An Arizona HOA can fine you for street parking when the street is privately owned and maintained by the association, but its power over public streets is narrow and, for many communities, no longer exists at all. The deciding factor is who owns the pavement in front of your house. If it belongs to the HOA, the association’s parking rules apply like any other common-area rule. If it belongs to the city or county, state law has stripped most HOAs of the authority to write you up for how you park on it.
Private Streets vs. Public Streets
Private streets are treated as common area. The HOA sets the rules, issues the fines, and can authorize towing, the same way it governs the pool or the clubhouse. If your community’s roads are maintained by the association, the governing documents control.
Public streets are different. Under A.R.S. § 33-1818, any planned community whose declaration was recorded after December 31, 2014 has no authority to regulate parking on public roadways once the developer’s control period ends.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1818 – Community Authority Over Public Roadways; Vote of the Membership; Applicability In a newer community with city- or county-owned streets, the HOA cannot fine you for public-street parking. That job belongs to local law enforcement and the municipal parking code.
One narrow carve-out: the statute does not apply to one-way streets, regardless of ownership.
What the June 2025 Deadline Changed for Older Communities
Communities with declarations recorded before January 1, 2015 were given a transition path. If their CC&Rs already granted authority over public streets, that authority continued, but only if the membership voted by June 30, 2025 to keep it, and only if the board then recorded the result with the county recorder.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1818 – Community Authority Over Public Roadways; Vote of the Membership; Applicability
That deadline has passed. If your pre-2015 HOA skipped the vote, failed to reach a quorum, or never recorded the outcome, its power to fine you for parking on a public street expired automatically. Before you pay, check with the county recorder for a document memorializing that vote. If nothing is on file, the fine has no legal foundation.
How Much the Fine Can Be
Arizona does not cap the dollar amount of an HOA parking fine. The statute requires only that fines be “reasonable,” and the board can impose one only after giving you notice and an opportunity to be heard.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation; Penalties; Notice to Member of Violation “Reasonable” is not defined in the law, so what counts gets settled by your community’s fine schedule and, if you push back, by a judge or administrative law judge.
Late charges are capped. If you miss the due date, the HOA can add the greater of $15 or 10 percent of the unpaid amount, and nothing is late until at least 15 days after the due date unless your documents give you longer.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation; Penalties; Notice to Member of Violation When you pay, the money is applied to principal first and accrued interest second. The HOA cannot reorder that.
How to Respond to a Violation Notice
You have 21 calendar days from the date of a written violation notice to send a written response by certified mail to the address the notice provides.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation; Penalties; Notice to Member of Violation This right exists whether or not a dollar amount is attached.
Once the association receives that letter, it has 10 business days to send a written explanation identifying the specific CC&R or rule you allegedly violated, the date it was observed, and how any penalty will be enforced, if the original notice did not already supply those details.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1803 – Assessment Limitation; Penalties; Notice to Member of Violation
Lead with your strongest argument. If the street is public and your community’s declaration was recorded after 2014, the HOA has no jurisdiction. For an older community, point to the missing recorded vote. You can also challenge whether the parking rule is actually in the CC&Rs or whether the amount is reasonable for what happened.
When Your Car Can Be Towed
On private streets, an HOA may authorize towing. State law sets conditions. Each entrance to the parking area must be posted with clearly visible signs listing the parking restrictions, the consequences for violators, the maximum cost the owner will face (including storage), and a phone number and address for recovering the vehicle.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 9-499.05 – Authority to Set Rates for Private Towing Carrier The towing company must have express written permission from the property owner or its agent before removing the vehicle, and the towing company itself cannot act as that agent.
After the tow, the company has one hour to notify law enforcement. Missing that deadline forfeits all claims for towing and storage fees and exposes the company to misdemeanor liability.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-4836 – Towed Vehicles; Notification A tow without proper signage or without that one-hour call was almost certainly illegal.
What Happens If You Just Don’t Pay
Unpaid parking fines will not cost you your house. Arizona separates regular assessments from “member expenses,” and fines fall into the second category. Member expenses cannot be collected through the HOA’s automatic assessment lien.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1807 – Common Expense Liens; Priority
The HOA can still sue you in civil court. If it wins, it records a judgment lien against your property, but that lien cannot be foreclosed. It sits there until you sell or transfer the home, at which point it is paid from the proceeds.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1807 – Common Expense Liens; Priority Unpaid regular assessments are a different animal: foreclosure becomes possible after 18 months of delinquency or $10,000 owed. Parking fines on their own do not get an HOA there.
Finding Your Community’s Parking Rules
Start with your CC&Rs. Under A.R.S. § 33-1805, the HOA has 10 business days to let you examine records and 10 business days to produce copies when you ask. Copies cost no more than 15 cents per page, and reviewing records in person is free.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1805 – Association Financial and Other Records CC&Rs are also recorded with the county, so your county recorder’s office is a direct source.
Read for sections on parking, vehicles, streets, and common areas, and watch for language that distinguishes private from public streets. The fine schedule itself is often a separate board resolution rather than part of the CC&Rs, so ask for that document by name.
Taking a Dispute to the Arizona Department of Real Estate
If you have responded, gone through the hearing, and still believe the HOA was wrong, the Arizona Department of Real Estate runs a petition process where an administrative law judge hears owner-versus-association disputes.7Arizona Department of Real Estate. Homeowners Association Dispute Information Only homeowners and associations can file; you cannot name an individual board member, and renters cannot file. The department expects you to have tried direct communication and mediation first, and it offers mediation during the process if both sides agree.
The department does not regulate HOAs and will not give you legal advice about what yours can do. The ALJ hearing is a venue for resolving the specific dispute. If the dollar figures are climbing or the HOA is threatening to sue over accumulated fines, an attorney who handles HOA cases is worth the call.