The rules side, which did not go away

Section 57-8a-218 remains the longer catalogue, and S.B. 122 was not its only 2026 amendment — the compiled code's history line for that section reads “Amended by Chapter 79, 2026 General Session,” a different act from the Chapter 62 that carried the declaration changes.² Its political-sign provision is the one most often quoted:

“(4)(a) A rule may not prohibit a lot owner from displaying a political sign or flag on: (i) a lot; (ii) the exterior of the dwelling, regardless of whether the association has an ownership interest in the exterior; or (iii) the front yard of the dwelling…(b)…a rule may not regulate the content of a political sign or flag. (c) A rule may restrict a political sign or flag that contains obscene, profane, or commercial content. (d) A rule may reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner of posting a political sign or flag. (e) An association design provision may not establish design criteria for a political sign or flag.”

The two provisions cover different ground and now stack. The rules section reaches the lot, the dwelling exterior and the front yard. The declaration section reaches a window. An owner in a community whose declaration bans window signage and whose rules ban yard signage is, after May 6, 2026, protected in both places by different subsections of two different chapters. Our Utah political signs and Utah flag display pages set out how the protections interlock, including the separate United States flag provision at § 57-8a-219.

The retroactivity clause is the part that bites

Section 57-8a-218(25) says: “This section applies to an association regardless of when the association is created.” Section 57-8a-104(5) carries the same sentence for the governing-document amendment limits, and § 57-8a-103(3) makes the whole chapter's applicability test date-blind: “This section applies regardless of when an association is created.”

Utah has been re-stamping that language into individual sections as it amends them. The effect is that a 1978 declaration is no better positioned than a 2026 one on any of these subjects — a point the state's ombudsman applied directly in Advisory Opinion 2026-15, holding a 2002-recorded covenant provision unenforceable because “a protection that remains in effect regardless of when the Association's CC&Rs were recorded” governed instead.³

The water provisions, read together

The drought and park-strip clauses in § 57-8a-212(4) overlap with § 57-8a-231, the standalone water-wise landscaping section, which was itself amended twice in the 2025 session. That section adds a dimension the declaration provision does not: “Except where reasonably necessary for erosion control, an association may not require a lot owner to install or keep in place lawn or turf in an area less than eight feet wide.” It also carries its own remedy — injunctive relief, “$500, or the lot owner's actual damages, whichever is greater,” plus fees and costs — available after the association fails to remedy noncompliance. Our Utah water conservation page sets out the difference between the community-association and condominium treatment, which is substantial.

What an association is left with

Design authority did not disappear. Section 57-8a-218(23) is a single sentence — “A rule shall be reasonable.” — and § 57-8a-218(13) protects an owner mid-process: a rule “may not divest a lot owner of the right to proceed in accordance with a completed application for design review…under the terms of the governing documents in existence at the time the completed application was submitted.” Section 57-8a-217 still governs how a board adopts or changes a rule or design criterion, including the 15-day notice, the open forum, and the 60-day window in which 51% of allocated voting interests can disapprove the change.

What to watch next

Two different 2026 acts amended the rule-limits section in the same session, and a third (Chapter 123) reached the registration sections. Utah's HOA statutes have now been substantially rewritten in three consecutive sessions, and the ombudsman's office is running a listening tour through the rest of 2026 aimed at the 2027 bill.⁴