What is a solar easement, and how do I create and enforce one?

What a solar easement is

A solar easement is a private, voluntary property interest: the right to receive sunlight
across another person's land so that a solar energy system on your property can keep
working. It is not a government permit or a utility rule. It is an agreement between
landowners — usually recorded in the land records — that limits what can be built or grown
on the burdened property within a defined space.

The right does not exist by default. California Civil Code section
801.5
defines a solar easement as "the right of receiving sunlight across real property of
another for any solar energy system." Washington Revised Code section
64.04.150 defines it as a right
"expressed as an easement, restriction, covenant, or condition contained in any deed,
contract, or other written instrument" assuring adequate access to direct sunlight for
solar energy systems, and Oregon Revised Statutes
105.885 treats a solar
energy easement as an easement, covenant, or condition designed to insure the passage of
incident solar radiation, light, air, or heat across the real property of another. The
common thread: a solar easement is a documented, describable right over a neighbor's land —
not a general right to sunshine.

How a solar easement is created

Every statute reviewed requires a written instrument; none allows an oral or implied solar
easement. The statutes also spell out what the writing must contain, and the lists are
similar in substance:

• California Civil Code section 801.5(b) requires an instrument creating a solar
  easement to include at minimum: (1) a description of the easement's dimensions in
  measurable terms, such as vertical or horizontal angles measured in degrees, or the hours
  of the day on specified dates during which direct sunlight to a specified surface may not
  be obstructed; (2) the restrictions placed upon vegetation, structures, and other objects
  that would impair or obstruct the passage of sunlight; and (3) the terms or conditions,
  if any, under which the easement may be revised or terminated.
• Washington RCW 64.04.150(4) requires a description of the property subject to the
  easement and the property benefiting from it, plus a description of the extent of the
  easement "sufficiently certain" to let the burdened owner know its limits — for example,
  vertical and horizontal angles in degrees and the points from which they are measured,
  the height above the property to which the easement extends, a prohibited shadow pattern,
  or any other reasonably certain description. Termination terms and compensation
  provisions are optional but expressly authorized.
• Oregon ORS 105.895(1) requires a legal description of the property benefited and
  burdened, plus a description sufficient to determine the space that must remain
  unobstructed — either a sun chart showing the plotted skyline (including vegetation and
  structures) from the perspective of the center of the lower edge of the collector
  surface, or a description of the "solar envelope."
• Wisconsin Statutes section 700.35 defines a "renewable energy resource easement" as
  an easement limiting the height or location, or both, of permissible development on the
  burdened land (structures or vegetation) to provide the benefited land access to wind or
  sunlight passing over the burdened land. It must be in writing and is subject to the same
  conveyancing and instrument recording requirements as other easements.

Recording. Washington makes a solar easement subject to "the same conveyancing and
instrument recording requirements as other easements." Oregon makes the instrument
recordable under ORS 93.710 and requires that it be "recorded in the chains of title of the
benefited and burdened properties," indexed by the names of the parties claiming an
interest. Wisconsin applies the state's general easement recording requirements. Recording
puts later buyers, lenders, and title examiners on notice, and it is what makes the
easement bind successors rather than only the original neighbors.

Running with the land. Washington and Oregon provide that a solar easement is
appurtenant and runs with the land benefited and burdened unless the instrument says
otherwise; Wisconsin provides the same unless otherwise expressly stated.

What a solar easement protects

A solar easement protects a defined access to sunlight, not solar equipment generally. The
instrument's description of angles, hours, dates, height, or shadow pattern fixes the
protected space, and the restrictions on vegetation, structures, and other objects are what
the easement enforces. If the burdened owner later builds a structure or lets trees grow
into that space, the benefited owner has a property right to object — provided the
obstruction actually falls inside the described envelope.

The statutes also set the boundaries of that protection. Wisconsin's easement statute
limits the burden to "permissible development" in terms of structure height or location and
vegetation; Oregon ties the description to the actual collector surface, so the protection
follows the installed system as described. An easement described too vaguely — "enough sun
for solar panels" — will not meet the statutory certainty requirements and may be
unenforceable for that reason.

Enforcement

Solar easements are enforced like other easements: as private property interests, through
the courts. The statutes reviewed do not create a solar-easement agency or special
administrative process. If a neighbor violates the easement, the usual remedies are a court
order (injunction) requiring removal of the obstruction or preventing construction, and
damages where the instrument or general law provides them. Washington's statute expressly
authorizes the instrument to include compensation provisions for interference with the
easement or for maintaining it — a drafting tool that turns enforcement into a defined
contractual remedy.

Termination is also statutory. Oregon ORS 105.890 provides that a solar energy easement
terminates upon the conditions stated in the instrument, by court judgment based on
abandonment or changed conditions, or at any time by agreement of all owners of the
benefited and burdened property. That is why the "terms of revision or termination" clause
required by California's statute matters: it lets the parties control when the burden ends
instead of leaving it to litigation.

How solar easements differ from solar access laws

Solar easements are often confused with solar access laws, but they are different tools.

A solar easement is a private, written agreement that creates a right to sunlight over
a specific neighbor's land. It is negotiated, priced, and recorded; it binds the parties
and their successors according to its terms; and it protects against future obstruction
within a described space.

A solar access law is a statute that limits how much anyone — an HOA, a developer, a
local government — can restrict or obstruct solar equipment. It operates without any
agreement from your neighbor. The leading example in this set is California Civil Code
section 714,
which makes void and unenforceable any deed covenant, restriction, condition, or governing
document provision that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a
solar energy system, subject to "reasonable restrictions" (restrictions that do not
significantly increase cost or significantly decrease efficiency, or that allow an
alternative system of comparable cost, efficiency, and energy-conservation benefits). It
also sets approval deadlines — a written decision within 45 days for associations, with
deemed approval if no timely written denial — and awards the prevailing party reasonable
attorney's fees. Similarly, Oregon Revised Statutes
105.880 voids any provision
in an instrument conveying fee title that prohibits the use of solar energy systems.

The clearest contrast is Wisconsin, which has both statutes side by side. Section 700.35
creates the private, written easement described above. Section
700.41 instead gives the owner
of a solar energy system a right to damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees from
anyone who uses their property so as to create an "obstruction" of the collector surface —
defined as a building or structure outside the building envelope in effect at the time the
collector was installed, blocking sun between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. standard time — with
exceptions for obstructions that existed or were permitted before installation. That is a
statutory, damages-based access right that requires no agreement with the neighbor.

The practical difference: solar access laws tell you what others cannot do to your solar
system by rule or by out-of-envelope construction. They generally do not stop a neighbor
from lawfully building within their own zoning envelope — which is where a negotiated,
recorded solar easement is the tool that actually protects your access to the sun.

State-by-state variation

• California combines both tools: Civil Code section 714 is one of the strongest
  anti-restriction statutes (voiding restrictions, $1,000 and 10 percent benchmarks,
  45-day approval rule, attorney's fees), while section 801.5 supplies the definition and
  content requirements for a solar easement and expressly covers modern solar structures
  such as racking, carports, and patio covers (amended effective January 1, 2022).
• Washington (RCW 64.04.150) is the most detailed easement-creation statute in this
  set: a solar easement is an interest in real property, requires writing and recording,
  is appurtenant, and may include compensation clauses.
• Oregon (ORS 105.885-105.895) is the most technical: sun charts plotted from the
  collector surface, solar envelopes, recordation in the chains of title of both parcels,
  and special attestation rules when a city issues or approves the instrument.
• Wisconsin (700.35 and 700.41) separates the two ideas most cleanly: a written
  easement statute modeled on general easement law, plus a statutory damages remedy for
  out-of-envelope obstructions that requires no neighbor agreement.

What may still be required or restricted

A solar easement does not override public law or valid private rules:

• Permits and codes. California Civil Code section 714 expressly keeps health and
  safety standards, state and local permitting requirements, the California Electrical
  Code, and Public Utilities Commission safety and reliability rules in force. An easement
  does not waive a building permit, electrical inspection, or utility interconnection
  approval.
• Zoning and building envelopes. In Wisconsin, the statutory access remedy is defined
  by the zoning building envelope; structures inside the envelope are not "obstructions."
  An easement can protect more than zoning allows — but only if the instrument describes it
  and the parties agree.
• Governing documents and HOA rules. Valid deed restrictions, covenants, and HOA rules
  still apply to installation and appearance, subject to state solar access statutes like
  California Civil Code section 714. An easement with a neighbor cannot waive an HOA's
  separate approval rights.

Facts that could change the answer

• The state. Creation, content, recording, and termination rules are statutory and
  vary; the four states reviewed here are examples, not a uniform national rule.
• The instrument's specificity. A vague description may fail the statutory certainty
  requirements and be unenforceable.
• The property interests. Whether the benefited or burdened land is a separate lot, an
  HOA-controlled home, or a shared-roof townhome changes who must join the instrument.
• Timing and recording. Recording priority, chain-of-title notice, and the termination
  terms in the instrument affect whether the easement binds a later buyer.
• Local rules. Zoning, building, electrical, and utility requirements apply
  independently of any easement.

Practical decision path

1. Determine whether your solar access depends on a neighbor's land: map the sun path, the
   proposed collector location, and what could grow or be built in the way.
2. If it does, confirm the state's easement statute and what its instrument must contain.
3. Negotiate with the neighbor in writing: the protected space (angles, hours, dates,
   height, or shadow pattern), restrictions on vegetation and structures, compensation and
   maintenance terms if any, and termination terms.
4. Have the instrument drafted by an attorney or title professional familiar with the
   state's requirements, signed by all owners of both parcels, and recorded in the land
   records — in Oregon, in the chains of title of both properties.
5. Keep the recorded instrument, survey or sun chart, and receipts; check any HOA or
   governing-document rules before relying on the easement.
6. If the easement is violated, start with written notice and the instrument's own terms;
   court enforcement (injunction or damages) is available under general easement law.

Before work begins, obtain the written requirement from the authority named in the guide and keep the record.

Records to keep

Keep the signed and recorded easement instrument, the legal descriptions of both parcels,
the sun chart, survey, or angle-and-height description used, the recording receipt and
indexing information, correspondence with the neighbor (including any compensation or
maintenance agreement), and copies of any governing documents or permits that touch the
installation. These records are what a court, title company, or later buyer will use to
determine the easement's scope and whether it still binds the property.

When professional advice may help

Solar easements are specialized real-property instruments: the statutory content and
recording requirements vary by state, and drafting errors (vague descriptions, missing
termination terms, an unrecorded instrument, the wrong parties signing) can make the
easement unenforceable. Consider an attorney or title professional familiar with the
property's state before drafting or recording, when negotiating compensation or termination
terms, and before litigating a blockage — the Wisconsin damages remedy, the attorney's-fee
provisions in California's solar access statute, and Oregon's termination rules each
operate differently.