The Arizona bill, SB 1148, seeks to overcome the objections of the appellate court in Gelb, and restore due process protections to homeowners in HOAs by means of OAH adjudication. (See Advocate submits amicus brief in AZ supreme court appeal of HOA due process). Below is the explicit statement of intent for this legislation, of which one purpose is to protect the consumer who buys a home in an HOA.
Sec. 4. Legislative findings and intent; department of fire, building and life safety; community disputes
It is the intent of the legislature to find, determine and clarify all of the following after careful consideration of the case Gelb v. Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety, 1 CA CV 09-0744, filed October 28, 2010 (Ct. App. 2010):
1. The department of fire, building and life safety has exercised substantial responsibility for many years in the enforcement and application of state laws and private contracts that regulate the relationships between those who reside in and those who control certain types of common housing, namely, mobile home park residential communities.
2. The legislature has determined that while the direct licensure of mobile home parks and their owners may not have been necessary, the regulation of their private, legal relationships with their tenants has been and continues to be an important consumer protection function of the department of fire, building and life safety and that department has developed considerable expertise in interpreting, enforcing and applying the statutes relating to these mobile home communities and in interpreting, applying and enforcing the terms of the leases, rules and other documents that regulate the relationship between the residents of the mobile home parks and the owners and managers of those parks, and doing so in a cost-effective manner for the residents.
3. The legislature further determines and finds that while direct licensure and regulation of condominiums and planned communities may not be necessary at this time, the legislature has repeatedly found over the years that owners in condominiums and planned communities are frequently subjected to inconsistent, unreasonable and often unlawful enforcement and application of the declarations, rules and bylaws that govern their communities, their managers and their boards of directors, and owners are often unable to afford the cost of formally litigating their disputes in the superior court.
4. The legislature further finds that the continuing use of the existing hearing officer function in the department of fire, building and life safety will provide for an efficient use of already-established common interest community expertise at this agency, will provide an important consumer protection for owners in condominiums and planned communities and will efficiently and effectively provide for resolution of these common interest community disputes without the expense, formality and difficulty of requiring a trial in the superior court in every instance, and will do so without the cost and bureaucratic complexity of creating an entirely new administrative body to perform these important functions, while still maintaining the ability and right to recourse in the superior court, and without threat to the core functions of the judiciary.

SB 1148 is not a fair or just way to resolve minor disputes as long as it cost a homeowner $550.00 to have the complaint reviewd.
It is the Management companies that use their attorneys to send the threatening letters,to me with a disability, that are the force that prompts the H.O.A.’s to procede to enforce this egregious behavior and they should suffer severe monetary consequences!!
Hi Arizona, I just want you to know that you are not the only state fighting for their rights against these HOA’s, We need to keep fighting, they can no longer get away with this.
I am going to write a letter to my representative or maybe do a blanket letter and have people sign it and mail it to my representative to see if he can look into getting this in my state of Illinois.