A.R.S. 33-1805: Your Right to Inspect Arizona HOA Records

As an HOA member, you can open the association's books under A.R.S. 33-1805 and examine its financial and other records. The HOA has to make them available within 10 business days of your request, it cannot charge you a fee just to look, and it can charge no more than 15 cents per page if you want copies. A short list of private records stays off-limits. This is the section that turns "trust us" into "show us."

What you can see and how fast

The core right is broad. The association's financial and other records have to be made reasonably available for examination by any member, and there is no fee for the examination itself. The HOA has 10 business days to respond, both to let you inspect and to deliver copies you ask for:

All financial and other records of the association shall be made reasonably available for examination by any member or any person designated by the member in writing as the member's representative.

So if you live in a Rio Verde HOA and you want to see where your dues went, you can request the budget, the bank statements, the contracts, and the meeting minutes. The HOA must make them available within 10 business days. If you ask for copies, the charge is capped at 15 cents a page.

What stays private

Not everything is open. The statute carves out records the HOA can withhold, and they all involve privacy or legal protection: attorney-client privileged communications, records tied to pending litigation, the minutes of properly closed (executive) board sessions, and the personal, health, or financial records of an individual member or employee. It also covers employee job-performance, compensation, and complaint records. On top of that, the HOA does not have to hand over anything if disclosure would break another state or federal law.

For example, you can demand the vendor contract the board signed for landscaping, but you cannot demand a fellow owner's bank details or an employee's medical file. The line is drawn at individual privacy, not board accountability.

Why this matters when you build

Records inspection is your check on an HOA before and after you commit. Before buying a custom-home lot, asking to see reserve funds, recent budgets, and meeting minutes tells you whether the HOA is solvent and well run, which protects you from a future special assessment. After you build, if a design committee denies your plans or fines you, the records behind that decision (minutes, the rule cited, related contracts) are things you can request and review.

How it connects to the rest of the law

This section pairs with the open-meeting right in A.R.S. 33-1804 : one lets you watch decisions, the other lets you read the paper trail behind them. The financial records you can inspect here include the assessment math limited by A.R.S. 33-1803 . The "association" that owes you these records is the one defined in A.R.S. 33-1802 , operating under the recorded CC&Rs . When you are buying, this right works alongside the seller-disclosure packet required by A.R.S. 33-1806 . For a buyer's-eye view, see our FAQ on how HOA design review affects building a custom home .

Full text and source

Read the current version, including any amendments, on the legislature's site: View A.R.S. 33-1805 on azleg.gov .

Which records you can demand in a specific dispute depends on the facts, so confirm your situation with a qualified attorney before relying on it.