Homeowner associations with rules prohibiting flag flying should adopt a six-month moratorium against enforcing such rules, especially now with patriotic homeowners who want to display the American flag.

Homeowner associations including common interest developments (CIDs), planned unit developments (PUDs), tenants-in-common (TICs), cooperatives and others typically comprised of condos, townhomes and similar owner-occupied, high-density housing, sometimes have and enforce flag flying rules.

The flag-flying prohibition is often aimed at decorative, oversized or flags that pose a safety threat. The rules also are among others designed to maintain a certain level of uniformity throughout a complex. Uniformity rules are designed to help hold or add value to homes in home owner association-governed housing developments.

However, some hard-line homeowner associations use draconian interpretations of flag flying rules to prevent home owners from flying the U.S. flag and the Alexandria, VA Community Associations Institute says such an interpretation is counter-productive to the current need to express patriotism.

After the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution encouraging Americans to fly the U.S. flag.

"For many people in the United States, the community is the starting place for the process of both coping and healing after the September 11th attacks," said Barbara Byrd Keenan, president of the institute, a nonprofit education association for the nation's 231,000 homeowner associations and cooperatives.

"With more than 40 million Americans living in association-managed planned communities, condominiums and cooperatives, it's only reasonable that everyone have an opportunity to demonstrate their patriotism by flying their flags," Keenan added.

To help associations officially introduce the moratorium, the institute's "Operation Old Glory" offers a sample "Resolution to Promote Patriotic Expression" which says, in part, "For a period of 180 days from the date of this Resolution, no restriction contained in the governing documents prohibiting the display of the American flag shall be enforced against any resident of the (Insert name of the Community Association) to the extent that residents may display one or more portable, removable flags of the United States of reasonable size and shape in the windows or affixed on or near the front door of the unit or on the limited common areas or in certain areas as determined by the Board in the immediate vicinity of his or her unit..."

The resolution would also allow homeowners to display the U.S. flag or certain holidays, including Independence Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Flag Day and others. It would also allow the association to extend the moratorium, amend rules not to include the U.S. flag in any flag flying prohibition or allow the moratorium to end without changing existing flag flying rules.

"In such a time of crisis, it's important that associations quickly recognize and take action to allow residents to fly their flags," Keenan said.

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Published: October 5, 2001

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.