2026-09-09 · Idaho · Regulation

What happened. On 8 May 2026 Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced settlements with two homeowners associations and one management company over transfer fees charged to homeowners that were never disclosed in the governing documents.¹

The respondents are Pristine Springs Homeowners Association (Ada County), Armstrong Park Homeowners Association (Kootenai County) and Park Pointe Management Services (Ada County), which the Attorney General's office says contracts with roughly 70 associations statewide.

The settlements took the form of Assurances of Voluntary Compliance under the Idaho Homeowner's Association Act and the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. This matters beyond the three named respondents, because Idaho has no agency that licenses or supervises community associations — and this is the clearest signal yet about what fills that gap.

The terms

• Armstrong Park HOA must refund $195 per improperly charged homeowner within 30 days.
• Park Pointe Management Services must identify and refund all homeowners from whom it improperly collected transfer fees, within 90 days — an obligation that runs across the communities it manages, not only the two named associations.
• All three remain subject to Attorney General monitoring of their fee practices.

Labrador's statement puts the theory plainly: “Idaho families work hard to buy a home, and they deserve to know every cost before they sign. Hidden fees collected without legal authority violate Idaho law, and we will hold HOAs and the companies that manage them accountable.”

The statute behind it

The rule the Attorney General enforced is not new and is not ambiguous. Idaho Code § 55-3205 provides that an association shall not charge a transfer fee unless the authority to do so is expressly stated in the declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions — and that such a fee may be charged only by the association itself, with no portion going to third parties or managers.²

That section was added by the 2022 recodification (Chapter 323) and amended in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The transfer-fee restriction arrived with House Bill 589 in 2024, Chapter 162.

1. Idaho Attorney General, "AG Labrador Cracks Down on HOAs Charging Illegal Fees to Idaho Homeowners" (8 May 2026) ↩
2. Idaho Code § 55-3205, fee and financial disclosures; transfer fees (added 2022 ch. 323; amended 2023, 2024, 2025) ↩
3. Idaho Attorney General, companion letter on illegal HOA fees (8 May 2026) ↩
4. Idaho Consumer Protection Act, Idaho Code § 48-601 et seq. (Idaho State Legislature) ↩