An owner wants to build a deck or a patio cover. How should our HOA board review the request?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 12, 2026

How an HOA board reviews an owner's deck, pergola or patio cover request: height, guards, permits, shared walls, materials, TX, FL and CO law, approval wording.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Decks and patio covers are routine, and the committee should treat them that way: a written standard, a short application and a decision inside 30 days. The trouble spots are predictable. A raised deck looks straight into the neighbor's yard. A townhome deck gets bolted to a wall the association maintains. A patio cover dumps its roof water onto the next lot. A screened porch becomes a sunroom a year later without a second application. The committee reviews location, size, height and appearance. The city reviews structure: footings, ledger bolts, joist spans and guard strength. Keep those jobs apart, and do not let an approval letter read as though the committee checked the framing. Rules vary by state and by each community's governing documents. This guide is education, not legal advice.

Where state law touches a deck

No Texas, Florida or Colorado statute gives owners a right to a deck. State law shapes how the committee decides. Texas. Under Property Code 202.004(a), a court presumes the association's discretionary decisions are reasonable unless the owner proves them arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory. A file that shows the last five deck approvals used the same height and setback numbers is what earns that presumption. Associations with more than 40 lots, once the declarant no longer controls review, follow the denial and hearing steps in 209.00505. Florida. Section 720.3035(1)(a) limits review to what the declaration or the guidelines it authorizes state or reasonably infer about location, size, type or appearance, and requires even application to every owner. Section 720.3035(2) stops the committee from narrowing a list of options the documents already provide, so if the guidelines name three approved deck stains, the owner picks. Section 720.3035(1)(c) bars requiring a city permit before the committee will review. Colorado. C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(3) voids rules that prohibit fire-hardened building materials on an owner's property, a category defined by reference to the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and NFPA standards. Design standards are allowed only for fire-hardened fencing, though bona fide safety requirements consistent with building codes survive under (3)(d)(I). Section 106.5(3)(d)(II)(C) matters for townhomes: the statute gives no right to place those materials on a limited or general common element.

Settle who owns the ground and the wall

In a detached single-family community, the deck sits on the owner's lot and the review is simple. In townhomes and paired homes, answer three questions before anyone looks at a drawing. Who owns the land under the deck? Read the plat and the declaration. If the patio area is common area or a limited common element, the owner needs more than architectural approval. The board may need to grant a license or an easement, and some declarations require an owner vote to let anyone build on common elements. Send that question to the association's attorney. Who maintains the wall it attaches to? Many townhome declarations put siding and exterior walls on the association. A ledger board bolted through that siding is a water-entry point the association will be paying for. If the deck attaches to a wall you maintain, condition the approval on flashing the city inspects and on the owner carrying the cost of any leak or rot traced to the attachment. Who maintains the deck afterward? Write it down. A deck the owner builds is the owner's to repair, stain and eventually remove, and the approval should say so in one sentence so a future board does not inherit it.

Height drives the rest of the review

Ask for the height of the walking surface above grade at its highest point, because 30 inches is the number that changes everything. Permits. The 2021 International Residential Code, R105.2, exempts a deck from a building permit only if it is 200 square feet or less, no more than 30 inches above grade at any point, not attached to the house and not serving the exit door the code requires. Most real decks fail at least one of those tests. Cities adopt the code with local amendments, so the city's own list controls. Guards. Under R312.1.1, guards are required where a walking surface is more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches of the open edge. R312.1.2 sets their minimum height at 36 inches, and R312.1.3 bars openings a 4-inch sphere can pass through. The committee does not inspect this, but it should not approve a railing style that cannot meet it, such as horizontal cable spaced 6 inches apart. Privacy. A deck 8 feet up on a walkout lot looks over every fence on the street. Set a larger side setback for raised decks, such as 10 feet instead of 5, or require lattice or planting on the side facing the closest neighbor. Decide the rule once, in the guidelines, so the third raised deck gets the same answer as the first. Underneath. Say what the space below a raised deck may hold. Skirting or lattice on the visible sides keeps it from becoming a storage yard.

Materials, color and wildfire

Name decking by type: pressure-treated wood, cedar, composite, PVC, and in wildfire country, fire-rated or noncombustible products. Leave brand names out; product lines change faster than guidelines do. Give a short color range for stain and composite, and require railings to match or complement the house trim. Colorado boards should reread any rule that requires wood. A composite or metal product that meets the statute's fire-hardened criteria cannot be refused for its material, though the committee may still apply placement and size rules that do not amount to a prohibition. Outside Colorado, a community near open land gets nothing from forcing cedar when owners are willing to pay for something that burns less readily. Add one maintenance line: wood decks are stained or sealed on a schedule, and boards that split or rot are replaced. That gives the board a written standard to point to five years later.

Patio covers, pergolas and screened porches

A pergola with open slats is a garden structure. A solid patio cover is a roof, and the committee should review it like one. Water. Ask where the cover drains. A solid roof needs a gutter and a downspout aimed at the owner's own yard, never at a shared wall, a side-yard swale or the neighbor's fence line. Attachment. A cover tied into the house roof changes the roofline seen from the street or common area. Require roofing and trim that match the house, or a style the guidelines name. Height and setback. Measure to the highest point of the cover, not the deck. A 12-foot cover on a deck that is already 8 feet up reads as part of the house. Enclosure. Screening, knee walls, glass panels, a ceiling fan and an outlet are small steps, and together they make a room. Write the line plainly: screens on an approved cover are fine; walls, windows or heating and cooling need a new application, and if the room adds living space, review it the way our guide on reviewing an owner request to build a room addition describes.

Application, timeline and approval wording

Ask for a site plan or survey marked with the deck, its dimensions and its distance to each lot line and easement; the height at the highest point; elevations or a photo mockup of each visible side; decking, railing and cover materials and colors; whether it attaches to the house and to which wall; drainage for any solid cover; and the contractor and start date. Day 0: stamp the complete application. By day 5: one written list of anything missing. Days 5 to 20: a member walks the lot with the plan. By day 30: a written decision, sooner if the declaration says so. In Texas, for associations covered by 209.00505, a denial goes by certified mail, hand delivery or electronic delivery, explains the basis in reasonable detail, lists any changes that would allow approval, and tells the owner they may ask for a board hearing within 30 days. The board then holds it within 30 days of the request with at least 10 days' notice. In Florida, 720.3035(4)(a) requires a written denial naming the specific rule or covenant relied on and the part of the plan that does not conform. Approval wording: 'The Architectural Committee approves the [deck / patio cover] at [address] shown in your application dated [date], on these conditions: (1) size, location and height as shown, with the walking surface no more than [height] above grade and at least [5] feet from each side lot line; (2) decking in [material and color] and railings in [color]; (3) any solid cover drains to your own lot as shown; (4) you obtain every permit and inspection the city requires; (5) you maintain, repair and stain the structure at your cost; and (6) enclosing it with walls, windows or heating and cooling needs a new application. The committee has not reviewed the structural design.'

Mistakes boards make with decks

Approving the picture instead of the height. A rendering taken from the yard hides how far the deck rises on a sloped lot. Get the number. Signing off on structure. The last sentence of the approval wording above exists for a reason. If a deck fails, the committee does not want a letter in the file that sounds like it checked the bolts. Forgetting the townhome wall. One unflashed ledger can rot a shared wall the association maintains. Settle ownership and attachment before design. Letting the old deck slide. When a 25-year-old deck is torn down and rebuilt larger, it is a new application, not a repair. Say so in the guidelines. When a deck goes up with no application at all, follow our guide on handling an owner who built without HOA architectural approval. For contractor hours, dumpsters and staging, use our guide on writing an HOA owner remodel and construction policy.

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.

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