Here, by contrast, the court suggests that owners have strong expectations that there will not be regulations other than those included in the declaration at the time they purchase despite the association’s power to amend the covenants. The case is unusual because most cases hold that those who buy property subject to a homeowners association sacrifice many rights to their neighbors who have the power to amend the covenants unless the declaration limits the amendment power. Here, most of the amendments created “new affirmative obligations” such as limiting garage space to 40% of the dwelling, limiting excavation, changing allocation of voting rights, limiting the location of non-dwelling structures, requiring all improvements to be pre-approved, and more. After 90 of lots have been sold, the developer turns over effective control to the elected board, and non-developer members are entitled to elect at least a majority of the board. The court held that the original declaration must give “sufficient notice of the possibility of a future amendment that is, amendments must be reasonable and foreseeable.” Thus owners cannot be retroactively forced to join a community club if not put on notice of that possibility in the declaration. Developer control of a community’s HOA tapers off according to the percentage of community lots remaining under the developer’s control. In this case, the homeowners association adopted new restrictions on owners’ abilities to convey or subdivide their lots, restricted the size and number buildings permitted on each lot, and reduced the maximum number of livestock permitted on each lot. By establishing standards for what homeowners must do, and must refrain from doing, they set the tone for the community.

The covenant is typically written into the deed, or referenced in the deed and kept on file with a county or municipal government, or with a private entity. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC, 506 P.3d 18 (Ariz. Covenants and restrictions form the foundation of a homeowners’ association. In the simplest terms, a restrictive covenant is an agreement between a property owner and other parties that limits the use of a property source: American Bar Association. He Arizona Supreme Court has limited the powers of homeowners associations to amend covenants retroactively when those amendments would unfairly surprise buyers who were not on notice of them when they bought their properties.

Hoa covenants amended after purchase