Pursuant to Arizona law (Planned Communities Act A.R.S. Section 33-1805 and Condominium Act A.R.S. Section 33-1258), community associations are required to make all financial and other records of the association reasonably available for examination by a member or a member’s designated representative. Records requests are frequently made in connection with a dispute with an owner, and oftentimes those requests may seem burdensome to the Board and/or intended to inconvenience the Board.  Nonetheless, if your Board and/or Management Company receive a request to examine records, you have a statutory duty to respond.

Arizona law provides ten (10) business days to fulfill a records request. As such, you should act promptly and be mindful of the deadline. If, due to the volume of the request or for any other reason, you feel that you will not be able to comply with the deadline, it is important to immediately notify the member that additional time may be needed.

Please note that members have the option to examine the records in-person and/or request copies of the records. If the member requests copies of the records, the association can charge the member a maximum of fifteen cents ($0.15) per page. Other than copy charges, the association shall not charge a member for making records available for examination.

Finally, please be aware that the following categories of records may be withheld from disclosure:

  1. Privileged communication between an attorney for the association and the association.
  2. Pending litigation.
  3. Meeting minutes or other records of a session of a board meeting that is not required to be open to all members pursuant to section 33-1804/33-1248.
  4. Personal, health or financial records of an individual member of the association, an individual employee of the association or an individual employee of a contractor for the association, including records of the association directly related to the personal, health or financial information about an individual member of the association, an individual employee of the association or an individual employee of a contractor for the association.
  5. Records relating to the job performance of, compensation of, health records of or specific complaints against an individual employee of the association or an individual employee of a contractor of the association who works under the direction of the association.

If you are uncertain of whether a particular record may be statutorily withheld from disclosure, or if you have any other questions related to records requests, please contact Mulcahy Law Firm, P.C. for assistance.