Arizona HOA laws are set primarily by two state statutes — the Planned Communities Act and the Condominium Act, both in Title 33 of the Arizona Revised Statutes — and they establish a floor of homeowner rights and association limits that your CC&Rs cannot override. Your governing documents can add rules on top of the statute, but when the two conflict, state law wins.
Which Statute Applies to Your Community
If you own a single-family home or townhome in a planned community, the Planned Communities Act (Title 33, Chapter 16) governs your HOA. If you own a condominium, the Condominium Act (Title 33, Chapter 9) applies instead.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33 – Property 33-1242 – Powers of Unit Owners Association Both cover the same ground — board authority, assessments, records, liens — using parallel provisions with different section numbers. Most of the thresholds below come from the Planned Communities Act.
What Your HOA Cannot Prohibit
Arizona law overrides contrary CC&R provisions on several topics. These protections apply regardless of what your community documents say.
Solar Energy Devices
Your HOA cannot ban solar panels or other solar energy devices. It can adopt reasonable placement rules, but those rules cannot prevent installation, impair how the device functions, or increase its cost or reduce its efficiency. If you sue over a violation of this section and substantially prevail, the court must award you attorney fees and costs.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1816 – Solar Energy Devices
Flags
Arizona protects a broad list of flags from HOA bans: the American flag (including historic versions like the Betsy Ross flag), the Arizona state flag, the POW/MIA flag, Arizona Indian nations flags, the Gadsden flag, blue or gold star service flags, first responder flags, and flags of the U.S. uniformed services. Display of the American flag must follow the federal flag code. The association may regulate flagpole height up to rooftop level and limit you to two wall-mounted flagpole holders and two flags displayed at once, but it cannot prohibit installing a flagpole in your front or back yard.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1808 – Flag Display, Political Signs
Political Signs
Your HOA cannot prohibit political signs during the election window running from 71 days before the primary through 15 days after the general election. Signs for candidates who lose in the primary must come down within 15 days after that primary. Outside the window, the association may prohibit political signs entirely. During the protected period, the HOA can regulate sign size and number only as strictly as the local city, town, or county ordinance allows. If no local ordinance exists, the association cannot cap the number of signs, though total combined area of all political signs on your property cannot exceed nine square feet.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1808 – Flag Display, Political Signs
Satellite Dishes and Antennas
Federal law also constrains your HOA here. The FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) rule prevents associations from restricting satellite dishes under one meter in diameter, TV antennas, and certain fixed wireless antennas installed on property you exclusively control. Any rule that unreasonably delays installation, increases costs, or blocks an acceptable signal violates OTARD. Safety-related restrictions are allowed but must be no more burdensome than necessary. The rule does not extend to common areas.4Federal Communications Commission. Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule
Assessment Increases, Late Fees, and Payment Application
The board sets the annual assessment through its budget process, but it cannot raise the regular assessment more than 20% above the prior fiscal year’s amount without majority approval from the membership.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation, Penalties, Notice to Member of Violation If your CC&Rs set a lower cap, the lower number controls.
A payment is late once it remains unpaid 15 or more days after the due date, unless your community documents give a longer grace period. The late fee is capped at the greater of $15 or 10% of the unpaid assessment, and the association can charge it only after giving notice that the assessment is overdue. When you pay on an overdue balance, the association must apply the money to principal first, then to accrued interest.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation, Penalties, Notice to Member of Violation
Fines and Contesting a Violation Notice
Separate from assessments, the board can impose monetary penalties for violations of the CC&Rs, bylaws, or rules, but only after giving you notice and an opportunity to be heard. Late charges on unpaid fines follow the same cap as assessment late fees: the greater of $15 or 10% of the unpaid penalty.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation, Penalties, Notice to Member of Violation
If you receive a written notice that your property violates the community documents, you have 21 calendar days to send a written response by certified mail to the address in the notice. The association then has ten business days after receiving your response to reply in writing, identifying the specific provision allegedly violated, the date of the violation, who observed it, and the process for contesting it further.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33 Property 33-1803 Use certified mail. The paper trail matters if the dispute escalates.
When the HOA Can Foreclose
Unpaid assessments automatically create a lien on your property from the date the assessment becomes due. The association does not have to record the lien for it to exist, though recording puts buyers and lenders on notice. The lien is subordinate to a first mortgage but takes priority over most other claims.
Foreclosure carries a higher bar than it used to. As of September 2025, the association can foreclose its lien only if you have been delinquent for at least 18 months or owe $10,000 or more in unpaid assessments, whichever comes first, measured on the date the foreclosure action is filed. Before filing, the board must make reasonable efforts to contact you and offer a reasonable payment plan.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1807 – Common Expense Liens The $10,000 trigger counts only actual assessment amounts. Collection fees, attorney fees, and late charges are part of the total lien balance but do not count toward that threshold.
Those figures are a large jump from the previous limits of one year and $1,200. The payment plan requirement gives you a real window to catch up before foreclosure becomes possible. Ignoring the association’s outreach closes that window fast.
Meetings You Can Attend and Records You Can See
Every board meeting, regular membership meeting, and scheduled committee meeting must be open to all members, and you can designate a representative in writing to attend for you. The board must give at least 48 hours’ advance notice with an agenda. You have the right to speak at least once on each agenda item after the board discusses it and before it votes, though the board can set reasonable time limits.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1248 You can also audio- or video-record the open portions of any meeting without giving advance notice; the board cannot forbid it unless the board itself records the meeting and makes unedited copies available to any member who asks.
The board may close part of a meeting only for narrow categories: legal advice from association counsel, pending or anticipated litigation, personal health or financial information about a member or employee, personnel matters involving a specific employee, or a member’s delinquency or rule violations.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33 Property 33-1248 The motion to enter executive session has to state the specific reason.
You have the right to examine all financial and other records of the association at no charge. If you request copies, the association has ten business days to provide them and may charge no more than fifteen cents per page.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33 Property 33-1805 The association can withhold only a few categories: attorney-client privileged communications, documents related to pending litigation, minutes from properly closed executive sessions, and personal health or financial records of individual members or employees. Everything else has to be produced.
Resale Disclosure Fees and Timing
When you sell, the buyer must receive a disclosure package containing the CC&Rs, bylaws, rules, current operating budget, most recent annual financial report, and any reserve study, along with a dated statement showing the regular assessment, any unpaid assessments owed by the seller, total reserves, insurance coverage, known violations, and pending litigation involving the unit. In communities with 50 or more units, the association prepares and delivers the packet. In smaller communities, the selling member is responsible. Delivery is due within ten days after written notice of the pending sale.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1806 – Resale of Units, Information Required, Fees
Statutory fee caps: up to $400 for preparing and delivering the packet, up to $100 additional for a 72-hour rush, and up to $50 for an update if 30 or more days pass and refreshed information is needed.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1806 – Resale of Units, Information Required, Fees Your association cannot charge more than these caps regardless of its own fee schedule.
How to Escalate a Dispute
Arizona offers a formal alternative to civil court for HOA disputes through the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE). Either a homeowner or the association can file a petition alleging a violation of the governing documents or state law, using ADRE’s designated form and paying a $500 filing fee for a single issue.12Arizona Department of Real Estate. HOA Petition Request Form The fee is refundable if you settle before a hearing is scheduled, but becomes nonrefundable once the Office of Administrative Hearings schedules the case or the parties agree to mediation. ADRE may refer the petition to an Administrative Law Judge for a formal hearing, and the agency notes that timelines range from a few months to a few years depending on the case.13Department of Real Estate. Homeowners Association Dispute Information Parties can also agree to mediation or binding arbitration instead.
Federal Rules That Sit on Top of State Law
Two federal laws reach into HOA governance regardless of what Arizona statutes or your CC&Rs say. The Fair Housing Act requires associations to grant reasonable accommodations for residents with disabilities — for example, allowing an emotional support animal despite a no-pets policy, or permitting a ramp on an exterior the CC&Rs otherwise restrict. The HOA must grant the request unless it would impose an undue financial or administrative burden or fundamentally alter operations.14HUD Exchange. Reasonable Accommodations under Fair Housing and Equal Access
The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 prohibits any HOA policy that restricts a member from displaying the U.S. flag on property the member owns or exclusively uses, subject to the federal flag code and reasonable time, place, and manner limits necessary to protect a substantial interest.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 4 USC 5 – Display and Use of Flag by Civilians Arizona’s own flag statute reaches further, protecting the additional flags listed above.