The Charlotte Observer recently cataloged highly specific local covenants. The useful question for a board is not how strict a community can get. It is how reasonable a rule needs to be.

On September 17, 2026, the Charlotte Observer cataloged some of the more particular rules in Charlotte-area communities: permitted grass, restricted dog breeds, fence details, garden ornaments, and when holiday decorations must come down. Readers laughed or bristled. For a board, the better question is quieter. How specific should our rules be, and when have we gone past what owners will accept and the documents will support?

This is written from four decades of managing Carolina communities, not from a law license. Consult counsel before you adopt or enforce a rule. Nothing here is legal advice.

Reasonableness is the test

A rule holds up when the documents authorize it, it serves a legitimate community purpose, a reasonable owner can tell what is expected, and it is applied evenly, with notice and a chance to be heard before any penalty. Fail one of those, and it usually fails on the street long before it fails in court.

Specificity has a use. “Well-maintained” landscaping starts an argument every spring. A clear standard can end one. Buyers can read it before closing. Committees can decide faster. Too much specificity has a cost. Every extra line is a line the board must enforce. A rule written for one porch can sweep in thirty lots that were never the problem. Materials change. Rulebooks collide with the declaration, a statute, or each other.

Ask this first

Are we solving a genuine, recurring community need, or reacting to one house? Stormwater damage from a common construction practice is the first kind. Banning a decoration because one display went too far last December is the second. The rules boards regret most were adopted in the meeting right after the incident. Wait one meeting. Circulate the draft when you can. Owners comply more readily with a rule they understand than with one they meet in a violation letter.

Where the law already draws lines

North Carolina generally limits how far an association may go on the American and state flags and certain political signs. South Carolina has its own provisions. Fair housing law can reach families, assistance animals, and amenity rules. A breed restriction can carry consequences a board did not intend. Name the problem at the table. Let counsel write the sentence.

Precision does not prevent a long fight

The Observer also recalled a multi-year window dispute that began with association approval and ended in a settlement after litigation. A covenant fight over whether backyard chickens were “household pets” reached the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2025. The Court treated the ordinary meaning of those words as a question a jury could decide. Common words get expensive. Windows and chickens stay small until they are years of fees. A rule is only as strong as even enforcement and community acceptance.

Enforcement is where reasonableness shows

Most communities do not have a rules problem. They have an enforcement problem. Give written notice and a hearing before a fine. Then look down the street. Selective enforcement usually starts by accident: one complaint, one fence, three similar fences ignored. Keep the remedy in scale. Fines work better as a nudge than as a revenue line. Stop the meter when the condition is cured.

A mailbox rule that almost divided a street

A Triad board once specified mailbox-post color after one mismatched post annoyed the block. A month later, about a third of the community failed the new standard. Most posts had faded. The board rescinded the rule, handled the original post under existing nuisance language, and adopted a broader maintenance standard the next year after circulating it. They were not heavy-handed. They reacted before they measured.

What boards should do

Once a year, read the rules as a first-time buyer. Mark every provision you would not enforce against your neighbor next week. Decide with counsel whether each one should be enforced, revised, or dropped. AMG clients can review rules and enforcement policy with their manager. If you are not a client, we can point you toward qualified counsel. Reasonable rules, clearly written and evenly applied, are treated at more length in Boards, Bylaws, and Better Governance.

Questions boards ask

Can a North Carolina HOA restrict grass or dogs?

Often yes, if the declaration or a properly adopted rule covers the subject. Flags, certain signs, and fair housing matters are limited by other law.

How do we know a rule is reasonable? Does the document authorize it?

Does it meet a recurring need? Can it be applied evenly? Is the burden in scale with the benefit?

What should we do before we fine someone?

Written notice, a chance to be heard, a look down the street for the same condition, and a file.

Paul Mengert, CMCA®, PCAM®, is founder and CEO of Association Management Group, which began in Greensboro in 1985 and now serves more than 30,000 owners across the Carolinas. amgworld.com