The federal Fair Housing Act applies to homeowners associations. Your HOA must grant reasonable accommodations and allow reasonable modifications — assistance animals, accessible parking, ramps — and can’t enforce its rules in a way that discriminates against disabled residents.
The Arizona Planned Communities Act is the state law that governs homeowners associations — A.R.S. §§ 33-1801 through 33-1820. Here’s what every section does in plain English, with links to the full statute text and your rights as a homeowner.
An HOA isn’t a government, and it isn’t optional. Its authority comes from a recorded covenant on your land and a specific set of Arizona statutes — both of which also limit it. Here’s the legal foundation.
A step-by-step way to check whether your Arizona HOA is complying with its own governing documents and state law — using public records and the rights the statutes already give you.
A 2025 law strengthened Arizona’s open-meeting statutes: if your HOA records an open meeting, it must keep that recording for at least six months and hand any member the unedited copy on request.
A 2026 law adds A.R.S. § 33-1816.01 — HOAs may no longer prohibit backyard shade structures like pergolas, gazebos, awnings, shade sails, and umbrellas. Here’s what it covers and how to get yours approved.
Design approval “shall not unreasonably be withheld,” a board member must sit on the review committee, and if your HOA holds a construction security deposit, Arizona dictates exactly how it must be handled and returned.
Your HOA can’t treat your rental differently than an owner-occupied home, can’t demand your tenant’s credit report or lease, and can charge no more than $25 per new tenancy. A.R.S. § 33-1806.01 draws the lines.
Selling a home in an HOA triggers a disclosure package the association must deliver in 10 days — and Arizona caps what it can charge for it. Fees beyond the statute carry a civil penalty.
When a board steers a paid contract to a director, a spouse, or a sibling, Arizona law requires an open-meeting disclosure — and a contract that skips it is void and unenforceable.
Arizona law gives members a direct path to remove a director — with or without cause — and if the board stonewalls the petition, the directors can be removed automatically. Here’s exactly how A.R.S. § 33-1813 works.
When your HOA breaks the law or its own documents, Arizona gives you a faster, cheaper alternative to court — a petition to the Department of Real Estate heard by an administrative law judge. Here’s how it works.