By Mark Zinman | Zona Law
Question: Is an HOA permitted to restrict homeowners from leasing within a community after an owner has acquired the property? In other words, if the HOA votes to restrict homes from being leased, are the existing homeowner grandfathered in?
Answer: The answer to this question may have changed over the past year. In 2022, the Arizona Supreme Court published a ruling which held that CC&R amendments are valid and enforceable against current owners IF they were reasonable and foreseeable. A court is to look at what the CC&Rs provided when the owner bought into the home. If the rules opened the door to future changes, including the possibility of banning rentals, then any future ban will be enforced. If there was no mention of rental restrictions, then such a vote may not apply to existing owners because such a change is not reasonable and foreseeable. It’s important to note that the change could be binding to future owners, just not the current ones. Therefore, it’s a case-by-case analysis depending on the previous language of the CC&R when the owner bought the property. If you are interested, the case is Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC, et al., No. CV-20-0152-PR, March 22, 2022.