Eight HOA Bills Pending

    HOA Related Bills

    There are now Eight bills pending involving HOAs that we are currently tracking. The newer bills are at the top and highlighted in blue followed by status and possible short commentary. As these bills make their way through various committees we will let you know so that you will hopefully have an opportunity to contact your legislators to voice your opinion.

    SB 1482 – Homeowners’ Associations Amendments; Omnibus

    Status: (Senate Government & Environment: 2/10 @ 2pm) – This bill should look familiar as it is the same as last year’s SB 1454 that was signed by Governor Brewer but of which the HOA portions did not actually become law as they were proven to be unconstitutional in the manner in which they were added to an existing non-germane bill.

    • Prohibits a municipality or county from requiring developers or builders from creating “planned communities”/associations but can require a planned community be created to maintain common property.
    • In addition to the attorney general, county attorney and city attorney, associations may now bring action in superior court against to abate and prevent criminal activity
    • Allows employees and management companies the statutory authority to record liens on behalf of our associations and to appear in small claims court as a representative
    • Provides clarification on “or other form of delivery” as far as voting in annual meetings to specifically state by “electronic mail and by facsimile” at the associations option
    • Allows homes/units to be rented unless the declarations prohibit or place time period restrictions on rentals
    • Owners can designate in writing a representative to act on their behalf for association business, however cannot vote or serve on the board
    • If a unit is rented the association can only obtain: tenants name, contact info for the adults, time period of the lease (include dates) and the license plate of the vehicles of the tenants. If the association is age restriction, the association can require governments issued ID to verify eligibility
    • If the association wants to collect renal unit information, the association cannot charge more than $25 to process the information and may not charge for a lease renewal. Cannot charge more than a $15 fee for incomplete or late lease information.
    • Prohibits associations from seeking a copy of the tenant’s rental application, credit report, lease agreement, rental contract or other personal information beyond what was previously noted. Association cannot require tenant to sign a waiver of due process
    • Prohibits association from disallowing a landlord owner from running or serving on the Board based on not being an occupant of the unit
    • Permits landlords to require their tenants sign a “crime free lease addendum” but does not permit the association to require this of the tenants
    • Allows association the ability to include in the governing documents a provision limiting residency to people who are registered Level II or Level II registered sex offenders
    • Requires owners to abate criminal activity

    HB 2570 – Condominiums; Substantial Change; Maintenance; Assessments - This bill relates to condominiums only.

    • “Substantial Changes” made to the common elements involving security or the exterior appearance of the condominium requires a vote of the membership
    • Unless current documents have a lower limit, this would impose a 20% cap on increasing regular assessments year over year without a majority vote;
    • Allows for an owner to withhold assessment payment due to maintenance failure of the common elements which affect the health or safety of the owner or structural integrity. Written notice must be provided to the Board and if item is not repaired within 60 days the owner can withhold assessment payment until the item is fixed. Upon completion the owner will not be liable for assessments accrued during the maintenance period but will be responsible for subsequent assessments.

    HB 2556 – Homeowners’ Associations; Alternate Dispute Resolution
    Challenges with this includes that is does not exempt routine collections matters and if an owner declines to participate in the ADR process it is not considered complete and therefore no lawsuit can be filed.

    • Would require all condominiums and planned communities to adopt an “alternate dispute resolution” (ADR) policy requiring conciliation, mediation or arbitration (or more than one of these forms). Neither owner nor association would be able to file a lawsuit before the ADR process is complete.

    HB 2027 – Golf Carts; NEVs; Passing; Driving
    Status: (House Rules: 2/10 @ 1pm)

    • Allows for owners in an age restricted community (active adult community) to drive golf carts or neighborhood electric vehicles on paved roads. However, this would only apply to communities in unincorporated parts of large counties like Maricopa.

    SB 1151 – Fowl Regulation; Prohibition
    Status: (Senate Rules: 2/10 @ 1pm)

    • Municipalities would not be allowed to prohibit a resident in a single-family detached home to keep fowl (chickens or other bird raised for food) in the backyard of the property. The city would however be allowed to restrict the number. This legislation would pre-empt local or municipal laws that are contrary.

    SB 1184 –Planned Communities; Definition; Property Easements
    Status: (Senate Government & Environment: 2/10 @ 2pm)

    • Includes an extended definition of the planned community definition.

    SB 1197 – Process Servers; Privileges

    Would prohibit gated and/or guarded communities from restricting the entry of process servers. Additionally the guard (if any) cannot “announce” to an owner that the process server has entered the association to serve that owner

    SB 1334 - Relating to Condominiums and Planned Communities

    Status: (senate Government & Environment: 2/10@2pm)

    • Attorney fees cannot be awarded in an administrative hearing for a dispute between owner and association.