Arizona HOA foreclosure thresholds

Arizona sets a floor under HOA foreclosure. Revised Statutes 33-1807 covers planned communities and 33-1256 covers condominiums, and since September 12, 2026 they use the same test: the lien can be foreclosed, in the same manner as a mortgage, only if the owner has been and remains delinquent for 18 months or owes $10,000 or more, whichever comes first, as of the day the action is filed. If the debt is a special assessment of $10,000 or more, the dollar test drops out and only the 18-month test applies.

The numbers moved twice. Planned communities went from $1,200 or 12 months to $10,000 or 18 months on September 26, 2025. Condominiums kept $1,200 or one year until Senate Bill 1246 (Laws 2026, chapter 162) took effect on September 12, 2026. In both kinds of community the board has to make reasonable efforts to reach the owner and offer a reasonable payment plan before it files. Below the threshold, the association can still sue to collect the money; it just cannot foreclose.

These thresholds protect you as an owner, but they also give you a lens on the association. A board that pushes accounts toward foreclosure, or a governing document that claims it can foreclose over any unpaid balance, is telling you something about how it operates and whether its documents track current Arizona law, which changed in 2025 and again in 2026.

Read these together before you make an offer:

• Collection policies or CC&Rs written before 2026, especially condo documents that still cite $1,200 or one year.
• Recent board minutes for foreclosure activity and how often liens turn into foreclosure.
• The delinquency rate in the financial statements, which drives collection pressure.
• Any CC&R or rule that claims a power to foreclose over a small balance, which conflicts with the statute.

Foreclosure practice is a window into both the finances and the governance of an association, and a document that overstates the board's foreclosure power is a sign it has drifted from Arizona law.

An HOA Notes brief reads the CC&Rs, the collection policy, and the minutes together, flags foreclosure provisions that conflict with the statutes, and cites the page behind every finding.

Arizona Revised Statutes section 33-1807 and section 33-1256 (Foreclosure thresholds). The association's common expense lien may be foreclosed only if the owner has been and remains delinquent for 18 months or owes $10,000 or more, whichever occurs first, as determined on the date the action is filed; this applies to planned communities (section 33-1807) and, since September 12, 2026 (SB 1246), to condominiums (section 33-1256), which previously used $1,200 or one year. For a special assessment of $10,000 or more, only the 18-month threshold applies. The board must make reasonable efforts to communicate with the owner and offer a reasonable payment plan before filing a foreclosure action. After the threshold is met and a payment plan has been offered, the association may foreclose the lien in the same manner as a mortgage on real estate. Below the threshold it may still bring an action to recover the amounts owed or accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but it may not foreclose.

When you read the disclosure packet, watch for the association may initiate foreclosure upon 30 days of delinquency, foreclosure may be commenced for any unpaid balance regardless of amount, condominium documents still citing the pre-2026 $1,200 or one-year foreclosure threshold, and governing documents state foreclosure may proceed at any time. HOA Notes flags each of these against the statute and tells you which restrictions are actually enforceable.