Renewal

Is This Even a Homeowners' Association?

How To Tell an Association From a District, a Park, a Timeshare, or a Landlord

What Makes an Organization an Association Under These Acts

Two definitions do the work, and this Office's jurisdiction is built directly on them. Section 13-79-101 defines the owners and associations this Office serves by referring to the definitions in the two acts rather than defining them itself.

  • An association of unit owners comprises all unit owners in a condominium project, either acting as a group under the declaration and bylaws or organized as a legal entity under the declaration. Note that it does not have to be incorporated to exist.
  • An association under the Community Association Act is a corporation or other legal entity whose members own residential lots within the association's jurisdiction and who, by virtue of membership or ownership, must pay property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance costs, or for the improvement of property the member does not own.

The two are mutually exclusive at the entity level: an association created under the Condominium Ownership Act is expressly not an "association" or "homeowner association" under the Community Association Act. If yours is one of these two things, you are in the right place. Use the HOA Education Homepage to find your applicable section of law.

A Public Infrastructure District Is Government, Not Your HOA

Public infrastructure districts (PIDs) are common in newer master planned communities, and they are the organization most often mistaken for an association. A public infrastructure district is a body corporate and politic, a quasi-municipal corporation, and a political subdivision of the state, separate and distinct from every other public entity. 

A PID is a private entity formed to issue a municipal bond to finance infrastructure for a new commercial or residential development. The bond is recorded as a debt against each property within the district, and each property owner is responsible for paying their share of the debt over the lifetime of the bond. This often appears as an additional charge on your property tax bill and is separate from your HOA assessments or your mortgage. Before a PID can collect a fee or levy a tax, it must record notice on your property.

Each PID is required to have a board and to hold meetings within the district where the PID is located. The PID board will likely be different from your HOA board. You can find more information about PIDs through the following sources:

  1. The State’s Open Public Meeting Notice website
  2. Your closing documents
  3. Your county tax notice
  4. Records available through your County Recorder’s office
  5. The city or county that approved the creation of the PID

PIDs are governed by the provisions applicable to all special districts in Title 17B, Chapter 1. Neither act on this site applies to it, and neither does this Office's authority. Questions about a district go to the district's board of trustees.

A Special Service District Is Also Government

Special service districts are created under the Special Service District Act and provide services that a city or county has chosen to deliver through a separate limited-purpose entity. As with a public infrastructure district, the governing body is a public body, and the remedies are those that apply to local government, not those in Title 57.

A Mobile Home Park Is a Landlord Relationship

If you rent the lot your home sits on in a mobile home park, your relationship with the park is governed by the Mobile Home Park Residency Act. A park owner is not an association, park rules are not association rules, and the protections that apply to you are in Chapter 16 rather than Chapter 8 or 8a.

A Timeshare Is Not an HOA

Timeshare interests are governed by the Timeshare and Camp Resort Act. Timeshare projects often have an owners' organization that collects annual fees and maintains the property, which is why the two get confused. The act that governs the sale and the interest is Chapter 19, and it is administered by the Division of Real Estate.

A Housing Cooperative Is a Different Form of Ownership

In a cooperative, you own an interest in the entity that owns the building rather than owning real property directly. The marketing of cooperative interests is regulated under the Real Estate Cooperative Marketing Act.

One qualification matters here. If a real estate cooperative is part of a development, a unit in it counts as a "lot" under the Community Association Act. So, a cooperative inside a larger planned development may be reached by Chapter 8a through the association above it, even though the cooperative itself is not one.

Commercial Property Is Treated Differently Under Each Act

This is the asymmetry most likely to surprise a commercial owner, and it runs opposite to what most people expect.

  • A commercial condominium project is still under Chapter 8. The chapter defines a commercial condominium project as one with no residential units, and the only exception is insurance: unless the declaration says otherwise, Section 57-8-43 does not apply to a commercial condominium project insured under a policy issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2014. Every other section of the chapter applies.
  • A commercial-only development is not an association under Chapter 8a. The definition requires members who own residential lots, so an owners' organization whose members all own commercial property does not meet it, and the chapter's duties do not attach.

Your Landlord Is Not an Association

If you rent, your rights come from your lease and from landlord-tenant law, not from either act, even when the building has rules that look like association rules. This remains true when the unit you rent is in a condominium or planned community: the association's obligations there run to the owner, not the tenant. If you have questions about a landlord-tenant dispute, you can talk to the Division of Consumer Protection or the Division of Real Estate if the dispute involves a property manager. For any issues relating to Fair Housing, you can also contact the Labor Commission. 

If It Is Not Your HOA, Where Does the Question Go

Take a district question to the district's board, a mobile home park question to the protections in Chapter 16 of Title 57, and a timeshare or cooperative marketing question to the Division of Real Estate. For anything that turns on a contract, a lease, or a deed, you can contact the Division of Consumer Protection or hire your own attorney; for money disputes, a court may be the faster route.

If you are still not certain what you are dealing with, the document that answers it is the recorded declaration for your property. It is at the county recorder's office in the county where the property is located. What This Office Can and Cannot Do sets out the limits on what this Office may decide, even when an association is involved. 

Reviewed against the Utah Code, current as of September 8, 2026.