homeowners insurance required

I belong to a homeowners assn, we have a mobile home park and the rules were changed to require everyone in the park to have homeowners insurance. To begin I have the insurance but there are people who can't afford the insurance and the board says those members are not in good standing and can't attend yearly meeting. Is it legal to require the insurance and can they keep members out of meeting.

Was this requirement reflected in a change documented in CC&R's or Rules, Policies and Procedures. I'm not sure in AZ but in California I would bet such a requirement would have to be in the CC&R's and would hold no legal standing if just in the RPP's. Naturally a change to CC&R's would require membership vote.

Ron,

A couple of recent Arizona Court of Appeals opinions have held that amendments to CC&R's and/or bylaws cannot impose additional obligations on the owners. If there was no requirement to have homeowner's insurance when you purchased your property the HOA cannot now demand it.

In Dreamland Villa v. Raimey the issue was that the HOA amended their CC&R's to require owners to join a community club and pay dues for it. The Court held that the HOA could not do that.

In Wilson v. Playa de Serrano the court held that an HOA cannot amend the CC&R's by amending the bylaws. At issue was the HOA amended the bylaws in an attempt to make a condo an age-restricted community.

While neither of these cases are directly on point, they would suggest that the HOA cannot impose a burden that was not stated in the CC&R's.

(Click on the case names to see the original opinions.)