Arizona Supreme Court lets HOAs sue builders over homes they do not own
Arizona Supreme Court lets HOAs sue builders over homes they do not own
2026-09-10 · Arizona · Courts
An Arizona homeowners association may sue a builder for construction defects in homes the association does not own and never bought. The Arizona Supreme Court so held on July 29, 2026 in Gallery Community Association v. K. Hovnanian at Gallery, LLC, a published opinion authored by Justice Montgomery.1
Chief Justice Timmer dissented, joined by Justice King.
The obstacle the case removed
Arizona's implied warranty of workmanship and habitability is a creature of contract. It runs to a home buyer, including a subsequent purchaser, and it has traditionally required the plaintiff to stand in a purchaser's shoes. An association is not a purchaser. It buys nothing from the builder, and in most communities it does not own the houses.
That left associations in an awkward position: the entity with the resources, the standing motive and the professional management to pursue a defect claim across an entire subdivision was the one entity arguably unable to bring it.
What the court held
The question, as the opinion frames it, was “whether, by enacting A.R.S. § 33-2002, the Legislature has authorized a homeowners' association to bring such a suit regarding both common areas it owns and properties owned by individual homeowners.”
The answer was yes:
We hold that, because § 33-2002 and related statutes encompass a cause of action for construction defects arising out of a failure to adhere to community workmanship standards, the Legislature has modified the common law to authorize homeowners' associations to bring what constitutes an implied warranty suit.
Two features of that sentence carry the weight. The court did not find privity or reinterpret the common-law warranty; it held the legislature displaced the common-law limits by statute. And the authorization reaches both categories of property — common areas the association owns, and homes it does not.
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