Halk, oetinger, and brown, pllc

How To Properly Establish and Enforce Parking Rules in an Arizona HOA

As an HOA you need to ensure that you have provided means by which the cars in your communities are adequately regulated in order to achieve cohesion between homeowners.

How To Properly Establish and Enforce Parking Rules in an Arizona HOA

As an HOA you need to ensure that you have provided means by which the cars in your communities are adequately regulated in order to achieve cohesion between homeowners.

As an HOA you need to ensure that you have provided means by which the cars in your communities are adequately regulated in order to achieve cohesion between homeowners. While many HOAs already have these parking rules in effect, some may not realize that their rules do not comply state and federal law or may not be specific enough to properly oversee the conduct of vehicle owners in the community. This article will outline how to properly establish and enforce parking rules in an Arizona HOA.

Establishing HOA Parking Laws in Arizona

HOAs will find it useful to educate themselves on the HOA parking rules in Arizona. They will be adequately equipped with understanding the kinds of rules they can establish in their communities. Restricting parking conduct will more than likely create a defensive homeowner or two so understanding what you as an HOA Board are allowed to do to handle parking incidents can be the decision that saves you from a lawsuit from disgruntled homeowners.

The first step is for your HOA board understands the local administrative control on public roads as well as the commercial and residential HOA parking rules as the boundaries within which you can establish parking laws. Then your HOA board will need to ensure that the HOA parking policies are conveyed to the community with specific details and clear, concise language.

Using vague language or sentences that can be interpreted in several ways will pose an issue when confronting parking violators. The specific jargon to use when creating policies is usually best handled by a seasoned Arizona HOA law firm to ensure that your policies are airtight and difficult to be misunderstood.

Arizona Residential Parking Laws

There are three main categories of residential parking laws an Arizona HOA board should focus on:

  • Parking Locations
  • Abandoned Vehicles
  • Prohibited Vehicles

Arizona HOA Rules on Parking Locations

The rules governing parking locations will vary depending on the layout of each HOA community. Some communities may have rules which mandate that each homeowner should park in their driveways while others may establish that each homeowner, sometimes their visitors as well, are assigned parking spots. It is important to adopt rules that do not conflict with the CC&Rs.

In addition to establishing where homeowners should park, it needs to specify the areas in the community that they are not allowed to park which may be: a) in front of another homeowner’s house b) in front of communal areas and b) on the streets in the community.

If your HOA community consists of both private and public roads, your authority to establish where HOA homeowners park may be limited to only the private roads in the community according to A.R.S. §33-1818, prohibiting Arizona HOAs in which the CC&Rs were recorded after 2014 from regulating how public roads in the community are used for parking. With the guidance of an HOA law firm, you will be able to understand whether the use of public roads can be legally regulated by the HOA board.

Arizona HOA Rules on Abandoned Vehicles

To ensure that homeowners don’t end up leaving abandoned vehicles parked in the community, HOAs may devise regulations for cars to be parked on the streets at a specified amount of time. extend to any vehicle including motorboats, trailers, or RVs. An HOA may also adopt rules that prevent unregistered or inoperable vehicles from being parked in the streets.

Arizona HOA Rules on Prohibited Vehicles

Your parking policy can also specify the types of cars that are allowed to park in the community. Vehicle attributes that they can specify include, but are not limited to, trailers, boats, un-drivable, junk vehicles, and RVs. Associations have the right to protect their community’s appearance.

All of these restrictions will need to be placed in the CC&R so that the homeowners would have had a chance to look at these rules before agreeing to purchase property in the community.

Enforcing HOA Parking Rules in Arizona

In the same manner that the scope in which HOAs can regulate the use of roads depending on whether these roads are private or public, HOAs’ authority to enforce these parking rules is also contingent on this variable.

On private streets, HOAs are authorized to enforce parking rules by means of fining violators, or in some cases, towing vehicles.

Towing of Vehicles in Arizona

Most states, including Arizona, permit HOAs to tow vehicles that violate the community’s parking policy. For instance, if a homeowner should park in a location that was established in the policy as prohibited, then HOAs will have authority to tow the vehicle out of the community which will also be reported to the local traffic law enforcement.

It is best to speak with an HOA attorney before enforcing parking rules in this way as there may have been steps, including appropriate signage and warnings, that could be taken before ultimately having to tow a homeowner’s property, potentially saving you the hassle of having to deal with disgruntled drivers filing lawsuits against the HOA board.

Work With An Arizona Law Firm That Specializes in Representing HOAs

As you may have noticed, establishing and enforcing parking policies in an HOA may be a bit tricky as there are many factors and federal laws to consider when organizing these rules. In order to ensure that your rules are established within the confines of state and federal laws and that these rules are overall reasonable, you will need the assistance of an experienced Arizona law firm that can guide you through the process. Halk, Oetinger, and Brown is a leader in HOA representation in Arizona because it’s our sole area of practice. Schedule an initial consultation to review your HOA representation needs on our contact us page.

Halk, Oetinger, and Brown

Flat Rate General Counsel Services

Halk, Oetinger, and Brown represents hundreds of planned communities and condominiums throughout Arizona. We are different. We endeavor to turn legal services into a fixed cost. We are hostile to the billable hour system. Our attorneys and staff do over 90% of their work at flat rates. Our industry-leading collection program is at no cost to the Association. We focus on solving problems, not billing hours.

Flat Rate General Counsel Services for Homeowners Assocations
Flat Rate General Counsel Services

We Provide Certainty to Associations on Collection and Legal Services

At Halk, Oetinger, and Brown, we pride ourselves on our team of experienced attorneys who are dedicated to providing exceptional legal services. With our alternative billing system, you can have peace of mind knowing that you won't be charged by the hour. We have a successful track record of handling Covenant Enforcement, Assessment Collection, General Association Governance, and Litigation for Arizona Homeowner's Associations.

Innovative Fee Structures

Our unique flat rate monthly fees provide certainty to Associations.  Our  $50 per month client fees make legal costs consistent and cost-effective.

Assigned Legal Team

Every Association we take on as a client is assigned a dedicated attorney and collector.  Our team will understand all your Association’s legal needs.

Association Legal Services

From covenant enforcement to construction defects to inter-association conflicts, We provide the full range of legal services to our clients.

Assessment Collection

Assessment collection is the strength of our firm, but we provide a full range of services to planned communities and condominiums.

Halk, Oetinger, and Brown

$50 Monthly Legal Plan

Our goal is to provide general counsel services at a flat rate of $50 per month. This provides certainty to the Association regarding budgeting for collection and legal services. We offer a full range of other services for planned communities and condominiums, and general counsel. We offer a different kind of collections.

Flat Rate General Counsel Services for Homeowners Assocations
Experienced Arizona HOA Lawyers

Meet Our Legal Team

Our team of experienced attorneys is here to serve you.

 Philip Brown
Philip Brown
Founding Member

PB teaches classes on Enforcing the Covenants, Budgets, Effective Meetings, Reserves and Collecting Assessments

Kelly Oetinger
Kelly Oetinger
Member

Kelly practices in all areas of community association law with a focus on general counsel issues and covenant enforcement

John Halk
John Halk
Member

John Halk manages litigation cases for the firm in both the Phoenix and Tucson Offices. John is licensed to practice law in Arizona and has worked in real estate and collections since 2015.

Andrea Miska
Andrea Miska
Associate Attorney

Andrea Miska joined Halk, Oetinger and Brown in 2024 and her practice focuses on civil litigation matters.

Halk, Oetinger, and Brown

Assessment Collection Services via a Contingent Fee Retainer

Our firm offers a contingent fee retainer where we collect assessments for no charge to your Association. We believe delinquent homeowners should pay for the attorney fees and court costs for their failure to pay contractually obligated assessments, not your association. When a homeowner fails to respond to your management company or association’s letters and certified mail noticing them about your intent to send them to collections, we’re ready to take legal action.

Satisfied Homeowner's Association Clients

Read what our clients have to say about us...

"As an absentee owner my interaction with this law firm has been extremely professional. From their responsiveness and extensive explanation of an issue created by my tenant. They were very generous with their settlement proposal which I happily accepted."

Janelle Morris

"Phil is both a nice person and extremely competent with HOAs. Responsive and to the point he is a key part of your team."

David Peters

"Great response time. Seem knowledgeable. Glad we are doing our POA monthly retainer."

Jennifer Hensley