Christmas in March? What suburbs can do when holiday cheer lingers or becomes a safety issue

Suburbanites might grouse when neighbors keep their holiday decorations up well into the new year, but there’s little most towns can do — unless those twinkling lights pose a safety hazard.

Aurora regulates the timing of holiday decorations, but that’s rare. In other villages and cities, homeowner associations may weigh in. But there is longstanding national guidance that towns can apply broadly if lights are deemed unsafe or a nuisance.

The National Electric Code sets a 90-day deadline for removal of temporary lighting that may become a safety, health or nuisance issue, according to Hoffman Estates Director of Building & Code Enforcement Sanyokta Kapur.

Towns can enforce this even without specific ordinances governing holiday decorations, she added.

Removing Christmas lights outside homes within 90 days of the holiday is requested, but not automatically enforced, Kapur said.

“If it is a life safety, public health or public nuisance issue, we do enforce this section,” she said.

Aurora’s 20-year-old ordinance sets a time limit of 60 days before and 60 days after a holiday for house decorations related to that holiday. Leeway is given for inclement weather.

Aurora’s Chief Development Services Officer John Curley attested to the universal need for the national provision. Holiday light strings aren’t intended to be used regularly and an unsafe set did start a fire at an Aurora apartment complex years ago, he said.

Enforcing Aurora’s 2006 holiday decoration regulations can be a challenge.

During 2025 alone, there were 68 citizen complaints coupled with staff observations to create 152 cases of enforcement, Director of Property Standards Josh Alcaraz said.

There can be extenuating circumstances and it’s rare to get no response from a violation notification, he added.

The first notification allows for a two-week remedy without penalty. The second carries a $50 fine and another two-week deadline. The final warning brings another $50 fine and the scheduling of an adjudication hearing within about three to five weeks.

The hearing could bring either a reduction or waiving of fines or cost another $50 to $500 per offense.

But Curley and Alvarez emphasized that opportunities for extensions on compliance and assistance for those in need of it are always sought. Based on weather conditions, extensions of 15 to 40 days were granted during nine of the first 12 years of the regulations.

When a homeowner’s health becomes a factor, the city refers people to five service groups in the community that can help remove holiday decorations, Curley said.

Jennifer Phillips, Elgin's director of neighborhood services, said the city has had a 60-day deadline on holiday decorations for longer than the 20 years she's worked at city hall.

She added that while the full 60 days will be given for Christmas decorations, the city will begin politely reaching out to residents that still have them up around Jan. 25.

Barrington Hills’ 2011 exterior lighting ordinance specifies Oct. 20 to Jan. 31 as the period for holiday lights, but the ordinance applies only to homes built or significantly expanded since it was approved.

The intent of the initially controversial Barrington Hills regulations was to protect the village’s semirural atmosphere from excessive light pollution year-round rather than holiday decorations.

Village Administrator Anna Paul said she hasn’t fielded any complaints about Christmas decorations during her eight-year tenure.