Arizona HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: Overview — How assessment collection and liens work in Arizona

Arizona runs two parallel statutes for HOA assessment collection and liens — neither follows UCIOA. Title 33, Chapter 9 governs condominiums, with the lien set out at A.R.S. § 33-1256. Title 33, Chapter 16 governs planned communities, with the lien at A.R.S. § 33-1807. What defines Arizona is a statutory floor: the assessment debt must reach a minimum threshold before an association can foreclose, placing Arizona among the country's clearest examples of a threshold-restricted state. As of September 26, 2025, the two chapters set different floors. A condominium association can foreclose only after the owner has been delinquent for one year or owes at least $1,200 in assessments, whichever occurs first. A planned community association must wait until 18 months of delinquency or an outstanding balance of $10,000 or more, whichever occurs first.

The association lien arises automatically on the date an assessment becomes due. Recording the declaration perfects it — no separate claim of lien is required. Arizona grants no super-priority portion ahead of a first mortgage. The assessment lien sits behind a recorded first mortgage or deed of trust, pre-declaration encumbrances, and tax liens. Foreclosure runs through the courts only: the association files in Superior Court, obtains a judgment and decree of foreclosure, and proceeds through a sheriff's sale. Fines and non-assessment charges cannot support a foreclosure action. Nationally, Arizona belongs with California and Colorado in the threshold-restricted category, distinct from super-priority states like Nevada and Connecticut, and from CC&R-primary states that leave collection to the declaration with no collections statute. The sections below cover the lien, its priority, the collection and foreclosure sequence, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Arizona HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: A.R.S. § 33-1256; A.R.S. § 33-1807; A.R.S. § 12-1282. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

2A. Lien creation, authority, and what it secures

The assessment lien is statutory. A condominium association holds a common expense lien on a unit for any assessment levied from the time the assessment becomes due,¹ and a planned community association holds the same lien on a lot or property under the parallel statute.² The lien attaches automatically on the due date — no separate claim of lien is required. Recording the declaration constitutes record notice and perfects the lien.² Many associations still record a notice of claim of lien to alert title searchers, and a declaration may require it, but that recording is not a statutory condition of the lien's existence. If an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount becomes a lien from the time the first installment comes due.¹

The 2024 amendment in HB2648 divided the debt into two categories. The foreclosable "common expense lien" secures assessments, charges for late payment of assessments if authorized in the declaration, reasonable collection fees and costs incurred or applied by the association, and reasonable attorney fees and costs if awarded by a court.⁵ Fees, fines, monetary penalties, and interest, by contrast, are "member expenses" — called "unit owner expenses" in the condominium chapter — and the association cannot enforce them as common expense liens. They generate only a judgment lien after a civil suit, and that judgment lien may not be foreclosed; it takes effect only on conveyance of the property.^1,2 The lien attaches to the unit or lot, not to the owner's other property.

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

The priority rule is direct. The common expense lien is prior to all other liens, interests, and encumbrances on the unit or property, except in three categories: liens and encumbrances recorded before the declaration was recorded; a recorded first mortgage or first deed of trust (or a seller's interest in a first contract for sale recorded before the lien arose); and liens for real estate taxes and other governmental charges.^1,2 The statute does not affect the priority of mechanics' or materialmen's liens.^1,2

Arizona grants no super-priority portion. Unlike Nevada's nine-month super-priority slice, or the limited-priority portions in UCIOA states, the Arizona assessment lien sits fully behind the first mortgage or deed of trust. There is no priority portion to track or reassert. The practical result: a first-lien lender's trustee's sale extinguishes the junior association lien, while the association's own judicial foreclosure takes the property subject to the senior mortgage.

2C. CC&R interaction, corporate-law overlay, and federal overlay

Recorded CC&Rs typically create a contractual assessment lien and may add late charges and collection terms, but they cannot expand what the statute makes foreclosable. The statutes provide that, notwithstanding any provision in the community documents, member expenses are not enforceable as common expense liens — a declaration cannot convert fines into a foreclosable lien.^1,2 The underlying assessment obligation rests on a written instrument and falls under Arizona's six-year limitation for debt founded on a written contract.⁶ The common expense lien itself is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings begin within six years after the full amount of the assessment becomes due.^1,2

Federal law layers on top of the Arizona framework. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers associations' attorneys and outside collection agents, and courts have treated assessment collection as debt collection under the Act. The bankruptcy automatic stay halts collection and foreclosure on the filing of a petition, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act limits foreclosure and related action against covered servicemembers.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

No statutory notice is required to create the lien — it attaches automatically when an assessment becomes due.^1,2 The statutory notice obligation kicks in later, before the account is escalated. For both condominiums and planned communities, the association must send the owner a written notice in boldface type or all capital letters at least 30 days before authorizing an attorney — or a collection agency that is not the association's managing agent — to begin collection activity. The notice must state that the account is delinquent and warn that failure to bring it current within 30 days could result in collection proceedings including foreclosure; it must include payment-contact information and go by certified mail, return receipt requested.^1,2

On the owner's side, an owner, lienholder, or escrow agent may request a statement of the amount of unpaid liens, and the association must furnish it within 10 days. Failure to provide the statement to a licensed escrow agent extinguishes the lien for the unpaid assessment then due.^1,2 Payments must be applied first to unpaid assessments, then to late charges, collection fees, and court-awarded attorney fees, before any amount is applied to other fees and penalties.^1,2 Most associations also provide periodic statements of account.^1,2

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

Recording a separate claim of lien is optional, not a statutory prerequisite — recording the declaration perfects the lien.² Where a declaration or title practice calls for it, the association records a notice and claim of lien with the county recorder in the county where the property sits. Before filing suit, the board must make reasonable efforts to communicate with the owner and offer a reasonable payment plan — a step the statute makes mandatory for both chapters.^1,2 The 30-day certified-mail notice described in Section 3A serves as the statutory pre-foreclosure notice. Arizona does not require a recorded board vote by statute, mandatory mediation, or a notice of intent separate from the 30-day notice. Whether a board vote is needed turns on the declaration and bylaws, not the statute, so a board should confirm its own documents before delegating the decision to management or counsel.^1,2

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Foreclosure is judicial only. The statutes provide that the common expense lien "may be foreclosed in the same manner as a mortgage on real estate," and because Arizona mortgages are foreclosed judicially, the association must file a civil action in Superior Court, obtain a judgment and decree of foreclosure, and sell through a sheriff's sale.^1,2 Non-judicial trustee's sales are not available for assessment liens.

The threshold addresses the central Arizona question directly. A condominium association may foreclose only if the owner has been and remains delinquent in the payment of assessments for one year or owes $1,200 or more — whichever occurs first — measured on the date the action is filed.¹ A planned community association, after SB1494 took effect on September 26, 2025, may foreclose only if the owner has been and remains delinquent in any assessment or portion of an assessment for 18 months or owes $10,000 or more — whichever occurs first — measured on the date the action is filed.^2,3 The threshold counts only assessments. As CHDB Law summarizes the planned community trigger, foreclosure is barred unless "the total delinquent assessment amount is $10,000 or more, excluding late fees, interest, collection fees and attorney fees and costs," or the assessment has been delinquent for 18 months or longer.⁷ Fines and non-assessment charges cannot support a foreclosure at all — they are not part of the foreclosable lien.⁵ A premature suit can be dismissed. The judicial timeline commonly runs several months or longer, depending on the Superior Court's calendar and any defenses raised.

3D. Post-sale: redemption, deficiency, surplus, reinstatement

A judicial foreclosure carries a statutory right of redemption. The judgment debtor or a successor in interest may redeem within six months after the sheriff's sale, reduced to 30 days if the court determines the property was abandoned and not used primarily for agricultural or grazing purposes.⁴ Junior lienholders, including an association holding a junior lien, may redeem in successive periods after the owner's period expires.⁸ A money judgment for the debt is available, and the statutes expressly preserve actions to recover the amounts the lien secures. Any deficiency after sale is measured against the greater of the sale price or fair market value under Arizona's execution-sale credit rules.^1,9 Surplus proceeds from a foreclosure of the association's junior lien flow to junior interests in their order of priority and then to the owner; a senior lienholder whose lien survives the sale has no claim to the surplus.¹⁰ An owner may stop the process by curing the arrears or paying off the debt before sale, and the mandatory payment-plan offer provides an additional avenue to resolve the delinquency before suit.^1,2

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published Arizona appellate opinion in the past 36 months squarely interprets assessment-lien priority over a mortgage or the mechanics of judicial foreclosure under § 33-1256 or § 33-1807. The closest in-window decision from the Arizona Supreme Court interprets how amendments to the Condominium Act apply to associations.

On surplus distribution in association lien foreclosures, the controlling Division Two authority is Tortosa Homeowners Ass'n v. Garcia, No. 2 CA-CV 2021-0114 (Ariz. Ct. App. Div. Two, Aug. 1, 2022), which held that a senior lienholder whose lien survives a junior HOA lien foreclosure has no right to the excess sale proceeds under A.R.S. § 33-727(B).¹⁰ It falls just outside the 36-month window but remains good law.

C. Active legislative debates

The recent trend moves toward tightening association foreclosure rights, with bills in 2024 and 2025 raising the planned community threshold and narrowing the foreclosable lien. The Travis Law Firm observes that "it is very likely that legislators will continue to try and limit an association's ability to foreclose on unpaid assessments and related charges" in future sessions.¹¹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nationally, Arizona belongs with California and Colorado in the threshold-restricted category — states where a statute bars foreclosure until the assessment debt reaches a set dollar amount or delinquency period. That places Arizona apart from super-priority states like Nevada, whose nine-month lien is the reference point, and from Connecticut and several UCIOA states that grant a priority portion ahead of the first mortgage, and apart from CC&R-primary states that leave collection to the declaration with no collections statute. For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is clear: an Arizona account cannot be escalated to foreclosure on the same timetable used in a super-priority state, and the planned community track now diverges sharply from the condominium track within Arizona itself. Arizona's direction of travel is toward stronger owner protections and higher thresholds, demonstrated by the 2025 increase to 18 months or $10,000 for planned communities. The FDCPA, the bankruptcy automatic stay, and the SCRA apply to Arizona collections regardless of the state framework.

1. A.R.S. § 33-1256, Common expense liens; priority; mechanics' and materialmen's liens; notice; applicability (condominiums) ↩
2. A.R.S. § 33-1807, Common expense liens; priority; mechanics' and materialmen's liens; notice (planned communities) ↩
3. SB1494, Chapter 71, Laws 2025, amending A.R.S. § 33-1807 ↩
4. A.R.S. § 12-1282, Time for redemption ↩
5. HB2648, Chapter 151, Laws 2024, amending A.R.S. §§ 33-1202, 33-1256, 33-1802, 33-1807 ↩
6. A.R.S. § 12-548, Contract in writing for debt; six year limitation ↩
7. CHDB Law, "The HOA's Right to Foreclose" (analysis of A.R.S. §§ 33-1807, 33-1256 thresholds) ↩
8. A.R.S. § 12-1283, Redemption upon foreclosure ↩
9. A.R.S. § 12-1566, Execution upon judgments for debts secured by real property; fair market value; redemption ↩
10. A.R.S. § 33-727, Sale of property; application of proceeds; Tortosa Homeowners Ass'n v. Garcia, No. 2 CA-CV 2021-0114 (Ariz. App. Div. Two, Aug. 1, 2022) ↩
11. Travis Law Firm, "2025 Arizona Legislative Update" (SB1494 analysis) ↩
12. Cao v. PFP Dorsey Investments, LLC, 545 P.3d 459 (Ariz. Mar. 22, 2024) ↩