Renewal

Statutes That Affect Owners and Associations

The Laws That Reach Your Community, and Which One Decides Your Question.

Two things to know before you use it. The list is broader than association law because many statutes "impact" rather than "govern," and much of what determines an owner's position lies outside the two association acts. And a statute is not your governing documents. Your declaration, bylaws, plat, and rules operate alongside these statutes.

Start Here: The Two Acts

One of these two almost certainly governs your community, and which one it is changes the answer to most questions.

  • Condominium Ownership Act, Title 57, Chapter 8. Governs condominium projects and associations of unit owners: declarations, unit boundaries, common areas, assessments, liens, and the management committee.
  • Community Association Act, Title 57, Chapter 8a. Governs planned communities and associations of lot owners: assessments, fines, rules and design criteria, rental restrictions, records, board meetings, reserves, and lien foreclosure.

Which applies is decided by your declaration first, and if the declaration is silent, by whether the recorded plats are designated as condominium plats. It does not depend on whether your homes are attached or detached, nor on when the community was built.

This Office

If Your Association Is Incorporated

Most Utah associations are nonprofit corporations, which adds a second body of law on top of the association act.

  • Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act, Title 16, Chapter 6a. Member rights, member meetings and voting, quorum, proxies, written ballots, directors and officers, fiduciary duty, indemnification, records, and dissolution. Note that some sections of this Act apply regardless of whether or not the association is also a registered nonprofit corporation.
  • Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, Title 13, Chapter 1a. The division an association incorporates with, files its annual report with, and pays fees to. Associations registered as any type of corporate entity must register with the Division of Corporations, in addition to the HOA registry with the Office of the Homeowners’ Association Ombudsman.

Deeds, Recording, and Your Property

  • Conveyances, Title 57, Chapter 1. How the deeds, easements, and covenants that create and burden your lot or unit are made and take effect.
  • Recording of Documents, Title 57, Chapter 3. Why a recorded declaration, plat, amendment, or lien binds a later buyer.
  • Utah Fair Housing Act, Title 57, Chapter 21. Prohibits housing discrimination, which reaches association rules, occupancy limits, and requests for reasonable accommodation.
  • Utah Uniform Land Sales Practices Act, Title 57, Chapter 11. Registration and disclosure when subdivided lots are sold, which matters most in a community still being built.
  • Utah Fit Premises Act, Title 57, Chapter 22. Habitability duties between a landlord and a tenant, which apply wherever a lot or unit is rented out.
  • Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Title 46, Chapter 4. When an association's electronic notices, ballots, and signatures are legally effective.
  • Residential Property Service Agreements, Title 57, Chapter 30. Limits long-term service agreements recorded against a home.

Land Use, Zoning, and Accessory Dwelling Units

Your city or county decides what may be built. An association's authority operates on top of that, not instead of it.

Building, Contractors, and Construction Liens

Where Disputes Go

Specific Subjects

  • Section 53-29-306. Defines the "protected area" that a rule may restrict a sex offender from entering, expressly including a pool, park, or playground owned or operated by an association.
  • Section 73-10-34. Secondary water metering, which reaches an association that supplies pressurized secondary water, with deadlines in 2030.
  • Public Infrastructure District Act, Title 17D, Chapter 4. Creates the districts that levy taxes and build infrastructure inside many newer communities, separately from the association.

Federal Law

  • Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. Sections 3601 to 3613. Prohibits discriminatory rules, terms, and services, and supplies the complaint routes that owners use. The housing for older persons exemption that 55+ communities rely on is in Section 3607(b).
  • Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. Sections 3901 and following. Caps interest on pre-service debts and restricts eviction and lien enforcement against servicemember owners and tenants.

Not an HOA, Though People Often Think So

These regimes are frequently mistaken for community associations. If one of them describes your situation, the two acts above do not apply, and neither does this Office.

Changes Already Scheduled

Three dates change citations on this list. Check the effective date before relying on a section.

  • October 1, 2026. Title 16, Chapter 1a takes effect and takes over entity filings, association names, registered agents, administrative dissolution and reinstatement, merger, and the annual report. Thirty-three sections of the Nonprofit Corporation Act are repealed on the same day. Member rights, meetings, voting, directors, and indemnification remain in Title 16, Chapter 6a.
  • January 1, 2027. The Construction Trades Licensing Act is re-enacted, and nearly every contractor section is renumbered. Property manager licensing begins under Section 61-2f-201.

This List Isn’t Exhaustive

Although many disputes can be addressed through the statutes and resources mentioned above, it is not complete in the sense of covering every statute that could ever matter; instead, it covers the ones that most often come before the Office.

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