2. The statutory framework

The Arizona Condominium Act, A.R.S. § 33-1201 et seq., governs how every condominium in the state is created, altered, terminated, and managed. Section 33-1201 applies the chapter to all condominiums "without regard to the date the condominium was created," subject to limited carve-outs for pre-1986 declarations.¹ The Act is organized into four articles. Article 1 covers general provisions, definitions, and variation under § 33-1202 and § 33-1203. Article 2 covers creation, alteration, and termination, including § 33-1211's recorded-declaration requirement and § 33-1228's termination procedure. Article 3 covers management, including § 33-1242 association powers, § 33-1243 board duties and annual audit, § 33-1248 open meetings, and § 33-1250 voting and proxies. Article 4 covers administration, including § 33-1270's reference to the Department of Real Estate.⁶

Section 33-1202 defines the key terms, among them "association," "common elements," "common expense liability," "common expense lien," "declaration," "development rights," "limited common element," and "unit."⁷ Section 33-1260 mandates resale disclosure. In condominiums of fewer than fifty units, the unit owner delivers the package; in condominiums of fifty or more units, the association does. Either way, delivery must happen within ten days of written notice of a pending sale, and the package must include the bylaws, rules, the declaration, current assessment information, reserve balances, insurance status, pending litigation, and a signed acknowledgment statement. The association may charge an aggregate fee of no more than $400, plus a $100 rush fee and a $50 update fee.⁸

Condo-specific owner-protective provisions include § 33-439, which voids any restriction that effectively prohibits installing or using a solar energy device as defined in § 44-1761, and which applies to both condominiums and planned communities;⁹ § 33-1261, which protects flags, for-sale signs, and political signs; and § 33-1260.01, which secures rental rights subject to declaration time-period restrictions.

Chapter 9 differs from UCIOA in several ways that matter day to day. Arizona has not adopted UCIOA's deemed-rejection budget ratification mechanism. It has not adopted UCIOA's super-priority assessment lien against first mortgages. And it retains the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act's framework on declarant rights and termination, with state-specific amendments such as the 2018 revisions to § 33-1228.¹⁰ UCIOA provisions from Colorado, Connecticut, or another UCIOA jurisdiction do not carry into Arizona law.

The Arizona Planned Communities Act, A.R.S. § 33-1801 et seq., applies to "all planned communities" in the state. Section 33-1802 defines a planned community as a real estate development with a nonprofit or unincorporated association that holds the recorded power to assess members. The chapter exempts schools that receive state funds, timeshare plans subject to Chapter 20, and pre-1974 owner associations that lack authority to enforce use covenants.²

Chapter 16 runs as a single article, numbered in sequence from § 33-1801 through § 33-1820. Core provisions include § 33-1803 (assessment limitations, fining authority, and late-fee caps); § 33-1804 (open meetings, executive session limits, and agenda delivery); § 33-1805 (records access); § 33-1806 (resale disclosures); § 33-1806.01 (rental property and agent disclosures); § 33-1807 (assessment liens and foreclosure thresholds); § 33-1808 (flag display, political signs, caution signs, for-sale signs, and political activities); § 33-1810 (annual audit); § 33-1811 (board contracts and conflicts); § 33-1812 (proxies and absentee ballots); § 33-1813 (board member removal); § 33-1816 (solar energy devices); § 33-1817 (declaration amendment and architectural review); § 33-1818 (community authority over public roadways); § 33-1819 (artificial turf); and § 33-1820 (declarant control termination, added in 2024).¹¹ HB 4011 (Laws 2026, Ch. 125, effective September 12, 2026) adds a new free-standing section, § 33-1821: "The association has a duty to act reasonably in the exercise of its discretionary powers," defined to include acting "neutrally, fairly, without favoritism and in a nonarbitrary fashion"; the same act adds a parallel § 33-1242(E) for condominiums.¹²

Resale disclosure under § 33-1806 mirrors the condominium framework, with planned-community-specific items. In planned communities with fewer than fifty units, the selling member delivers the package; in communities of fifty or more units, the association delivers it within ten days of written notice of a pending sale.¹³

Owner-protective provisions specific to Chapter 16 include § 33-1816, which states that "an association shall not prohibit the installation or use of a solar energy device as defined in section 44-1761," and which shifts attorney fees to any party who substantially prevails;¹⁴ § 33-1808, which protects display of the American flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Arizona state flag, the Arizona Indian nations flag, the Gadsden flag, the first responder flag, blue star and gold star service flags, and historic versions of the American flag, and which limits the window for restricting political signs to outside the 71-day pre-election to 15-day post-election period;¹⁵ and § 33-1806.01, which provides that "a member may use the member's property as a rental property unless prohibited in the declaration" and limits the information an association may demand about tenants.¹⁶

Chapter 16 differs from Chapter 9 in several mechanical ways. It contains no analogs to several condominium-specific provisions on unit boundaries, plats, and limited common elements. The assessment-limitation cap in § 33-1803 — regular assessments cannot rise more than 20% over the prior fiscal year without a majority member vote — has no condo parallel.¹⁷ The 2025 amendment to § 33-1807 raised the planned-community foreclosure threshold to 18 months delinquent or $10,000, and the parallel condominium threshold in § 33-1256 stayed at 12 months or $1,200 until SB 1246 (Laws 2026, Ch. 162) aligned it with § 33-1807 effective September 12, 2026.^18,19 Practitioners must treat the two chapters as separate statutes.

Both Chapter 9 and Chapter 16 let declarations vary the statutory defaults, but specified provisions are mandatory and cannot be waived. Section 33-1203 of Chapter 9 addresses variation directly. Within each chapter, the order of precedence runs from the chapter itself (its mandatory provisions control), then the recorded declaration, then the articles of incorporation, then the bylaws, then the rules and regulations the board adopts.²⁰

Most Arizona community associations organize as nonprofit corporations, so they also answer to the Arizona Nonprofit Corporation Act, A.R.S. § 10-3101 et seq. That Act governs corporate formation, director fiduciary duties, member rights, indemnification, and dissolution. Where it conflicts with Chapter 9 or Chapter 16, the community association statute controls; where it does not conflict, both apply.²¹ In a published 2026 decision, the Court of Appeals held that a member's claim that the association failed to maintain common areas ("the clubhouse or the shared parks") is derivative, so the Act's derivative-suit provisions, A.R.S. §§ 10-3631 and 10-3632, apply: at least 50 members or 25% of the voting power, and a written demand before suit.²² That same corporate-formation act settles a federal question many boards still ask about: because an Arizona nonprofit association comes into existence by filing with the state, it is a "domestic entity" under the current federal beneficial-ownership reporting rule and owes no BOI report to FinCEN, a status HOA Weekly's federal Corporate Transparency Act coverage tracks in detail.²³ Common-law contract and property doctrine still governs how courts interpret the declaration and how they handle CC&R amendment challenges — as the Arizona Supreme Court confirmed in Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC and as Division One of the Court of Appeals applied in Gross v. The Shores at Rainbow Lake Community Association.²⁴

3. Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

Governance obligations

Open meeting obligations come from § 33-1248 (condos) and § 33-1804 (planned communities). Both sections require board meetings to be open to members, and both define a narrow set of permissible executive session topics — legal advice, pending litigation, personal employment matters, and member appeals. As amended by HB 2662 in 2024, both require the agenda to accompany the meeting notice: at least 48 hours before board meetings, and 10 to 50 days before member meetings.²⁵ SB 1039 (2025), which Governor Hobbs signed on March 31, 2025 and which took effect September 26, 2025, requires an association to retain any board recording of an open meeting for at least six months and to make it available, unedited, on member request.²⁶ Both provisions are mandatory. SB 1290 (Laws 2026, Ch. 222, effective September 12, 2026) inserts the words "without action" into § 33-1804(A), the planned-community provision on matters a board may take up in closed session; the condominium counterpart, § 33-1248, was not amended and still reads "consideration of."²⁷

Records access comes from § 33-1258 (condos) and § 33-1805 (planned communities). Associations must make financial and other records reasonably available within ten business days, with limited exceptions for attorney-client privileged material, executive session minutes, pending litigation, and personnel matters. This is mandatory.

Board duties and audit obligations appear in § 33-1243 (condos) and § 33-1810 (planned communities). Both require an annual financial audit, review, or compilation, completed within 180 days of fiscal year-end and made available within 30 days of completion. Section 33-1242 (condos) and § 33-1803 (planned communities) codify board powers and member-violation notice procedures; both require notice and an opportunity to be heard before an association imposes fines.²⁸ This is mandatory.

Financial obligations

Assessment authority flows from the declaration. Section 33-1803 (planned communities only) caps regular assessment increases at 20% of the prior fiscal year without a majority member vote.¹⁷ Chapter 9 sets no parallel statutory cap. Section 33-1803 also caps planned-community late-payment fees at the greater of $15 or 10% of the unpaid assessment; Chapter 9 sets no parallel late-fee cap.

Arizona does not require a reserve study or reserve funding by statute. But § 33-1260 (condos) and § 33-1806 (planned communities) require disclosure of reserve balances at resale, and § 33-1806(A)(8) requires planned communities with fifty or more lots to deliver the most recent reserve study, if any, with the resale package.²⁹ Disclosure is mandatory; funding is voluntary.

Section 33-1256 (condos) and § 33-1807 (planned communities) govern assessment liens and foreclosure. After the 2025 SB 1494 amendment, a planned community may foreclose only when an owner is delinquent 18 months or $10,000, whichever comes first; since SB 1246 took effect on September 12, 2026, the condominium threshold under § 33-1256 is the same, replacing the prior 12 months or $1,200, and for a special assessment with an initial value of $10,000 or more only the eighteen-month threshold applies under both sections.^18,19 This is mandatory.

Disclosure obligations

Resale disclosure under § 33-1260 (condos) and § 33-1806 (planned communities) requires delivery of the bylaws, rules, declaration, current assessment status, reserve information, insurance status, pending litigation, and an acknowledgment signature within ten days of written notice. Fees are capped at an aggregate $400, plus a $100 rush fee and a $50 update fee.⁸ This is mandatory.

Rental-related disclosure under § 33-1260.01 (condos) and § 33-1806.01 (planned communities) requires the member to give the association the tenant's name, contact information, and designated-agent identity. The association may not demand the lease, the rental application, credit reports, or other personal information beyond what the statute authorizes.¹⁶ This is mandatory.

Violation notice content under § 33-1242 (condos) and § 33-1803 (planned communities) must identify the specific provision violated, the date of the violation, the observer's name, the process to contest it, and a statement of the member's right to petition the Department of Real Estate under § 32-2199.01.³⁰ This is mandatory.

Dispute resolution obligations

Internal due process — notice of a violation and an opportunity to be heard — is mandatory under § 33-1242 (condos) and § 33-1803 (planned communities) before any monetary penalty.²⁸

Administrative dispute resolution runs through A.R.S. § 32-2199 et seq. (Title 32, Chapter 20, Article 11). Either party to a dispute between an owner and a condominium or planned community association may petition the Department of Real Estate for a hearing about violations of the documents or of Title 33, Chapter 9 or 16. The Commissioner refers properly framed petitions to the Office of Administrative Hearings, where an administrative law judge hears the matter and may order compliance and civil penalties.⁴ The filing fee is $800 per issue. ADRE does not regulate ongoing HOA operations and cannot answer legal questions; its statutory role is limited to administering the dispute process.³¹

Superior Court keeps jurisdiction over assessment foreclosure actions (§ 33-1256, § 33-1807), declaratory judgment actions on CC&R interpretation and amendment, breach of fiduciary duty claims against directors, and any dispute outside the jurisdiction defined in § 32-2199.01. Appeals run to the Arizona Court of Appeals — Division One in Phoenix, Division Two in Tucson — with discretionary review by the Arizona Supreme Court.

4. Arizona's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Arizona lawmakers have spent recent sessions fine-tuning how associations collect debts, define liens, and regulate political displays.

Recent court rulings

Arizona's appellate courts have recently clarified how condominium terminations and CC&R amendments hold up when owners push back.

Active legislative debates

The 2026 session brought a wave of HOA bills covering foreclosure parity, disclosure remedies, board conduct, assessment caps, virtual meetings, and pet rules. SB 1246, HB 2397, HB 4011 and SB 1290 were signed and took effect September 12, 2026; the others were not enacted before the session adjourned on June 13, 2026.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Arizona sits alongside California (the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act), Florida (Chapter 718 condominiums and Chapter 720 planned communities), and Texas (Property Code Chapters 81–82 and 209) as a comprehensive non-UCIOA jurisdiction. What sets Arizona apart is its two-statute architecture — Chapter 9 for condos, Chapter 16 for planned communities, never cross-applied — a strong owner-protective overlay (statutory solar rights with mandatory fee-shifting, expansive flag and political sign protections, and statutory baseline rental rights), and a dispute resolution framework that channels owner-versus-association petitions through ADRE and the Office of Administrative Hearings under § 32-2199 et seq. while leaving foreclosure and broader equitable disputes in Superior Court. An Arizona template cannot be derived from a California or UCIOA playbook, because the citations differ chapter by chapter.

6. Closing note

HOA Weekly's Arizona Governing Statute coverage tracks legislative amendments, ADRE guidance, and appellate rulings interpreting Chapters 9 and 16. Federal frameworks — including the Fair Housing Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Over-the-Air Reception Devices rule — also apply to Arizona associations, and HOA Weekly's federal HOA law coverage tracks each of them separately.