Arizona HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

Chapter 9 governs condominiums and Chapter 16 governs planned communities. The two statutes run parallel but distinct provisions with different section numbers, so EV-charging values need to be drawn from the correct chapter for each column. Where no EV-specific provision exists, the general provisions of each chapter plus the declaration control.

Section 1: Overview — How EV charging is regulated for HOAs in Arizona

Arizona has written no statute that specifically governs electric vehicle charging in community associations. A direct review of the Arizona Revised Statutes confirms it: neither Title 33, Chapter 9, the Condominium Act, nor Title 33, Chapter 16, the Planned Communities Act, contains an EV-charging provision — including in the sections immediately around the solar-rights language.¹ Where the statute stays silent, the recorded declaration and the general provisions of the applicable chapter control.

Arizona regulates the two community types under separate, parallel statutes. Condominiums fall under Chapter 9, based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act with Arizona's own amendments,² while non-condominium planned communities fall under Chapter 16, a bespoke Arizona framework.³ Both apply alongside the declaration, and their provisions aren't interchangeable.

Arizona does protect several owner activities by statute — solar energy devices, flag and political-sign display, residential rental activity — but those are separate provisions, and none of them creates an EV-charging right.⁴ Strong solar protection doesn't imply EV-charging protection.

Nationally, Arizona sits with the majority of states that have no EV-charging-specific statute — a different path from states like California, where Civil Code § 4745 makes any governing-document provision that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts an owner's charging station void and unenforceable.⁵ The sections below work through the statutory framework, the operational rules for boards and managers, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. EV-charging-specific law in Arizona

Arizona has no EV-charging-specific statute for community associations. That conclusion comes from a direct search of the two governing chapters. Chapter 9, the Condominium Act, runs from § 33-1201 through § 33-1270, and Chapter 16, the Planned Communities Act, runs from § 33-1801 through § 33-1819. Neither contains a section addressing electric vehicle charging stations, and no such language turns up adjacent to the solar provisions, where several other states placed it.¹

The consequence matters. Because no EV statute exists, there's no statutory override of the declaration, no statutory approval timeline, no statutory deemed-approval rule, and no statutory cap on the conditions an association may impose. The recorded declaration and the general provisions of the applicable chapter are the controlling instruments.

Arizona's owner-protective provisions are separate, and none of them reaches EV charging. Section 33-1816 bars planned communities from prohibiting a solar energy device,⁴ and the general provision at § 33-439 voids any covenant that effectively prohibits a solar device on any real property.⁶ Flag and political-sign display are protected at § 33-1808 for planned communities and § 33-1261 for condominiums,^7,8 and residential rental activity is protected at § 33-1806.01 for planned communities and § 33-1260.01 for condominiums.^9,10 None of these creates an EV-charging right. No bill introduced in the 2022 through 2026 sessions would have created EV-charging rules for Arizona associations.¹¹

2B. Condominiums: how Title 33 Chapter 9's general provisions bear on EV charging

Chapter 9 applies to every condominium in Arizona regardless of when it was created, and it's based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act.² It contains no EV-charging provision, so the analysis turns on where the proposed station would sit and on the association's general authority over that space.

A unit owner holds statutory authority to make certain alterations within the unit under § 33-1221, provided the work doesn't impair structural integrity, mechanical systems, or support, and doesn't touch the common elements without authorization.¹² A charging station wholly within the boundaries of the unit, including an attached garage defined as part of the unit, sits closest to this authority, subject to the declaration.

Where installation requires using or altering a common element, association authority takes over. Assigned parking is typically a limited common element under § 33-1218,¹³ and any conveyance or encumbrance of common elements requires the supermajority — and, for limited common elements, the affected owners' consent — set out in § 33-1252.¹⁴ The association handles upkeep of the common elements under § 33-1247 and holds broad management powers under § 33-1242.^15,16 Architectural and design review for condominiums is a matter of the declaration rather than a Chapter 9 mandate. In sum, Chapter 9 neither compels nor prohibits EV charging. It stays silent, and the declaration controls where the statute doesn't speak.

2C. Planned communities: Title 33 Chapter 16, plus the role of CC&Rs and corporate law

Chapter 16 is the governing planned-community statute, and it applies to every planned community in Arizona.³ Unlike Alabama and Arkansas, Arizona planned communities answer to a statute — the planned-community track here isn't a declaration-only track. Chapter 16 contains no EV-charging provision, so the association's authority over the lot, the common areas, and exterior modifications rests on the declaration read together with the chapter's general provisions.

Architectural and design review gets addressed directly by statute for planned communities. Section 33-1817 requires that any design or architectural review committee include a board member as chairperson, sets out a trust-account and inspection process where an association charges a security deposit for new construction or rebuilds of a main residential structure, and provides that approval of architectural designs, plans, and amendments shall not be unreasonably withheld.¹⁷ The statute says nothing about EV charging, so an owner's charging request gets processed under the declaration's architectural standards, subject to this framework.

The order of precedence runs from the statute's non-variable provisions, to statutory defaults as the declaration modifies them, to the declaration, then the bylaws, then the rules. For associations organized as nonprofit corporations — the common structure — the Arizona Nonprofit Corporation Act at § 10-3101 et seq. supplies corporate-formality scaffolding for meetings, records, and board action, but grants no EV-specific authority.¹⁸ Where both the statute and the declaration stay silent, common-law contract and property doctrine governing equitable servitudes applies.

Section 3: What HOAs can and cannot do regarding EV charging

A. Installation rights and prohibitions

Because no EV statute exists, an association may prohibit or condition an owner's charging station only to the extent its declaration authorizes it, and no statutory limit constrains a prohibition. For condominiums, that authority flows from the declaration read with Chapter 9's provisions on units and common elements;¹² for planned communities, it flows from the declaration read with Chapter 16.³ The practical distinction is between prohibiting installation outright, which a declaration may permit, and conditioning it, the more common approach. No Arizona statute requires an association to allow charging — true for both community types.

B. Conditions an association may impose

Subject to the declaration, an association may require architectural review of the method, the equipment, and the cable routing. For planned communities, that review operates within § 33-1817;¹⁷ for condominiums, review is purely a creature of the declaration. An association may require professional or licensed installation and compliance with applicable building and electrical codes as a declaration-based condition, true for both community types. It may allocate liability to the owner and require indemnification and insurance where the declaration allows, since no Arizona statute sets an insurance figure or a certificate deadline. By contrast, California Civil Code § 4745(f)(3) requires the station owner to maintain a liability coverage policy and provide the association a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval — a statutory mandate Arizona simply doesn't have, true for both community types.⁵ It may impose aesthetic and location standards through the declaration and architectural rules, true for both. The declaration, and the general reasonableness required of associations, sets the ceiling on these conditions — not any EV statute.

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

No Arizona statute assigns installation cost, electricity cost, metering, maintenance, or damage responsibility for EV charging, so the declaration governs each, true for both community types. In practice, declarations that address owner improvements place installation, electricity, and upkeep on the owner, but that's a contractual result, not a statutory one. On the utility-resale question, an owner charging a personal vehicle on a private meter generally isn't reselling utility service. The Arizona Corporation Commission — not a public service commission — regulates public utilities in the state and has issued EV policy guidance to the utilities it oversees.¹⁹

D. Where the station may be installed

For condominiums, location is the controlling question. A station within the separate interest — the unit, including an attached garage defined as part of the unit — sits closest to the owner's alteration authority under § 33-1221.¹² A station in a limited common element such as assigned parking, or in a general common element, brings in association control over common elements under §§ 33-1218 and 33-1252 and the declaration.^13,14 For planned communities, the owner's lot, driveway, or assigned space falls under Chapter 16 and the declaration, with exterior work subject to architectural review under § 33-1817.¹⁷

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill introduced in the Arizona Legislature during the 2024, 2025, or 2026 regular sessions would create or amend EV-charging rules for community associations. A review of the Title 33, Chapter 9 and Chapter 16 bills tracked across those sessions shows activity concentrated on foreclosure thresholds, meeting recordings, political signs, and dispute-resolution administration — no EV-charging measure among them.¹¹ Because no EV-charging bill has moved in the past 24 months, this subsection carries no card or operational-impact table.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published opinion from the Arizona Court of Appeals — Division One in Phoenix or Division Two in Tucson — or the Arizona Supreme Court, in the past 36 months, touches EV charging or common-element or lot alterations specific to charging equipment.²⁰ Arizona's appellate courts have decided community-association disputes in this window on other subjects, such as an association's authority to bring construction-defect claims, but none of them turns on EV charging or the alteration authority a charging dispute would raise. Because no qualifying ruling exists, this subsection carries no card or operational-impact table.

C. Active legislative debates

No active proposal in the Arizona Legislature would create EV-charging rights or restrictions for community associations, as of July 2026. Recent HOA reform debate has centered on foreclosure limits, board-meeting procedure, and declaration amendments — not EV charging.¹¹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Arizona sits in the largest of three national groups on EV charging in community associations. The first group comprises states with EV-charging-station mandates that void or limit HOA prohibitions — California, under Civil Code § 4745, which also requires a response to a charging application within 60 days, with silence counted as approval, and Colorado, under C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.8.^5,21 A second, narrower group addresses charging inside a condominium or HOA act, as in Florida, whose Statute § 718.113 bars a condominium declaration from prohibiting a unit owner from installing a charging station within the owner's limited common element parking area.²¹ The third group, and the largest, comprises states with no EV-charging-specific statute, where the declaration controls. Industry surveys place only about a dozen jurisdictions in the right-to-charge group, leaving most states, Arizona among them, without one. Based on the verified threshold result, Arizona falls in that third group, even though it's a two-statute state with strong owner-protective provisions in other areas, like solar, flags, and rental. For a multi-state operator entering Arizona, the practical implication is that charging requests are governed by each community's declaration and architectural process rather than by a statutory right-to-charge — so governing documents need a close read. This remains a fast-moving area, and Arizona's status is worth rechecking every quarter.

HOA Weekly's Arizona EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and courts act, and we re-verify the threshold question — whether a statute exists — each cycle. Federal incentives may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access.

Footnotes

1. A.R.S. Title 33, section index for Chapter 9 (§§ 33-1201 to 33-1270) and Chapter 16 (§§ 33-1801 to 33-1819); no EV-charging section appears in either chapter ↩
2. A.R.S. § 33-1201, Applicability, Arizona Condominium Act (Title 33, Chapter 9) ↩
3. A.R.S. § 33-1801 et seq., Arizona Planned Communities Act (Title 33, Chapter 16), section index ↩
4. A.R.S. § 33-1816, Solar energy devices; reasonable restrictions; fees and costs ↩
5. California Civil Code § 4745 (EV charging stations in common interest developments), including subsection (f)(3) insurance requirement and 60-day application response rule ↩
6. A.R.S. § 33-439, Restrictions on installation or use of solar energy devices invalid; exception ↩
7. A.R.S. § 33-1808, Flag display; political signs; for sale signs; political and community activities (planned communities) ↩
8. A.R.S. § 33-1261, Flag display; for sale signs; political signs; political and community activities (condominiums) ↩
9. A.R.S. § 33-1806.01, Rental property; member and agent information (planned communities) ↩
10. A.R.S. § 33-1260.01, Rental property; unit owner and agent information (condominiums) ↩
11. Arizona HOA legislative summaries for 2024-2026 sessions; no EV-charging measure among tracked Chapter 9 and Chapter 16 bills ↩
12. A.R.S. § 33-1221, Alterations of units ↩
13. A.R.S. § 33-1218, Limited common elements ↩
14. A.R.S. § 33-1252, Conveyance or encumbrance of common elements ↩
15. A.R.S. § 33-1247, Upkeep of the condominium ↩
16. A.R.S. § 33-1242, Powers of unit owners' association ↩
17. A.R.S. § 33-1817, Declaration amendment; design, architectural committees; review ↩
18. Arizona Nonprofit Corporation Act, A.R.S. § 10-3101 et seq. (corporate governance for associations organized as nonprofits) ↩
19. Arizona Corporation Commission EV policy statement, summarized at U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center ↩
20. Arizona Judiciary; Court of Appeals Division One (Phoenix) and Division Two (Tucson), with review by the Arizona Supreme Court ↩
21. Colorado Revised Statutes § 38-33.3-106.8 and Florida Statutes § 718.113 (EV charging in common interest communities and condominiums), reference compilation ↩