First, make sure this is your chapter. Chapter 8 governs condominiums. Chapter 8a governs planned communities of separately owned lots, including, in some cases, townhomes. Your declaration decides which applies, and if the declaration is silent, whether the recorded plats are designated as condominium plats decides it. It does not turn on whether your homes are attached, and it does not turn on when the project was built.

What You Own

Two things, and they cannot be separated. You own your unit, and you own an undivided interest in the common areas in the percentage stated in your declaration.

That share is permanent. It cannot be sold separately from the unit; it cannot be changed without a recorded amendment approved by two-thirds of the owners; and no owner may sue to divide the common areas. A provision in your documents that says otherwise is void. Note, however, that an amendment to the declaration can change your ownership percentage, which could impact how much you pay in assessments. You have the exclusive right to your own unit under Section 57-8-6, and the right to use the common areas for their intended purpose without encroaching on other owners under Section 57-8-7(5).

Your Rights

• Records. Request association records and receive them within 10 business days.
• Open meetings. Management committee meetings are generally open to owners, with a defined list of subjects that may be closed to the public. 
• Vote. Voting rights are allocated by your percentage or fractional undivided interest in the common areas. You can calculate your voting power from the statute and your recorded interest.
• Disapprove of a budget. A budget is disapproved if, within 45 days of the meeting where it was presented, at least 51% of all allocated voting interests vote to disapprove it at a special meeting called for that purpose. 
• Contest a fine. Request an informal hearing within 30 days of receiving notice of the fine. No interest or late fee may accrue until the committee holds the hearing and you receive a final decision. 
• Keep your utilities and pool access while you dispute. If the association moves to cut off utility or recreational access for delinquency, you have 14 days from the date you receive the notice to request a hearing in writing, and a timely request stops the shutoff until the committee holds the hearing and enters a decision.
• A real answer when design plans are denied. A denial must specify each governing document provision relied on and the aspect of your plan that does not conform. The plan fee may not exceed the actual cost.
• Limits on what rules and CC&Rs can do to you. Section 57-8-8.1 lists what a rule may not do, and Section 57-8-10(9) lists what a declaration may not do. Both reach, among other things, political and religious displays, for-sale signs, security cameras, driveway parking, contractor choice, and restrictions on your unit's interior.

Your Responsibilities

• Pay, whatever you think of the amenity. You cannot escape your share of common expenses by not using the common areas or by moving out.
• Maintain your unit. Unless the declaration or the insurance section says otherwise, the unit is yours to maintain, repair, and replace, and the common areas are the association's.
• Comply with the governing documents.
• Do not endanger the building. No owner may do work that jeopardizes the soundness or safety of the property, reduces its value, or impairs an easement, without the unanimous written consent of every other owner.

What the Association Must Do

• Adopt a budget and present it to the members.
• Conduct a reserve analysis and review it at least every three years. 
• Maintain the common areas and repair the damage caused by getting to them. These duties apply from the beginning, including while the developer still controls the association.
• Carry the insurance required by Section 57-8-43, which covers limited common areas, unit fixtures, and the structures.
• Register annually with the Department of Commerce. While registration lapses, a lien may not arise, and an existing lien may not be enforced.
• Publish a fee schedule by rule and give every owner a copy before charging a fee for common area use.

If You Fall Behind on Assessments

The association has a lien under Section 57-8-44 and can foreclose. Two limits on nonjudicial foreclosure are worth knowing before anyone tells you otherwise. Under Section 57-8-46(3), the association may not use nonjudicial foreclosure if the lien includes a fine, and it may not use it unless the lien includes an assessment more than 180 days delinquent.

Where to Go With a Problem

Start with the association in writing, and use whatever dispute procedure your governing documents set out. You must exhaust that before this Office can act. 

This Office can issue a written advisory opinion on compliance with the association acts or other Utah statutes. The request costs $150 and must be filed within 1 year of when you knew or should have known about the act in question. 

Reviewed against the Utah Code, current as of August 12, 2026.