Arizona Condo Resale Disclosure Checklist (ARS 33-1806)

Arizona has the loosest reserve disclosure regime of any major Sun Belt state. Buyers who close on an Arizona condominium based on the statutory disclosure package alone — without going further — are accepting an information gap that the law does not require the seller or association to fill.

This is not a criticism of Arizona's approach. The state has made a deliberate policy choice to minimize transaction friction and let market forces determine how much capital disclosure associations choose to maintain. But the consequence for buyers is that the statutory checklist in ARS 33-1806 and ARS 33-1260 is a starting point, not a finish line. This guide works through what the law requires, where the gaps are, and what a buyer should request to bridge them.

What ARS 33-1806 Requires the Seller to Provide

ARS 33-1806 governs the seller's disclosure obligations in an Arizona condominium resale. The statute requires the seller to provide the buyer with a resale certificate issued by the association. That certificate must contain:

• The amount of the monthly assessment currently charged to the unit
• Any unpaid assessments, dues, fees, or other charges assessed against the unit
• Whether the unit or the association is subject to any pending claims or litigation that have been disclosed to the association
• Any pending capital improvements that the board has approved but not yet funded through assessments
• Any outstanding special assessments levied against units

The resale certificate gives the buyer a point-in-time snapshot of the selling unit's financial standing with the association. It answers the question of what the buyer will owe immediately after closing. What it does not answer is whether those obligations are adequate to maintain the building and fund its capital needs.

Alongside the certificate, ARS 33-1806 entitles the buyer to the governing documents: the declaration, bylaws, rules and regulations, and any amendments. In practice, these are often delivered as a package by the association management company. The buyer should confirm that all amendments are included — an original declaration delivered without subsequent amendments is incomplete and can misrepresent the current rules.

The statute also provides a cancellation window. The buyer has the right to cancel the purchase agreement without penalty within five calendar days of receiving the complete resale certificate and required documents, as long as the cancellation occurs before closing. This is the review period within which the buyer must evaluate everything and decide whether to proceed.

What ARS 33-1260 Requires the Association to Disclose

ARS 33-1260 is the separate statute that governs the association's direct disclosure obligations in a resale transaction. It applies to condominium associations with 50 or more units. For those associations, ARS 33-1260 requires the association to provide:

• The current reserve balance held by the association
• Any existing reserve study
• The current operating budget
• The governing documents (to the extent not already provided through the seller's resale certificate)

The 50-unit threshold is one of the most significant limitations in Arizona's disclosure framework. Buyers of units in associations with fewer than 50 units have no statutory entitlement to reserve disclosure. If the association declines to provide financial information, the buyer has no legal mechanism to compel it. In practice, most associations will provide basic financial information as a matter of custom, but the absence of a legal obligation changes the dynamic.

For qualifying associations, the ARS 33-1260 disclosure is real and enforceable — but its scope has a critical limitation. The statute requires the association to disclose what it has, not to have adequate information to disclose. An association that has never commissioned a reserve study and has a reserve balance of $15,000 against a 30-year-old building fully complies with ARS 33-1260 by disclosing that fact. The disclosure is the transparency mechanism. It is not a performance standard.

Common Gaps in Arizona Resale Packages

Understanding what Arizona law permits associations to omit is as important as knowing what it requires them to include.

No reserve study required. Even for associations with 50 or more units, Arizona law does not require a reserve study to exist. The disclosure obligation is to report the reserve balance and any study that has been conducted. An association that discloses a reserve balance with no accompanying study is in full compliance. A buyer who receives a disclosure that notes "no reserve study on file" has received an accurate disclosure of a significant information gap — not a violation of the law.

Reserve balance adequacy is not assessed. The disclosed reserve balance is a number, not an evaluation. An association with $500,000 in reserves may be well-funded or severely underfunded, depending on the building's age, scope of capital components, and maintenance history. The statutory disclosure does not include any assessment of whether the disclosed balance is adequate for the building's known or anticipated capital needs.

No requirement to disclose known deferred maintenance. The resale certificate requires disclosure of approved pending capital improvements and levied special assessments. It does not require the association to disclose capital maintenance that the board has discussed but not yet voted to approve. A board that has received an engineer's informal recommendation to replace the roof within three years but has not yet put a vote before the membership has not generated a disclosure obligation under ARS 33-1806.

No inspection or engineer report required. Arizona has no equivalent to Florida's Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirement. There is no statutory mandate for associations to commission building inspections, structural assessments, or condition reports. If the association has never had a licensed engineer evaluate the building's structural condition, there is nothing in ARS 33-1806 or ARS 33-1260 that creates an obligation to obtain one before a resale.

No three-year financial statement requirement. The statute entitles buyers to the current operating budget. It does not require the association to provide historical financial statements. Budget history and reserve balance trends — which are among the most useful indicators of association financial health — require a separate request.

55-Plus Community-Specific Items

Arizona's active-adult communities — Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun Lakes, Leisure World, and newer 55-plus developments in Scottsdale and the East Valley — present a category of disclosure that the standard ARS 33-1806 checklist does not address.

Communities operating under the federal Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA), codified at 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(2)(C) and implemented through 24 CFR Part 100 Subpart E, must satisfy specific requirements to maintain their exemption from the Fair Housing Act's prohibition on familial status discrimination. Those requirements include:

• At least 80% of occupied units must be occupied by at least one person 55 years of age or older
• The association must publish and consistently apply policies that demonstrate its intent to be housing for persons 55 and older
• The association must verify the ages of occupants through a reliable and documented survey or verification program

HOPA compliance status is a material characteristic of an active-adult community that does not appear in the standard resale certificate. A community that loses HOPA exemption status cannot enforce its age restrictions under the Fair Housing Act, which fundamentally changes the community's permissible occupancy rules and its resale market.

Buyers of units in 55-plus communities should request, as part of their due diligence:

• The association's current age-verification policy
• The most recent HOPA occupancy survey and its results
• Any notices or correspondence from HUD regarding HOPA compliance
• The declaration's age-restriction provisions and how they interact with HOPA requirements
• Any history of HOPA enforcement actions or complaints

Monsoon and Drainage: Capital Obligation Patterns Specific to Arizona

Arizona's climate produces capital risks that do not appear in disclosure frameworks designed for other markets. Buyers who are accustomed to condo due diligence in northern or eastern markets may not recognize the specific infrastructure obligations that Arizona's desert environment creates.

Drainage and grading. Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson, and surrounding markets are built on terrain that was designed around significant impervious surface coverage. During the summer monsoon season — July through September — storm events can produce intense localized rainfall measured in inches per hour. Drainage infrastructure designed for desert conditions may be undersized for the most intense events, and communities that have experienced drainage failures, flooding, or erosion-related damage carry capital obligations that may not be visible in a reserve balance alone.

Meeting minutes from the summer and fall months are the most productive place to look for drainage-related capital discussions. Boards that have received engineer recommendations about drainage infrastructure, discussed erosion along common-area slopes or retention basins, or responded to flooding complaints in the minutes are surfacing capital concerns that should be evaluated against the reserve balance.

Roof systems in a desert climate. Flat or low-slope roofing systems in Arizona face thermal cycling stress unlike anything in cooler climates. Daily temperature swings of 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year stress membrane roofing materials and flashings in ways that accelerate deterioration. A roof that has never been evaluated by a licensed roofer may be at or near the end of its useful life even if no active leak has been reported.

Pool and mechanical systems. Arizona's condo and HOA communities have among the highest pool-per-unit ratios in the country. Pool decking, equipment, plaster, tile, and mechanical components face accelerated wear in Arizona's UV and heat environment. Capital budgets for pool-heavy communities should reflect replacement cycles shorter than industry norms for cooler climates — typically 8 to 12 years for pool equipment and 10 to 15 years for pool plaster, compared to longer cycles in moderate climates.

Desert landscaping and irrigation. Common-area desert landscaping in Arizona communities is not low-maintenance in the way buyers sometimes expect. Irrigation systems, rock mulch, decomposed granite, and drought-tolerant plant installations require periodic replacement and adjustment. Large-scale landscaping in master-planned communities can represent a meaningful reserve obligation that is easy to overlook.

What to Ask for That Is Not on the Statutory List

The ARS 33-1806 and ARS 33-1260 disclosure package is a floor. A buyer doing meaningful due diligence should request the following materials beyond what the statute requires:

Board meeting minutes for the past 24 months. This is the most valuable supplementary document in any Arizona condo resale. The minutes contain the board's own discussion of capital issues, deferred maintenance, collection problems, insurance renewals, and governance disputes. Material risks that do not appear in any formal disclosure are routinely visible in the minutes for buyers who read them carefully. See the guide to reading HOA meeting minutes for what to look for.

Financial statements for the past three years. The income statement, balance sheet, and accounts-receivable detail for the most recent three years reveal reserve balance trends, operating budget adequacy, and delinquency patterns. A reserve balance that has been flat for three years in a building over 20 years old is a different risk profile than one that has grown consistently. The three-year view provides context that the current-year balance alone cannot.

Master insurance policy declarations page. Not a certificate of insurance — the declarations page itself, showing the insured replacement value, the policy deductible structure, the carrier, and any coverage endorsements or exclusions. Arizona's insurance market has tightened in response to wildfire and climate-related loss trends, and policies written two or three years ago may have replacement cost values that no longer reflect current construction costs.

Any engineer or inspector reports commissioned in the past five years. An association that has had a structural assessment, a roofing inspection, or a mechanical systems review in the past five years has generated documentary evidence of building condition that is not required to be disclosed under ARS 33-1806. Asking for this material directly — and noting in the request that its absence will be treated as an indication that no such review has been performed — puts the association on notice that the buyer is doing substantive due diligence.

Delinquency rate disclosure. The resale certificate discloses the selling unit's own delinquency status. The association-wide delinquency rate — what percentage of units are delinquent, and the total dollar amount outstanding — is not a statutory disclosure requirement. Ask association management directly. An association operating under the SB 1494 framework (see the Arizona foreclosure reform analysis for context) may carry a meaningful sub-threshold delinquency balance that affects its operating cash flow.

For master-planned communities: the master association's financials separately. In two-tier communities, the sub-association financials and the master association financials are separate documents covering separate budgets and reserve accounts. A buyer who reviews only the sub-association materials has an incomplete picture of total assessment exposure and reserve adequacy. See the master-planned community due-diligence guide for the full layered analysis.

Verifying the Resale Package Against Available Community Information

Arizona has no direct equivalent to statutory transparency portals that some states have enacted for community associations. The state legislature has shown interest in board transparency — SB 1722 (2025) addressed open-meeting requirements — but has not created a public disclosure registry comparable to Florida's DBPR condo database.

However, most large master-planned communities in the Phoenix metro maintain community websites, annual report documents, or financial summaries accessible to the public or to current owners. For buyers of units in communities like Trilogy, Verrado, Tatum Ranch, Sun City, or other named developments, cross-referencing the resale package against the community's own published information is a useful verification step.

Specifically, buyers can check whether:

• The governing documents provided in the resale package match the current versions accessible through the community's official channels
• Any announced capital projects, fee increases, or governance changes published in community newsletters are consistent with what appears in the resale package
• The association's stated reserve balance or operating budget matches figures in publicly accessible annual reports

Discrepancies between the formal resale disclosure and publicly accessible community information are not common, but when they occur they are significant. An association that has announced a special assessment in its community newsletter without disclosing it in the resale certificate has a disclosure compliance problem that warrants immediate attention.

A Practical Checklist for Arizona Condo Buyers

Use this checklist when reviewing an Arizona condo resale package. Items marked as statutory are required under ARS 33-1806 or ARS 33-1260. Items marked as supplementary should be requested regardless of whether the association provides them automatically.

Statutory (ARS 33-1806 and 33-1260):

• Current monthly assessment amount
• Any unpaid assessments or charges against the unit
• Pending claims or litigation disclosed to the association
• Approved but unfunded pending capital improvements
• Outstanding special assessments
• Governing documents: declaration, bylaws, rules, all amendments
• Current operating budget
• Reserve balance (50-plus unit associations only)
• Any existing reserve study (50-plus unit associations only)

Supplementary (request directly):

• Board meeting minutes, past 24 months
• Financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, AR detail), past 3 years
• Master insurance policy declarations page
• Any engineer, inspector, or condition reports, past 5 years
• Association-wide delinquency rate and total outstanding balance
• Master association financials (if two-tier structure)
• HOPA age-verification policy and survey results (55-plus communities)
• Drainage and roof inspection history (relevant for monsoon-exposed buildings)
• HOA management company contact for direct questions

The complete condo buying checklist covers the broader due-diligence framework applicable across all states and community types.

Arizona's resale disclosure framework gives buyers transparency about what associations have chosen to document and fund. It does not set a floor for what that documentation and funding must be. The gap between disclosure and adequacy is where the real due-diligence work happens — and where the risks that do not appear on the statutory checklist live.

Upload your Arizona condo documents for a free risk review at CondoSignal. We cross-reference the resale certificate, financial statements, meeting minutes, insurance declarations, and governing documents to identify the gaps and capital risks that the statutory package alone does not surface.

Sources

• Arizona Revised Statutes §33-1806 — Resale of units; seller disclosure obligations
• Arizona Revised Statutes §33-1260 — Resale of units; association disclosure requirements
• 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(2)(C) — Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA)
• 24 CFR Part 100 Subpart E — Housing for Older Persons
• Arizona Revised Statutes §33-1807 — Assessment lien; foreclosure threshold