A violation letter lands, and instead of pointing to your CC&Rs it cites “city code,” a zoning rule, or a building ordinance. It sounds official — but it raises a real question most homeowners never think to ask: can an HOA actually enforce the city’s code at all? Usually, the answer is no. An HOA can only enforce its own documents, and the city’s code is the city’s job.
An HOA enforces its own documents — not the city’s code
An HOA is a private association, not a government. Its authority comes from the recorded declaration and Arizona’s HOA statutes — it is “created pursuant to a declaration… and has the power under the declaration” to act (A.R.S. § 33-1802). Nothing in that gives an association the power to enforce municipal code — zoning, building permits, occupancy, nuisance ordinances. Those belong to the city or county and are enforced through their code-enforcement process, not your HOA’s.
Two separate systems
Your obligations to the city and to your HOA run on parallel, independent tracks:
- Complying with your HOA doesn’t clear you with the city — HOA approval of a structure isn’t a building permit, and doesn’t mean it meets code.
- Complying with the city doesn’t automatically satisfy your HOA — a permitted project can still need architectural approval under your CC&Rs.
- A genuine city-code problem is the city’s to enforce, through its own notice, hearing, and penalty process — with its own appeal rights — not through an HOA fine.
The two can overlap: if the same conduct also violates your recorded declaration or rules, the HOA can enforce its rule (with the usual due process). But it’s enforcing the CC&R, not the ordinance.
When the city’s rules are actually a ceiling on the HOA
In a few areas, Arizona law flips the relationship — the HOA is barred from being more restrictive than the local ordinance:
- Political signs. An HOA’s size-and-number rules can’t be more restrictive than the city, town, or county ordinance (§ 33-1808(D)).
- Backyard shade structures. An HOA’s rules can’t exceed local zoning limits on height and setbacks for a single-family home (§ 33-1816.01).
So in those areas, an HOA can’t use “the city allows more, but we don’t” to impose a stricter rule.
“But the city requires it”
Sometimes an association leans the other way — telling you that you must do something “because the city requires it.” Even then, the HOA still needs a governing-document basis to cite or fine you; “the city says so” isn’t a substitute for a CC&R or rule, and the HOA isn’t your code-enforcement officer. If it’s truly a city requirement, it’s the city’s to enforce.
Your move
- Ask for the governing-document provision in writing — use the § 33-1803 exchange to make the association name the CC&R or rule, not an ordinance.
- Separate the two tracks. If it’s a real code issue, deal with the city directly; if it’s an HOA rule, hold the HOA to its own process and due-process rights.
- Watch for manufactured authority. Citing “city code” to make a fine sound official is a recognizable move — see the HOA playbook.
- Escalate if needed. A fine with no governing-document basis, or a rule stricter than a local ordinance where the statute forbids it, can be raised in an ADRE petition.