Effective January 1, 2023, RSMo. Section 442.404 (“Solar Statute”) eliminated covenants prohibiting solar panels on rooftops unless the roofs were maintained by the association.
A homeowners’ association in Greene County denied an owners request in 2022 to install solar panels. The association denied the request as a covenant in the community’s governing documents recorded in 2003 expressly prohibited solar panels. The owner brought suit against the association asserting that Solar Statute prevents the Association from rejecting the solar panels. The legal issue was whether the Solar Statute applies to those covenants prohibiting solar panels recorded before January 1, 2023. The trial court held that the Solar Statute was prospective only resulting in the owner appealing.
The Southern District of the Court of Appeals held that the trial court was correct because statutes are generally presumed to be prospective in nature, retrospective application of a statute is barred under the Missouri Constitution, and the Solar Statute is lacking any language regarding its retroactive application. The Court reasoned that if the General Assembly had intended it to apply to covenants in effect as of January 1, 2023, the Solar Statute would say it. Accordingly, covenants recorded before January 1, 2023, prohibiting solar panels remain enforceable. Eikmeier v. Granite Springs Home Owners Ass’n, Inc., No. SD 38515, 2025 WL 1379010, (Mo. Ct. App. May 13, 2025), reh’g and/or transfer denied (June 3, 2025)
The outcome of this case has broader implications throughout Missouri as the Solar Statute does not apply universally—it will all depend upon when the covenant was recorded.
