Arizona HOAs can no longer foreclose on homeowners for as little as $1,200 in missed payments, and homeowners in communities with associations now have longer to pay what they owe.
New Arizona laws upped the amount homeowners must owe to $10,000 in missed assessments before an HOA can move to foreclose. Also, homeowners used to only have a year to catch up on late assessments. They now have 18 months.
Recent legislation and court cases have trended in favor of homeowners in communities with HOAs the past few years, Patrick MacQueen, a real estate attorney at Medalist Legal, said.
“HOAs used to have all the authority and all the power,” he said. “Recent court decisions and legislation like how they can foreclose are changing that.”
Homeowners in
HOAs pay regular assessments that are monthly or yearly for the upkeep of their communities.
Millions of Arizonans live in HOA communities
More than 2.275 million people live in 10,300 communities with HOAs across Arizona, according to the Foundation for Community Association of Research. That ranks the state No. 11 in the United States for the most HOAs.
“Arizona now has the greatest protection from HOA-based foreclosure in the nation,” said Dennis Legere, founder of the Arizona Homeowners Coalition, an advocacy and lobbying group for people living in HOAs. HOAs in most other states also can foreclose for late fee payments.
Metro Phoenix attorney Chad Gallacher, a member of the College of Community Association Lawyers, said the $1,200 foreclosure level for missed assessments was in place for 20 years, and state legislators backing the foreclosure bills didn’t think that reflected current economic and market conditions.
That group backed the Arizona bills changing the foreclosure dollar amount and time frame. The first bill that changed the foreclosure process for single-family homeowners passed in 2025, and then a bill making the changes for condominiums in HOAs passed in 2026.
HOA judgments not changed
The new Arizona laws don’t apply to the time frame or total amount that HOAs can file to get judgments against homeowners for not paying assessments.
“With the legislation, we wanted to make it a last resort for HOAs to foreclose on a homeowner,” Legere said.
But, he said HOAs can still garnish wages, take cars and use other tactics to get money for unpaid assessments.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New laws make it harder for Arizona HOAs to foreclose on homeowners
