Utah Statewide Rule
Utah CC&R & Architectural Rule Enforcement (Utah Code §§ 57-8a-217, -218)
Key Facts
- Governing law
- Utah Code §§ 57-8a-217 (rulemaking), -218 (limits on rules)
- Rulemaking notice
- ≥15 days before meeting; open forum; copy within 15 days after
- Equal treatment
- Rules must treat similarly situated owners similarly
- Rule limits
- No unreasonable rules; protects interiors, gardens, transfers
Summary
A Utah HOA board may adopt and amend rules and design criteria under Utah Code § 57-8a-217, but only with 15 days' advance notice to owners, an open forum, and a copy of the change sent within 15 days after. Section 57-8a-218 requires rules to treat similarly situated owners similarly and bars several categories of overreaching restrictions.
57-8a-217. Association rules, including design criteria - Requirements and limitations relating to board's action on rules and design criteria - Vote of disapproval. (1) (a) Subject to Subsection (1)(b), a board may adopt, amend, modify, cancel, limit, create exceptions to, or expand the rules of the association. (b) A board's action under Subsection (1)(a) is subject to: (i) this section; (ii) any limitation that the declaration imposes on the authority stated in Subsection (1)(a); (iii) the limitation on rules in Sections 57-8a-218 and 57-8a-219; (iv) the board's duty to exercise business judgment on behalf of: (A) the association; and (B) the lot owners in the association; (v) the right of the lot owners or declarant to disapprove the action under Subsection (4) ; and (vi) Subsection (7). (2) Except as provided in Subsection (3), before adopting, amending, modifying, canceling, limiting, creating exceptions to, or expanding the rules of the association, the board shall: (a) at least 15 days before the board will meet to consider a change to a rule or design criterion, deliver notice to lot owners, as provided in Section 57-8a-214, that the board is considering a change to a rule or design criterion;
Full Breakdown
Under § 57-8a-217, a board may "adopt, amend, modify, cancel, limit, create exceptions to, or expand the rules," subject to the declaration and the limits in §§ 57-8a-218 and -219. A rule or design-criteria change is valid only if made at a meeting, with notice to all owners "at least 15 days before" the board considers it, an open forum allowing owners to be heard, and a copy delivered to owners within 15 days after. Section 57-8a-218 requires that "a rule shall treat similarly situated lot owners similarly" and limits rules: they generally may not restrict a dwelling's interior, penalize compliant rental owners, forbid reasonable activity within a lot, require disposal of pre-existing personal property, bar lot transfers, or prohibit rear-yard vegetable gardens, and rules "may not be unreasonable." Recorded covenants are enforced under contract and property law.
Violations & Penalties
No specific statutory penalty against owners. Remedies follow the declaration, typically corrective orders, injunctions, or fines under § 57-8a-208. A rule or design criterion adopted without the § 57-8a-217 notice-and-forum process, or one that violates the equal-treatment and content limits of § 57-8a-218, is unenforceable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Utah HOA adopt a new rule without telling owners?
Can a Utah HOA make rules that single out rental owners or ban my garden?
Sources
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