Sahuarita HOA Rules: Dispute Resolution Rules (2026)

Sahuarita residents living in planned communities such as Rancho Sahuarita, which is one of the largest master-planned communities in southern Arizona, have access to the Arizona Department of Real Estate HOA dispute resolution process as a formal alternative to civil court litigation. Under ARS 32-2199.01, either a homeowner or the association may file a petition with ADRE alleging violations of the association governing documents, including the CC&Rs, bylaws, rules, and design guidelines, or violations of the Arizona Planned Community Act statutes that govern HOA operations. The petitioner must pay a $500 filing fee per single issue that is being disputed, and this fee is generally nonrefundable unless the parties reach a settlement agreement before a hearing has been formally scheduled by the Office of Administrative Hearings. ADRE reviews the petition to determine whether the dispute falls within its jurisdiction, which covers matters such as assessment disputes, enforcement of CC&R provisions, open meeting violations, member records access disputes, architectural review decisions, and violations of the Planned Community Act statutory requirements. If the dispute cannot be resolved through ADRE initial review and any informal resolution attempts, the Department refers the case to the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings, which is an independent state agency that provides administrative law judges for disputes across multiple state departments. OAH schedules a hearing before an administrative law judge within 60 days of the date the case is referred from ADRE, providing a significantly faster resolution timeline than civil court proceedings, which can take months or years to reach trial in Pima County Superior Court. Before the association can enforce a rule violation or collect attorney fees from a member related to an enforcement action, ARS 33-1803 requires the association to give the member written notice of the violation and, critically, written notice of the member option to petition ADRE for an administrative hearing on the matter. Members also have 21 calendar days from receipt of a violation notice to submit a written response via certified mail, and may request specific information about the alleged violation including the governing document provision cited, the date of the alleged violation, and the identity of persons who observed it. The ADRE process handles a range of disputes that commonly arise in large planned communities like Rancho Sahuarita, including disagreements over architectural review committee decisions, assessment increase disputes, claims of selective enforcement of CC&R provisions, and allegations that the board has violated open meeting requirements. Civil court remains available for matters that fall outside ADRE jurisdictional scope or when either party prefers traditional litigation, and many HOA governing documents also contain mediation or arbitration clauses that may apply as a prerequisite or alternative to either ADRE or court proceedings.