What Your HOA Can Charge You to Sell in Arizona 2026

The HOA invoice lands on the seller's side of the settlement statement about a week before closing, and it is almost always bigger than the seller expected. Four line items, none of them explained, one called document preparation and another called transfer. Most people just pay it, because closing is in six days and arguing with a management company is nobody's idea of a good week. Which is the whole reason to know what the statute allows before the invoice shows up.

What your HOA can charge, by statute

Three fees, three hard numbers, and all three are written into state law. For a planned community the section is A.R.S. 33-1806. For a condominium it is A.R.S. 33-1260. The caps in both are identical, so it does not matter which one your community falls under.

Subsection D of each section allows the association to charge an aggregate of no more than 400 dollars for preparing and delivering the resale disclosure report and the services that go with it. It allows no more than 100 dollars more if the work has to be done inside seventy two hours, the rush fee. And no more than 50 dollars for an update, available only once thirty days or more have passed since the original report.

Read the word aggregate twice, because that is what gets missed most often. It is not 400 dollars per document, it is 400 for the whole package. An invoice billing 250 for a resale package, 200 for a statement of account and 75 for electronic delivery is over the cap even though no single line on it looks unreasonable.

Subsection E adds two limits sellers almost never hear about. The fees cannot be collected earlier than close of escrow, so an association asking you to prepay before it starts the paperwork is not following the statute. And they can be charged only once to a member for that transaction, which closes the door on a second bill if your buyer falls out and the same package gets reused. That subsection also says the association may not charge a fee except as the section specifically authorizes, which is a short sentence doing a lot of work.

The transfer fee is the one with no cap

There is no dollar limit on it anywhere in either statute. The only thing the law requires is that somebody tell you about it.

The dated statement the association has to produce must disclose the amount and the purpose of any title transfer fee or other similar fee that the declaration authorizes. That is subsection A.4 in both sections. So the ceiling on a transfer fee is not a number in the statute, it is whatever your recorded declaration says it is, and declarations in Arizona vary wildly. I have seen them at 150 dollars and I have seen them at four figures in communities with a funded capital reserve.

So pull your declaration and read it before you list, not after you are under contract. And if you bought in a master planned community, which describes a lot of north Scottsdale and the southeast Valley, check whether you sit under two associations, a master and a local one. Each can carry its own transfer fee and its own disclosure charge. Our walkthrough of seller closing costs puts these alongside the rest of what comes off the top.

Estimate what you would walk away with

How fast the HOA has to deliver

Ten days, and which ten days depends on how many properties are in the community.

If your planned community has fewer than fifty properties, the statute puts delivery on you as the member, within ten days after acceptance of the purchaser's offer. With fifty or more, you give the association written notice and it has ten days from receipt to deliver. Condominiums run the same clock.

So order the package the day you go under contract, not the week of closing and not when the title company asks. A rush inside seventy two hours is legal, but it costs the extra hundred and puts your closing date at the mercy of whoever opens the email at the management company.

Timing matters more than usual right now, because buyers are not in a hurry. The October 2026 STAT release from ARMLS, which reports September data, held the median sales price at 450,000 dollars, flat against a year earlier, with months of supply at 4.45. Even the quickest submarkets were not quick: ARMLS put Chandler at 66.5 days on market and Gilbert at 65.6, and those were the leaders. Homes are still moving, with 57,672 sold year to date against a 2025 full year total of 73,279. They are just moving on the buyer's schedule, and a late HOA package is an easy reason for a nervous buyer to ask for something. If the proceeds fund your next purchase, price the financing at the same time. Freddie Mac put the 30 year fixed at 7.24 percent in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey dated October 29, 2026, down from 7.32 percent the week before and up from 6.17 percent a year earlier, which is what our loan programs have to work around.

If the invoice comes in over the cap

Ask for it in writing, itemized, and point at the subsection. That resolves most of these quietly.

The statute gives the request teeth. An association that charges or collects a fee in violation of the section is subject to a civil penalty of not more than 1,200 dollars, and subsection C lets a purchaser or seller damaged by a knowing or reckless failure to disclose bring an action including attorney fees. You do not have to threaten anybody with either. A short email asking the management company which subsection authorizes each line usually gets the invoice corrected.

If it does not, raise it with your escrow officer before closing rather than after. Escrow can usually hold a disputed amount instead of disbursing it, and you have far more leverage while the money is still in the file. Once it is out the door you are chasing a refund, which is slower. Our piece on when sellers actually get paid after closing covers the disbursement side.

Where this has limits

I am a mortgage broker, not a lawyer and not an HOA attorney, and none of this is legal advice. The caps and deadlines above are what 33-1806 and 33-1260 say as of today, and the legislature revisits these sections regularly, so confirm the current text at azleg.gov before you lean on a number. They do not reach every community either. The condominium section excludes timeshare plans and associations organized under a different chapter. Our summary of the recent HOA law changes has the rest.

And the part that has nothing to do with statute. Not every agent is the right fit for every seller, and the ones who are good at this order the HOA package the day the contract is signed and read the declaration before the listing goes live. A big following online and real listing production are two different things. Nobody can promise you the highest price or the fastest sale, including me. For the whole sequence in order, start with our step by step guide to selling a house in Arizona.

Frequently asked questions

How much can an HOA charge a seller in Arizona?

An aggregate of no more than 400 dollars to prepare and deliver the resale disclosure package, under A.R.S. 33-1806 for a planned community and A.R.S. 33-1260 for a condominium. It may add no more than 100 dollars to rush the work inside seventy two hours, and no more than 50 dollars to update the report once thirty days or more have passed.

Who pays the HOA transfer fee in Arizona, the buyer or the seller?

The statute puts the disclosure fees on the member, which is the seller, and says they are collected at close of escrow. The transfer fee is different. Its amount comes from the recorded declaration and who pays it is a term of your purchase contract, so read both rather than assuming.

How long does an HOA have to provide the resale disclosure in Arizona?

Ten days. In a planned community with fewer than fifty properties, the member delivers to the purchaser within ten days after acceptance of the offer. With fifty or more properties, the member gives the association written notice and the association delivers within ten days after it receives that notice. Condominiums run on the same ten day clock.

Can an HOA make me pay the disclosure fee before closing?

No. Subsection E of both sections says the fees are collected not earlier than close of escrow, and that they may be charged only once to a member for that transaction. An association that asks for prepayment before it will start the paperwork is not following the statute, and the same subsection bars any fee the section does not specifically authorize.

What can I do if my HOA overcharges for the resale package?

Ask in writing for an itemized invoice and for the subsection that authorizes each line. An association that charges a fee in violation of the section faces a civil penalty of not more than 1,200 dollars, and a seller or buyer damaged by a knowing or reckless failure to disclose can bring an action including attorney fees. Raise it with escrow before funds are disbursed.

Is there a cap on the HOA capital improvement fee in Arizona?

Neither 33-1806 nor 33-1260 addresses a capital improvement or working capital contribution, and neither caps the title transfer fee. What the statute requires is disclosure of the amount and purpose of any transfer or similar fee the declaration authorizes. Pull the declaration before you list.