imposing fines

If you're renting out the condo, it sounds like your tenant may have done something contrary to the rules, so the first thing to do is to have a serious chat with them to see what's going on (it may be they got a copy of the notice and blew it off or your property manager said he/she'd address it and didn't). You'll need to talk to both of them and demand answers. If your tenant did something wrong, you, as the owner are ultimately responsible, so you may have to clean that up and then go after him or her.

Then get a copy of the letters you (or your property manager) were supposedly sent. What was the address written on the letters? Since you don't live at the condo, does the association have you HOME address?
Has the address of the property manager changed and if so, when, and did he/she notify the association? Whether you have a property manager or not, it's your responsibility as a homeowner and HOA member to ensure the association has current and accurate information.

All of this may play a role as to whether you'd win in a lawsuit, so before you go there, I suggest you read your documents to see if you have any appeal rights and request a hearing. You can address whatever it was that prompted the fines and clean up the contact information. It may be the board will drop the fine, but if it was assessed to pay damages your tenant caused, you may have to eat that and learn an expensive lesson.

This is how we addressed the issue and told the board during the hearing as well. Immediately after finding out there was an issue:
1) Addressed all violation issues and made sure they were corrected
2) We asked the HOA manager to change the corresponding address from the property manger to our address
3) We signed up to their newly built portal which I sign on everyday to make sure things are okay
4) requested a meeting with board to ask for a waiver

Why did the Board hear your appeal? It seems silly to let the people that fine you hear the appeal. I would request an appeal to a neutral party.

Rather, fairness and HOA's don't go together.

I know exactly what the violations are for varying from using a gas BBQ in the back yard as opposed to the permitted electrical to not giving the office the lease, as well as storing some material on the front yard. We addressed all those issues as soon as we found out and they were corrected immediately.
Yes, they do have our address on file. They sent the fine to my home address which means they do have my address on file.
Property manager has manged that complex for 13 years and has 40 units that he manages there. He has not changed address and is on the property almost every day again since he is managing 40 units.
We did go to the board and explained to them that we addressed all issue immediately and are taking measures to make sure this does not happen again. We also told them we did not receive any mail and property manager who was also there said he did not receive any mail either. They mentioned they sent the notices via regular mail and so no proof. If you are fining someone $1300 shouldn't you at least have some proof that the notices were sent out????

Above is your post where you say you know exactly what the fines are for. It also says as soon as you found out about them you corrected the issues. Sounds to me like you got the letters you were claiming you did not get. You do not meet the board normally unless you are responding to a notice of violation. Your story has some serious holes in it and if I was in your shoes I would stop fighting this losing battle.

Sure we have...I paid their 1300$ fines and I just feel they should have sent the owners (me) at least a notice in addition to the home in Vegas (you are right) which of course was probably thrown away by the tenant.
FYI, these violation go back to 2018 and we had no clue till a month ago when we received the fine letter.

You may need to chalk this up as an expensive lesson. to keep this from happening again:

1 - get rid of this property manager - you may never know if the letters were sent or not (and people do lie), but since he/she was property manager, it's his/her job to keep up with what's going on with the tenant. Maybe this could have been avoided with a periodic visit and attending a board meeting or two that would tip him/her off to a problem. See if that can become part of your contract with the next one.elissa's suggestion about making the property manager liable for the fines (at least half of them) if he/she doesn't notify you immediately might also be worth pursuing.

2 - put some language in the rental agreement making the tenant responsible for following community rules - if he/she can't or refuses to, consider that grounds for eviction. Make sure he/she gets a copy (the current ones) and have him/her sign a document acknowledging receipt of the same. Questions should be directed to you or the property manager, then one of you should contact the board or association property manager, get clarification and then pass that along

4 - Don't be one of those "out of sight, out of mind" offsite homeowners. Your situation is exactly why I give some of them the side-eye and we have plenty of them in my community. These folks don't educate tenants on community rules, don't respond to complaints even when they do get notices - they only care if the rent check clears.

Note most of this DOESN'T apply to you, although when you first heard of the problem and got it resolved, that might have been the time to ensure the association was happy so there wouldn't be further sanctions like fines. I would have also gotten that writing.

You are a neighbor to the people who live in this community, even if you don't live there. Do what you need to do to stay informed and not rely solely on the property manager. You should be reading copies of board meeting minutes, newsletters and attending the annual meeting if you can't attend regular board meetings (it's only once a year, so you can plan for it). This way, people can put a face with the property and know you care about what's going on. Maybe some of the neighbors would then let you know what's happening early so you can fix it before the board gets wind of it and this happens again.

Be careful before taking the matter to small claims court. You might lose and get tagged with the Association's legal fees for your trouble if the laws in AZ provide for prevailing party attorney's fee in such matters.

FWIW, my advice would be to spend a few bucks to get a legal opinion from an experienced community association lawyer in your area before doing anything.

Yes, you are right I thought about the same thing too. The condo is in Vegas and I live in Cali. I will try to find an attorney to see what I can do.