What is in an HOA resale package, and who pays the transfer fee in Scottsdale, Arizona?

If you're buying or selling a home in Scottsdale or anywhere else in Arizona, you may be asking what is in an HOA resale package and who pays the transfer fee. The package is a set of documents Arizona law requires, covering the association's rules, budget, finances, and any money owed on the home, and the transfer fee is paid by whoever the purchase contract's HOA addendum says pays it, while the fee the association may charge for preparing the documents is charged to the seller.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, helping people buy and sell homes. When the home is in an association, I'll go through the package with you, because the numbers differ from one association to the next.

This is general information, not legal advice. The statute text here is A.R.S. 33-1806 (planned communities) and 33-1260 (condominiums) as they read on azleg.gov on November 3, 2026, after the Legislature amended both in 2026 (Laws 2026, Chapter 249). The contract wording comes from the Arizona REALTORS® H.O.A. Condominium / Planned Community Addendum, in the copy I was able to read, which is marked as updated June 2025. The association revises its forms, so the one attached to your contract is the one that controls.

It depends on how big the community is. In a planned community with fewer than fifty properties, the statute says the seller (it calls the seller the “member”) delivers the information to the buyer or the buyer's agent within ten days after acceptance of the buyer's offer. In a planned community with fifty or more properties, the seller gives the association written notice that the offer was accepted, with the buyer's name, email address and mailing address, and the statute says the association then delivers the information within ten days after it receives that notice. A.R.S. 33-1260 sets up the same two paths for condominiums.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory (January 2025) describes it the same way: for a resale home in a condominium or planned community, the seller delivers the disclosure if the community has fewer than fifty units and the HOA delivers it if there are fifty or more. The Arizona REALTORS® addendum puts the same ten days into the contract and gives the buyer a set number of days after receiving the package to give the seller written notice of anything the buyer disapproves of. The number of days is printed on the addendum, so look at it the day the package arrives.

For a house or townhome in a planned community, A.R.S. 33-1806 lists these items:

• The current bylaws and rules.
• The current declaration and the final plat.
• The board-approved minutes from the previous three open board meetings.
• A dated statement with a principal contact for the association, the annual assessment and its payment schedule, the remaining installments on any special assessment already approved and assessed, any special assessment approved but not yet assessed or sent to the members for a vote in the previous four months, any unpaid assessment lien or judgment lien and any lis pendens the association recorded against the property, the amount and purpose of any title transfer fee or similar fee the declaration authorizes, the association's income and expenses statement for its operating and reserve accounts, and any unresolved violation cited against the property.
• The current operating budget.
• The most recent annual audit, review or compilation report, which can be a summary if the report is more than ten pages.
• The most recent reserve study, if there is one, which can also be a summary.
• A summary of pending lawsuits the association is a party to, including the amount claimed.
• A statement on whether the declarant (the developer) still controls the association and about what percentage of the lots the declarant still owns.
• A notice that you may ask to see the full version of any report that came as a summary.
• A statement you sign at close of escrow saying you are bound by the recorded declaration and the assessments, and that unpaid assessments can lead to collection action by the association, up to and including foreclosure.
• If more than one association governs the home, a statement that the home is subject to each association's report and fee.

A.R.S. 33-1260 lists nearly the same items for a condominium and adds a statement about the insurance the association maintains and whether a corporation or LLC owns and leases thirty-five percent or more of the units. The Arizona REALTORS® addendum lists many of these same items, including the bylaws and rules, the declaration, the dated statement, the budget, the financial report, the reserve study, and a statement about pending lawsuits.

One more detail from the statute: the information is based on the association's records, and the association is not required to investigate or independently validate it. If someone knowingly or recklessly leaves out required information or gives materially false or misleading statements, the statute lets a buyer or seller who is harmed pursue remedies, including attorney fees. For anything about how that applies to your situation, a licensed Arizona attorney is the person to ask.

Start with the money, since that is where a surprise costs the most. Look at the dated statement for any special assessment, including one the board approved but has not billed yet, and for any lien or lis pendens recorded against the home. Then read the reserve study next to the operating budget, so you can see what the association has set aside against the repairs it expects.

After that, read the minutes from the last three open board meetings, since they show what the board has been discussing, and the pending lawsuit summary, since a lawsuit the association is in is part of the financial picture you are buying into. Check the violations line for the specific home, too, because an unresolved violation cited against the property is part of the dated statement. If the home has a second association, each one gets its own report and its own fee, so make sure you have both.

If you're buying, do this reading inside your inspection period so you can still act on what you find. Here's how the inspection period works in Arizona.

There are two different kinds of fees, and people tend to call both of them the transfer fee. The first is the resale disclosure fee, which the statute covers. The association may charge the member, meaning the seller, up to an aggregate of $400 for preparing and delivering the report and other documents for resale disclosure, lien estoppel and any other services related to the transfer or use of the property. It may add a rush fee of up to $100 when the services are required within seventy-two hours after the request, and a document update fee of up to $50 when thirty days or more have passed since the original disclosure report.

The statute also says these fees are collected not earlier than the close of escrow, may only be charged once to the seller for that transaction, and that an association charging a fee the statute does not authorize faces a civil penalty of up to $1,200. It says the association has to make the amount of its fees available to any interested party, so you can ask for them by name. The Arizona REALTORS® addendum says the same thing in the form's own words, that disclosure fees cannot be more than an aggregate of $400 per association, with the update and rush fees on top.

The second kind is the fee the association's own declaration sets, which the addendum calls the transfer fee, defined as the association's fees related to the transfer of title. The addendum also has a line for capital improvement fees, which it describes as fees labeled community reserve, asset preservation, capital reserve, working capital, community enhancement or future improvement. The statute does not set an amount for these. What it does is require the dated statement to give the amount and purpose of any title transfer fee or similar fee, however it is named, that the declaration authorizes. That is why I read the declaration and not just the fee sheet.

The statute does not assign the transfer fee to the buyer or the seller, so it comes from the purchase contract. The Arizona REALTORS® addendum has a section titled fees payable upon close of escrow, and on the buyer's page there are separate lines that say transfer fees shall be paid by buyer, seller or other, capital improvement fees shall be paid by buyer, seller or other, and the same for any additional fees payable at close of escrow that were not disclosed on the first page. So the answer for your home is whichever box is checked on your signed addendum.

Two things in the addendum are not left open. It says the buyer pays all prepaid association fees, meaning dues and assessments paid in advance of their due date, and it says the seller pays all disclosure fees as required by Arizona law, which lines up with the statute charging the seller. Two HOA management companies, FirstService Residential and Planned Development Services in Glendale, each describe the transfer fee as something the buyer and seller can agree on between themselves. Planned Development Services adds that the association's fee itself is not negotiable, and only who pays it is.

Because the addendum is part of the contract, a counteroffer that changes who pays has to be written so that the addendum and the counteroffer agree. If you're making or answering an offer, ask your agent to read both side by side. Here's who pays what at closing in Arizona.

If the community has fifty or more properties, you will not get the package from the seller directly. The seller notifies the association, and the association sends it. The addendum tells the escrow company to send that notice on the seller's behalf, so ask the escrow officer whether it has gone out. If your package has not arrived, tell your agent so that someone can ask the association whether it received the notice.

If two associations govern the home, the statute says the package has to include a statement that the home is subject to each association's report and fee. The addendum has a line for the H.O.A. and a line for the master association in each fee category. So you may see two disclosure fees, two transfer fees and two sets of documents, and each one should be filled in on the addendum.

The first is treating the disclosure fee and the transfer fee as one number. They come from different places, one from the statute and one from the declaration, and they can be assigned to different people. Look at each line.

The second is not asking about fees until the closing statement. The Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory tells buyers that some HOAs impose fees that must be paid when the property is sold, and to ask whether the purchase will result in any fees. A seller can do the same, since the statute lets any interested party ask the association for its fee amounts. If you're listing, ask for them before you set your net proceeds, and here's what a seller has to disclose in Arizona.

The third is paying a charge you do not recognize. Under the statute, the fees for resale disclosure are collected not earlier than close of escrow and only once for the transaction. If you see a second charge for the same documents, ask the association which part of the statute allows it, and take it to your agent or an attorney if the answer is not clear.

The fourth is leaving the package unread because the dues look fine. The dues are one line in the dated statement, and the reserve study, the minutes and the lawsuit summary are where you learn what may change them.

If you're selling, ask your association now for its disclosure fee, rush fee and update fee, and read your declaration for any transfer or capital fee, so you know your numbers before you accept an offer. If you're buying, ask for the package the day your offer is accepted, read it with the inspection period in mind, and check which boxes are marked on the addendum before you sign. Here's which HOA law applies to you in Arizona, and here's how buying a home works in Arizona, step by step. Here's what escrow is and what happens during it.

If you have an HOA package or an addendum in front of you and want a second set of eyes on it, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605. For anything that turns on what the law or your contract legally requires, a licensed Arizona attorney is the person to ask.