Orem, UT HOA Rules: Board Governance (2026)
Key Facts
- Required in
- ROS and OS5 clustered subdivision developments
- Timing
- HOA must be set up before final plat approval
- City review
- Formation documents reviewed and approved by the City
- Membership
- Automatic on acquiring an ownership interest in a lot
- Handoff point
- HOA takes over after 80% of lots are sold
- Must include
- Cost allocation and enforcement/collection provisions
Summary
Orem does not leave open space maintenance to chance in its ROS and OS5 clustered developments. Before the City approves a final plat, Orem City Code Section 22-10-4(D) requires the developer to establish a nonprofit homeowners' association, trust, or similar mechanism the City approves, with every lot owner automatically becoming a member once they buy into the subdivision.
Prior to the approval of any final plat for a development, the owner/developer of a project shall establish a nonprofit homeowners' association, a trust or other similar mechanism acceptable to the City (hereinafter collectively referred to as an "HOA"), which shall be formed for the purpose of assuming responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the open space areas. The owner/developer shall submit all documents necessary for the establishment and function of the HOA to the City for review and approval prior to receiving approval of any final plat. Such documents shall include provisions for the allocation of the costs of open space maintenance between the lot owners, an effective means of enforcement and collection of maintenance costs from the lot owners, and a provision that all property owners within the development automatically become a member and/or participant in the HOA upon obtaining an ownership interest in any lot in the development.
Full Breakdown
Section 22-10-4(D) of the Orem City Code requires developers proposing a clustered subdivision in the ROS or OS5 open space zones to set up an HOA, defined broadly to include a nonprofit homeowners' association, a trust, or 'other similar mechanism acceptable to the City,' before the City will approve the final plat. The developer must submit all of the HOA's formation and governance documents to the City for review and approval as part of that plat approval, and those documents must specifically include provisions allocating the cost of open space maintenance among the lot owners, an effective mechanism for enforcing and collecting those maintenance costs, and a clause making every property owner in the development automatically a member of the HOA the moment they acquire an ownership interest in a lot.
Governance responsibility shifts over time: the developer stays responsible for building and maintaining the open space improvements until at least 80% of the lots in the development have sold, at which point the HOA takes over ongoing maintenance under Section 22-10-4. The City does not just require the HOA to exist at plat approval and walk away. Both the recorded subdivision plat and a separate declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions filed with the Utah County Recorder must carry these HOA-formation and maintenance provisions forward as covenants that run with the land, so a later HOA board or a new set of owners cannot vote them out of existence.
Violations & Fines
A developer who records a final plat without first establishing an HOA meeting Section 22-10-4(D)'s requirements, or without submitting the required governance and cost-allocation documents for City review, has not satisfied a precondition of Orem's plat approval process. Because the plat and CC&R declaration must carry these HOA provisions as covenants running with the land, removing or omitting them after the fact does not relieve the development of the underlying maintenance and membership obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every subdivision in Orem need a homeowners association?
Do I automatically become a member of the HOA when I buy a lot?
When does the HOA take over maintaining the open space from the developer?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Orem
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