irrigation during a conservation emergency only if the covenant spells that out in boldface capital letters on its first page. Without that notice, the exemption controls and a drought-season fine does not hold up.

Parts of North Carolina move in and out of drought, and water restrictions follow. A community that fines for brown grass during a declared drought, with no first-page override in its covenants, is enforcing a rule it cannot back up. That is worth knowing if you are buying a home with a large lawn or thirsty landscaping.

Read these together before you make an offer:

• The landscaping and irrigation standards in the CC&Rs and the rules.
• The recording date of the covenants, since the override rule applies to post-October 2008 documents.
• Whether any irrigation-during-drought override sits on the first page in boldface capital letters.
• Board minutes for landscaping fines issued during a past drought.

Landscaping fines are a common friction point, and during a drought the law usually sides with the owner. Knowing whether your community kept the power to override that tells you what to expect the next dry summer.

An HOA Notes brief reads the landscaping rules against the drought exemption, checks the covenant's recording date and first page, and cites the page behind each finding.

North Carolina General Statutes section 47F-3-122 and section 47C-3-122 (Drought irrigation exemption). During periods when the US Drought Monitor or the Secretary of Environmental Quality designates the area as experiencing severe, extreme, or exceptional drought AND a government entity has imposed water conservation measures, the association may not enforce landscaping irrigation requirements or impose fines for failure to irrigate; for post-October 1, 2008 documents, a restriction claiming to override this must appear on the first page in bold capital letters. The association may enforce irrigation requirements outside officially designated drought and water conservation periods; for post-2008 documents with proper first-page bold notice, it may enforce irrigation requirements even during a declared water conservation emergency.

When you read the disclosure packet, watch for owners must maintain irrigated turf at all times including during water restrictions, and failure to maintain landscaping to association standards will result in fines even during drought. HOA Notes flags each of these against the statute and tells you which restrictions are actually enforceable.