Utah HOA Records Inspection
Section 1 — Overview: How records inspection works in Utah
Two parallel statutes govern association records in Utah, and the difference in which one applies matters. The Utah Condominium Ownership Act (Title 57, Chapter 8) covers condominiums; the Utah Community Association Act (Title 57, Chapter 8a) covers planned communities. Each carries its own records-inspection provision—§ 57-8-17 for condominiums, § 57-8a-227 for community associations—and both sit alongside a separate HOA registration requirement administered by the Department of Commerce.1,2 The two chapters share nearly identical section numbers, but their records provisions are separate texts that must not be transposed—though a 2026 amendment brought them into close alignment.1 The registration requirement (§ 57-8a-105 for community associations and § 57-8-13.1 for condominiums) establishes a filing-and-renewal regime, not a records-enforcement mechanism; the records provisions handle that separately, specifying which documents associations must keep and make available.3,4 Utah chooses a fixed statutory deadline over a reasonableness standard: an association must comply with a records request within 10 business days.2 That puts Utah among the more prescriptive states—closer to hard-clock jurisdictions like Florida, where Fla. Stat. § 720.303(5) sets a 10-business-day inspection clock, than to states that rely only on a reasonable-time standard or corporate-law inspection rights. Utah enforces the right through the courts rather than an administrative program.5 The Quick-Reference table and the detailed sections below set out the records subject to inspection, the request-and-response sequence, withholding categories, and remedies under each chapter.
Section 2 — Quick-Reference: Utah HOA Records Inspection
| Field | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Governing provision(s) | Condominiums: Condominium Ownership Act, Utah Code § 57-8-17.2 Community associations (planned communities): Community Association Act, Utah Code § 57-8a-227.1 Both incorporate records provisions of the Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act (§§ 16-6a-1601 through 1603, 1605, 1606, 1610) as the corporate backstop.6 |
| Community types covered | Condominiums (§ 57-8-17) and planned communities/community associations (§ 57-8a-227). Each chapter applies regardless of whether the association is incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act. No pre/post effective-date split in coverage; the duties apply to existing and new associations.2,1 |
| Who may inspect | Condos: unit owners. Community associations: lot owners. An owner's agent may exercise any right the owner has under the section (§ 57-8-17(8); § 57-8a-227(8)). Through the incorporated Nonprofit Corporation Act provisions, directors and members hold inspection rights. Mortgagees: Not specified by statute.2,7 |
| Proper-purpose requirement | Only for certain records. The enumerated association documents do not require a stated purpose. For the incorporated nonprofit-act records that require it (accounting records and the membership list), the owner must demand in good faith, for a proper purpose, described with reasonable particularity and directly connected to that purpose (§ 16-6a-1602).7 |
| Form of request | Written request required. Must include the association's name, the owner's name, the owner's property address, the owner's email address, a description of the documents, and any election to inspect or copy (§ 57-8-17(3); § 57-8a-227(3)).2,1 |
| Response or production deadline | Fixed deadline: 10 business days after the association receives the request (§ 57-8-17(4)(a); § 57-8a-227(4)(a)). Incorporated nonprofit-act records identified in § 16-6a-1601 are available for in-person inspection on or before the sixth business day after written demand (§ 16-6a-1602).2,7 |
| Inspection method and location | At the association's registered address during regular business hours, or via website/online owner portal. Owners may elect hard copies, electronic scans, third-party duplication, on-site imaging, or email delivery (§ 57-8-17(2),(4); § 57-8a-227(2),(4)). Core documents must be posted free on the website or, absent a website, made available at the registered address.2,1 |
| Copying and labor fees | Permitted, capped. The owner pays the reasonable cost, not to exceed the actual cost paid to a recognized third-party duplicator, or 10 cents per page and $20 per hour for staff time. The association may not charge for electronic transmission of requested documents (§ 57-8-17(4)(b); § 57-8a-227(4)(b)).2 |
| Records expressly subject to inspection | Both sections: governing documents; most recent approved minutes; most recent annual budget and financial statement; most recent reserve analysis; certificate of insurance for each policy; profit and loss statement and balance sheet for the previous three fiscal years; plus the records identified in § 16-6a-1601(1)-(5). Condos add management committee meeting minutes for the previous three calendar years; community associations add board meeting minutes for the previous three calendar years (§ 57-8-17(1); § 57-8a-227(1)).2,1 |
| Records exempt or withholdable | The association may redact a Social Security number, a bank account number, and any communication subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 57-8-17(1)(b); § 57-8a-227(1)(b)). Members' email addresses and phone numbers are not records that must be produced (Walker I Investments v. Sunpeak Association).2,8 |
| Membership or owner list | An association satisfies a request regarding members by furnishing a list of members' names and addresses; it need not produce email addresses or phone numbers (Walker I Investments v. Sunpeak Association). Use of a membership list is restricted by § 16-6a-1605 (no use to solicit money or for commercial purposes without board consent).8,9 |
| Records-retention requirement | Addressed via the incorporated Nonprofit Corporation Act: the association must permanently keep minutes of all member and board meetings, records of actions taken without a meeting, records of committee actions, and waivers of notice (§ 16-6a-1601, incorporated by § 57-8-17(1) and § 57-8a-227(1)).6 |
| Electronic records | Addressed. The owner may request electronic scans or email delivery, and the association may satisfy a request by posting documents to its website or online owner portal; no charge is allowed for electronic transmission (§ 57-8-17(4); § 57-8a-227(4)).2,1 |
| Remedies for noncompliance | The association must pay reasonable inspection/copying costs; $25 per day to the owner for unfulfilled website/registered-address documents, beginning the eleventh business day after the request; and the owner's reasonable attorney fees and costs. A court action may seek injunctive relief, $1,000 or actual damages (whichever is greater), and attorney fees to the prevailing party; an expedited hearing is held within 30 days (§ 57-8-17(5),(6); § 57-8a-227(5),(6)). The Nonprofit Corporation Act's court-ordered-inspection provision (§ 16-6a-1604) does not apply to associations.2,10 |
| Enforcement forum and process | Utah District Court, with at least 10 days' pre-suit written notice and demand to cure; appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals, with discretionary review by the Utah Supreme Court. The Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman issues non-binding advisory opinions but cannot compel production. Registration with the Department of Commerce is not a records-enforcement pathway.2,11 |
Section 3 — The records-inspection framework in detail
3A. Records subject to inspection
Utah's two records statutes specify nearly identical document lists, but each lives in its own chapter and must be cited to the correct one. For condominiums, § 57-8-17(1)(a) requires the association to keep and make available a copy of the association's governing documents, most recent approved minutes, most recent annual budget and financial statement, most recent reserve analysis, a certificate of insurance for each policy the association holds, management committee meeting minutes from the previous three calendar years, and a profit and loss statement and balance sheet for the previous three fiscal years.2 For community associations, § 57-8a-227(1)(a) requires the same list, with one terminological difference: it calls for board meeting minutes rather than management committee meeting minutes from the previous three calendar years.1 The two provisions are parallel, not identical, and the difference in nomenclature reflects the different governing-body labels each chapter uses.
Both sections also incorporate by reference the records identified in Utah Code § 16-6a-1601(1) through (5) of the Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act, to be kept and produced in the manner described in §§ 16-6a-1601, 1602, 1603, 1605, 1606, and 1610.1,6 That incorporation pulls in accounting records, the membership list, and corporate minute-book materials. The duties attach whether or not the association is incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act, so the statutory records right does not depend on corporate form.2 Where a record does not appear on either statutory list—members' email addresses and phone numbers, for example—the right to obtain it rests on the declaration, bylaws, or corporate-law inspection rather than the HOA records statute.8
Separately, the registration regime is context, not a records right: § 57-8a-105 (community associations) and § 57-8-13.1 (condominiums) require associations to register with the Department of Commerce HOA Registry and renew annually, and the registered address is where physical records must be made available if the association has no website.3,4 The reserve analysis required by § 57-8-7.5 (condos) and § 57-8a-211 (community associations) is a reserves obligation; it appears on the records list, but the reserve provisions themselves are a separate topic.12
3B. The request-and-response sequence
Standing to inspect runs to unit owners (condominiums) and lot owners (community associations), and an owner's agent may assert any right the owner holds under the section.2,1 The statutes do not impose a blanket proper-purpose requirement for the enumerated association documents. For the incorporated nonprofit-act records that require it—principally accounting records and the membership list—the owner must make the demand in good faith and for a proper purpose, describe the purpose and records with reasonable particularity, and show the records are directly connected to that purpose (§ 16-6a-1602).7
A request must be in writing and must contain the association's name, the owner's name, the owner's property address, the owner's email address, a description of the documents requested, and any election to inspect or to copy (and, if copying, whether by hard copy, electronic scan, third-party duplicator, on-site imaging equipment, or email).2,1 The production deadline runs on a fixed clock, not a reasonableness standard: the association must comply within 10 business days after receiving the request.2,1 This figure changed recently. Before the 2026 amendment, condominiums already operated on a 10-business-day clock while community associations ran on a two-week timeline; the 2026 legislation harmonized both at 10 business days.13 The incorporated nonprofit-act records identified in § 16-6a-1601 are separately available for in-person inspection on or before the sixth business day after written demand.7
Inspection occurs at the association's registered address during regular business hours, or the association may satisfy the request electronically by posting documents to its website or an online owner portal.2,1 The governing documents, most recent approved minutes, and most recent budget and financial statement must be available free on the association's website, or, if there is no active website, at the registered address. On charges, the owner pays the reasonable cost of copies and staff meeting time, capped at the actual cost paid to a recognized third-party duplicator or 10 cents per page and $20 per hour for employee, manager, or agent time. The association may not charge for the electronic transmission of requested documents.2,1
3C. Withholding, confidentiality, and the membership or owner list
Each section permits the association to redact three categories from any document it produces: a Social Security number, a bank account number, and any communication subject to attorney-client privilege.2,1 Those redaction grounds are identical across the two chapters and should be confirmed separately under each because the texts, while parallel, are distinct. Beyond the three listed categories, the statutes do not enumerate further withholding categories such as personnel files or pending-litigation materials; the attorney-client privilege redaction is the principal confidentiality protection the records statute itself provides.
The membership or owner list receives specific treatment through the incorporated Nonprofit Corporation Act and Utah case law. In Walker I Investments v. Sunpeak Association, the Utah Court of Appeals held that an association satisfies a member's demand to inspect records pertaining to members by furnishing a list of members' names and addresses, stating: "Because we conclude that the Act only requires the Association to produce a list of its members' names and addresses, we need not decide whether Walker had a proper purpose for demanding access to the email addresses and phone numbers of the Association's members."8 Use of a membership list is further restricted by § 16-6a-1605, which bars using the list to solicit money or property, or for other commercial purposes, without board consent.9 A records demand does not override attorney-client privilege, which the statute expressly preserves as a redaction ground, and a member in litigation with the association inspects records to the same extent as any other litigant under the discovery rules rather than through the records statute.7
3D. Remedies and enforcement for noncompliance
The records statutes provide their own remedy rather than relying solely on general civil practice. If an association fails to comply, it must pay the reasonable costs of inspecting and copying the requested documents; $25 per day to the requesting owner for the website/registered-address documents that remain unfulfilled, beginning the eleventh business day after the request; and the owner's reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in obtaining the records.2,1 An owner may also file a court action seeking injunctive relief requiring compliance, $1,000 or actual damages (whichever is greater), and any other relief provided by law; the court may award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party, and must hold a hearing within 30 days of an owner's motion where a likelihood of noncompliance is shown. At least 10 days before filing, the owner must deliver a written notice identifying each failure and demanding a cure.2,1
Notably, the Nonprofit Corporation Act's court-ordered-inspection provision, § 16-6a-1604, does not apply to associations; the HOA records statute's own remedy controls, and these provisions apply regardless of any conflicting nonprofit-act provision.2,10 Enforcement is judicial. Records disputes proceed in the Utah District Court, with appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals and discretionary review by the Utah Supreme Court. The Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman, created in 2025, issues non-binding advisory opinions on statutory compliance and provides education, but it cannot compel production or award damages.11 The Department of Commerce registration requirement is not a records-enforcement pathway; failing to register chiefly affects an association's ability to enforce assessment liens, not records compliance.3
Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity
A. Recent bills
Utah's 2026 session targeted the records-inspection framework directly, harmonizing the two chapters and tightening record-return duties for departing managers. The 2025 session expanded the mandatory document list and created the Ombudsman office. Both sessions refined and tightened the existing framework rather than rebuilding it.
S.B. 122 · 2026 General Session
Chief sponsor Sen. Wayne A. Harper and House sponsor Rep. A. Cory Maloy carried this bill through Utah's 2026 General Session to align the community-association records deadline with the condominium clock. The response window moved from two weeks to 10 business days for community associations, and the $25-per-day penalty start moved to the eleventh business day after the request. New language declares that an association's required records and account funds are property of the association, which a former manager or board member must return on request without charge. The prior version of § 57-8a-227 carries a le.utah.gov supersession date of May 6, 2026, confirming the amendment.13,1
| Property managers | Calendar every records request to a 10-business-day clock and return all association records on demand when a management relationship ends. |
| HOA board members | Confirm response procedures use the harmonized 10-business-day deadline and the eleventh-business-day penalty trigger. |
| Community association attorneys | Advise clients that the condominium and community-association records deadlines are now fully aligned and that records are statutorily association property. |
| Homeowners | Expect records within 10 business days, with a $25-per-day penalty accruing from the eleventh business day for unfulfilled core documents. |
H.B. 217 · 2025 General Session
The Governor signed H.B. 217 on March 25, 2025, amending both records sections (Section 7 amended § 57-8-17; Section 12 amended § 57-8a-227). It expanded the mandatory records list by adding a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet for the previous three fiscal years, and made the prevailing-party attorney-fee award in a records action discretionary rather than mandatory. The bill also created the Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman, which issues advisory opinions but is not a records-enforcement agency.11
| Property managers | Maintain three years of profit and loss statements and balance sheets so they are ready to produce on request. |
| HOA board members | Recognize that prevailing in a records suit no longer guarantees a fee award; the court now has discretion. |
| Community association attorneys | Factor fee-award discretion into litigation risk assessments and consider an Ombudsman advisory opinion before filing suit. |
| Homeowners | A new Ombudsman offers education and advisory opinions, but enforcement of records rights still runs through the courts. |
B. Recent rulings
No Utah appellate decision within the past 36 months has interpreted § 57-8-17 or § 57-8a-227 or the corporate-inspection right as applied to an association. The controlling appellate authority remains Walker I Investments, LLC v. Sunpeak Association, Inc., 2015 UT App 216, 359 P.3d 675 (Utah Court of Appeals), which predates the 36-month window.
Walker I Investments, LLC v. Sunpeak Association, Inc.
The court held that an association satisfies a member's records demand regarding members by furnishing a list of names and addresses—not email addresses or phone numbers. It also affirmed denial of attorney fees where the association refused inspection in good faith, establishing the good-faith standard for fee-shifting in Utah records disputes.8
| Property managers | Producing a names-and-addresses member list satisfies the statute; email addresses and phone numbers need not be disclosed unless governing documents require it. |
| HOA board members | A good-faith refusal can defeat a fee award, but boards must document the basis for any withholding. |
| Community association attorneys | Cite Walker for the scope of the member-list right and the good-faith standard on fee-shifting. |
| Homeowners | An association can lawfully limit a member-list response to names and addresses. |
C. Active legislative debates
Following the 2026 harmonization of the records deadlines, no pending Utah proposal would replace the judicial-enforcement model with an agency records-complaint pathway. Recent legislative activity has trended toward aligning and tightening the existing examination-and-copying framework rather than rebuilding it.13
Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage
Utah operates as a two-statute state with developed records provisions and a registration regime: condominiums fall under the Condominium Ownership Act (§ 57-8-17) and planned communities under the Community Association Act (§ 57-8a-227), each specifying the records that must be kept and made available, with associations required to register and renew annually with the Department of Commerce. Utah sits among the more developed states for records access, imposing a fixed 10-business-day deadline, a daily penalty, and fee-shifting rather than a bare reasonableness standard—though enforcement is judicial rather than administered through a hard-clock agency program like Florida's, where Fla. Stat. § 720.303(5) sets a 10-business-day inspection deadline and creates a rebuttable presumption of willful noncompliance. For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is that Utah requires applying the correct chapter by community type, keeping the near-identical § 57-8 and § 57-8a citations straight, and accounting for the state HOA registration requirement. Recent legislative activity has amended both § 57-8-17 and § 57-8a-227, most recently the 2026 harmonization of the response deadline and penalty timing. Federal frameworks including the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC's OTARD rule also apply to Utah associations regardless of the state framework.5
- Utah Code § 57-8a-227, Records -- Availability for examination (Community Association Act) ↩
- Utah Code § 57-8-17, Records -- Availability for examination (Condominium Ownership Act) ↩
- Utah Code § 57-8a-105, Registration with Department of Commerce (Community Association Act) ↩
- Utah Code § 57-8-13.1, Registration with Department of Commerce (Condominium Ownership Act) ↩
- Fla. Stat. § 720.303(5), Association records (Florida Senate, official statutes) ↩
- Utah Code § 16-6a-1601, Corporate records (Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
- Utah Code § 16-6a-1602, Inspection of records by directors and members (Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
- Walker I Investments, LLC v. Sunpeak Association, Inc., 2015 UT App 216, 359 P.3d 675 (Utah Court of Appeals) ↩
- Utah Code § 16-6a-1605, Limitations on use of membership list (Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
- Utah Code § 16-6a-1604, Court-ordered inspection of corporate records (Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
- H.B. 217, Homeowners' Association Amendments, 2025 General Session (Governor signed March 25, 2025; effective May 7, 2025) ↩
- Utah Code § 57-8a-211, Reserve analysis -- Reserve fund (Community Association Act); see also Utah Code § 57-8-7.5 (Condominium Ownership Act) ↩
- S.B. 122, HOA Amendments, 2026 General Session (effective May 6, 2026) ↩