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Legislative counsel briefs House panel on bill to bar HOAs and landlords from restricting vegetable gardens
Summary
Legislative counsel Cameron Wood told the House General committee that H 537 would bar homeowners associations and landlords from prohibiting or unreasonably restricting residents' vegetable gardens, define "vegetable garden," set a 60-day approval deadline for applications, allow reasonable maintenance rules, impose up to $1,000 civil penalty for intentional violations, and go into effect July 1, 2026.
Cameron Wood, legislative counsel, briefed the House General committee on H 537, a bill that "proposes to prohibit a landlord and a common interest community from restricting the installation and use of a vegetable garden," saying the measure would extend similar protections to tenants and unit owners.
Wood told the committee the draft places the common-interest provisions in Title 27A (the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act) and the landlord-tenant provisions in Title 9 (residential rental agreements). He said the bill defines a vegetable garden as "a plot of land where a person cultivates plants for personal consumption or donation," and expressly excludes cultivation of cannabis or other unlawful crops.
The bill would make covenant or bylaw provisions that "effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict" gardens in areas designated for exclusive use void and unenforceable, while allowing associations to adopt "reasonable restrictions" such as requiring gardens visible from the…
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