How should our HOA board review an owner's request for a wheelchair ramp or other accessibility change?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 20, 2026

How an HOA board reviews a wheelchair ramp or accessibility modification: what to ask for, conditions it may set, who maintains it, a timeline and TX, FL, CO law.

Part of the HOA board handbook: residents and communication.

The short answer

Approve the change unless you have a specific, documented reason it is unreasonable, and limit your review to how the work will be done. The federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(A), makes it unlawful to refuse to permit, at the resident's expense, a reasonable modification of existing premises that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have full enjoyment of them. The 2008 Joint Statement on Reasonable Modifications from HUD and the Department of Justice names homeowners' associations in its answer on what the Act forbids, and lists adding a ramp to a primary entrance and altering a walkway to reach a common area as typical reasonable modifications. So the board's job is not to decide whether the owner deserves a ramp. It is to get a description of the work, confirm the permits and a capable builder, settle who maintains what, and answer quickly. This guide covers that review. It is general education, not legal advice, and rules vary by state and by your governing documents. Talk to fair housing counsel before you deny anything.

Modification or accommodation: sort the request first

A modification is a physical change: a ramp, a wider door, a grab bar by the pool steps, a handrail along a shared path, a lowered mailbox, a paved route from a parking space to a unit. An accommodation is a change to a rule, such as letting a wheelchair van park in a driveway where commercial-style vehicles are banned. The difference matters because the money runs the other way. The resident pays for a modification. The association bears the cost of an accommodation unless it is an undue burden. Many requests mix both. A ramp that crosses a setback line needs a modification approval for the ramp and an accommodation from the setback rule. Log the two parts separately so neither gets lost. Our guide on how an HOA board should handle a reasonable accommodation request covers the rule-change side, including what documentation the board may request.

What the board may ask for

The Joint Statement lets the association require a description of the proposed modification before the work starts. For a ramp, that means a simple drawing showing where it goes, its length, width, rise, materials, railing and how it meets the door and the walk. The association may also require that the owner get any building permits needed and that the work be done in a workmanlike manner. If the disability and the need are obvious, as with an owner who uses a wheelchair asking for a ramp to the front door, the Joint Statement says the board may not ask for anything more about the disability. If the need is not apparent, ask only for information that shows how the change relates to the disability. Never ask for a diagnosis or medical records. For design, the 2010 ADA Standards are not binding on a private home, but they give the board a sensible yardstick when a drawing looks wrong. Section 405 sets a running slope no steeper than 1:12, a rise of no more than 30 inches per run, a clear width of at least 36 inches, landings at least 60 inches long at the top and bottom of each run, and handrails on any run that rises more than 6 inches. At 1:12, a porch 24 inches above the walk needs about 24 feet of ramp, which is why many ramps turn a corner or run along the front of the house. Local building code controls, so ask the owner's contractor what the permit requires.

What the board may not require

The Joint Statement is blunt on several points boards get wrong. The association cannot require the owner to buy special liability insurance for the ramp; the Statement's answer on this question names homeowner's associations and calls the requirement a violation. The association cannot insist that its own contractor do the work. It may only require that whoever does it can finish it in a workmanlike manner and pull the permits. The association cannot add conditions the Act and HUD's rules do not allow, such as a larger deposit, and the Statement warns that unauthorized conditions can amount to an illegal refusal. If the board wants the ramp built in brick, composite or another costlier material to match the community, the owner only has to agree if the association pays the extra cost, and the board's design must still meet the owner's needs. Restoration is narrow too. The statute allows a restore-the-interior condition only in the case of a rental, so do not write a removal-on-sale clause into an owner's approval without a lawyer's advice.

Settle who maintains the ramp

Put upkeep in the approval letter so nobody argues about it in five years. The Joint Statement's rule is practical: the resident maintains a modification used only by that resident, and if the modification sits in a common area the housing provider normally maintains, the provider maintains it. Its example is a ramp in a building lobby used by other residents and the public. If the association already shovels the walks or treats them for ice, it does the same for a ramp on those walks. In practice that splits three ways. A ramp on the owner's lot that only serves that home is the owner's to maintain, unless your declaration makes the association responsible for that part of the lot. A ramp on common area that serves one unit, such as a route from a guest lot to one townhome door, is on common property the association already maintains. A ramp or railing at the pool or clubhouse that anyone can use is plainly the association's. Add the ramp to the reserve study and the insurance schedule once it is built on common area, and tell the landscaper so the crew does not mow into it.

A timeline and the approval letter

Federal law sets no day count, but the Joint Statement says an undue delay in responding may be treated as a failure to permit the modification. A workable schedule: day 0, the request arrives, by email, phone or in passing, and goes in the log. By day 3, the point person acknowledges it in writing and asks for the drawing and contractor name if they did not come with it. When the drawing arrives, one director checks it against the list above within 5 business days. The board votes within 10 business days of a complete request, at a special meeting or by unanimous written consent if your bylaws and state law allow it. The letter goes out within 2 days of the vote. Sample conditions for the approval letter: "The board approves your request dated [date] to build an entrance ramp at [address] as shown in the drawing dated [date]. Before work begins, please send a copy of any building permit the city requires. The work must be done in a workmanlike manner by a contractor of your choice and pass any required inspection. You will maintain the ramp, since it is on your lot and serves only your home. Please contact [point person] if the design changes." For a ramp on common area, replace the maintenance sentence with one saying the association will maintain the ramp along with the surrounding walk. Record only the request number and the vote in the minutes.

State law in Texas, Florida and Colorado

All three states repeat the federal rule. Texas Property Code section 301.025(c)(1) defines disability discrimination to include a refusal to permit, at the expense of the person with the disability, a reasonable modification that may be necessary for full enjoyment of the premises. Florida Statutes section 760.23(9)(a) uses nearly the same words. Colorado C.R.S. 24-34-502.2(2)(a) covers a refusal to permit reasonable modifications that are necessary for full enjoyment of the premises, and its text does not include the federal phrase about the resident's expense, so a Colorado board should ask counsel before assuming the owner bears every cost. Each state's fair housing agency takes complaints, as does HUD. A narrow federal example of a proper refusal comes from the Joint Statement itself: a condominium owner with a mobility disability asked to switch from the approved shake shingles to clay tile and fiberglass shingles, could not show how the different roofing related to his disability, and the association did not have to allow it. The lesson is that a denial needs a missing link between the change and the disability, or a change that is not reasonable, never a dislike of how it looks.

Mistakes boards make

Sending the request to the architectural committee's normal 45-day cycle with the fence and paint applications. Rejecting the drawing because the ramp is wood when the guidelines say masonry, without offering to pay the difference. Asking the owner to name the association as an additional insured. Requiring the owner to use the association's handyman. Asking why the resident needs a ramp when the resident is in a wheelchair. Approving the ramp and then citing the owner for a setback violation because nobody told the committee about the exception. Leaving maintenance out of the letter, then refusing to clear snow from a common-area ramp. If you are unsure whether the owner can be refused, our guide on whether an HOA can deny a wheelchair ramp or accessibility modification explains the owner's side of the same rules.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

More on board & governance

Or browse all hoa boards & governance guides.