ALJDEC decisions subject to certification as final

25F-H099-REL · Department of Real Estate - H/C · 2026-04-15

IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

In the Matter of:

Ann Galpin,

Petitioner,

University Shadows Homeowners Association, Inc.,

Respondent.

No. 25F-H099-REL

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE DECISION

HEARING: March 26, 2026 at 1:00pm

APPEARANCES: Complainant Ann Galpin appeared on her own behalf. Attorney Mark Lines appeared on behalf of Respondent University Shadows Homeowners Association, Incorporated with witness Austin Heywood and observer Treven Nuttall.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Nicole Robinson

EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE: Arizona Department of Real Estate Notice of Hearing Packet (“Packet”). Petitioner Exhibits. Respondent Prehearing Memorandum.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Background and Procedure

The Arizona Department of Real Estate (“Department”) is authorized by statute to receive and to decide petitions for hearings from members of homeowners’ associations and from homeowners’ associations in Arizona.

On November 11, 2025, Ann Galpin (“Petitioner”) filed a one issue petition with the Department which alleged that University Shadows Homeowners Association, Incorporated (“Respondent” or “Association”) violated condominium statute Arizona Revised Statutes (Ariz. Rev. Stat) § 33-1258.

The relief requested by Petitioner, other than ordering Respondent to pay to Petitioner the filing fee required by Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-2199.01 if Petitioner prevailed, included the following, to order Respondent to abide by the Arizona statute specified in the complaint section.

On November 24, 2025, the Department sent a Homeowner’s Association (“HOA”) Notice of Petition to Respondent which informed Respondent of the petition initiated against it. In addition, the petition informed Respondent to send a timely response to the Department and to Petitioner no later than December 19, 2025.

On or about December 8, 2025, Respondent returned a timely Answer to the Department whereby it denied Petitioner’s claims and concluded the following:

The statutory framework governing condominium records requests draws a clear line between an association’s obligation to disclose the records it maintains and the impermissible burden of requiring the creation of new ones. The Association met its obligations under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258 by timely producing all existing records subject to disclosure and by applying the retention and disclosure requirements of Title 10 and Title 33 as written.

Petitioner’s remaining demands exceed the scope of those statutes and seek records the Association is not required to maintain or create. Because the Association has fully complied with the law, and because the Petition rests on categories of documents outside the statutes’ reach, the Association respectfully requests that the Petition be dismissed.

On or about December 23, 2025, the Department referred this matter to the Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”), an independent state agency, for an evidentiary hearing to address the issues set forth as follows:

The Petitioner’s allegation within the petition states, “I am seeking assistance in obtaining the attached requested records from University Shadows Homeowners Association, Inc.; in accordance with ARS 33-1258 I submitted a written record request around noon on October 14, 2025 which was acknowledge as received at 5:00 pm on October 14, 2025 by Treven Nuttall for Heywood Realty and Investment, Inc. acting on behalf of University Shadows Homeowners Association, Inc.; on October 31, 2023 the association sent an email with 25 attachments related to request items #1+ #2 + #4; and failed to providing records related to request items #3 + #5; many of the records requested on October 14, 2025 were requested previously in April 2025 and dismissed by Austin Heywood of Heywood Realty and Investment, Inc. on May 23, 2025, acting on behalf of University Shadows Homeowners Association, Inc., as he claimed homeowners must limit any record request to 3 years pursuant to ARS 10-11601 which according to subsection F, ARS 10-11601 does not apply to condominium HOAs.”

The Parties and Governing Documents

Respondent is a condominium/community association whose members own properties in the University Shadows residential real estate development located in Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona. The community was managed by Heywood Community Management.

Petitioner has been a University Shadows property owner for 29 years and a member of the Association.

The Association’s governing document included the Records Retention Policy and authority Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258 which provides, in pertinent part, the following:

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, all financial and other records of the association shall be made reasonably available for examination by any member or any person designated by the member in writing as the member's representative. The association shall not charge a member or any person designated by the member in writing for making material available for review. The association shall have ten business days to fulfill a request for examination. On request for purchase of copies of records by any member or any person designated by the member in writing as the member's representative, the association shall have ten business days to provide copies of the requested records. An association may charge a fee for making copies of not more than fifteen cents per page.

B. Books and records kept by or on behalf of the association and the board may be withheld from disclosure to the extent that the portion withheld relates to any of the following:

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 33-1248.

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.

The Heywood Community Management HOA Records Retention Policy which was revised on January 1, 2019, was listed as follows:

TYPE OF RECORDS

Architectural Control Documents ~ Permanently

Articles of Incorporation ~ Permanently

Assessment Information ~ 3 years

Bank Statements ~ 3 years

Budgets ~ 3 years

By-Laws ~ Permanently

Certificates of Insurance ~ 3 years

Contracts ~ 3 years

Correspondence: Electronic ~ 3 years

Correspondence: E-mails Sent ~ 1 year

Correspondence: General ~ 3 years

Correpsondence: Legal ~ 3 years

CC&R's ~ Permanently

Deeds - Current Owner ~ Permanently

Financial Reporting and Documents ~ 3 years

Income Tax Returns: Federal ~ 3 years

Income Tax Returns: State ~ 3 years

Insurance: Settled Claims ~ 3 years

Insurance: Policies ~ 3 years

Legal Files: Closed ~ 3 years

Legal Files: Open ~ 3 years

Minutes: Annual Meetings ~ Permanently

Minutes: Board Meetings ~ Permanently

Monthly Financial Statements ~ 3 years

Newsletters ~ 3 years

Plat Maps ~ Permanently

Rules and Regulations (current version only) ~ Permanently

The Document Request

On October 14, 2025, Petitioner filed a written request for records with the Association to provide particular documents to her in accordance with Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258. The documents requested included, in pertinent part, as follows:

#1 - Board Election October 6, 2025. All records, including but not limited to sign-in sheet, tally sheets, ballots brought to election meeting including the envelopes they came in or faxed or emailed including the transmittal page, and all ballots not brought to the meeting including the envelopes they came in, or faxed or emailed including the transmittal pages.

#2 - Detailed Monthly Financials for April’25 + May’25 + Jun’25 + Jul’25 + Aug’25 + Sep’25 including the standard bank statements, check registers, outstanding checks, etc.

#3 - The Period: 7/1/2018 – 9/30/2025:

Detailed General Ledger, preferably in excel format, or comma-delimited format CSV.

Detailed Accounts Payable Ledger, preferably in excel or CSV format.

Detailed Accounts Receivable Ledger, preferably in excel or CSV format.

Check Registers, all accounts, open and or closed: simple list showing check date, check number, payee, and dollar amount. Preferably in excel or CSV format.

#4 - Invoices and support documentation for:

Inv. #2231 - 12/30/2022: Splashaway, LLC

Inv. #13715 - 9/16/2024: Arizona Red Mountain Services

Inv. #20241210 - 12/10/2024: Gabrielle Quintana

#5 - For each vendor below please provide: Detailed Vendor Ledger 7/1/2018-9/30/2025. And records including but not limited to agreements, revised agreements, amended agreements, change orders, revised or amended change orders, communications, walk-throughs, inspections, and invoices not previously provided.

ASAP Restoration LLC

Asphalt Restoration Services

ATLAS COMPANIES [Et.al].

5 GUYS [Et.al].

LG Painting

Great Western Landscaping

Great Western Tree

Great Western Pest

Green Keeper Landscaping

Green Keeper Tree

Swain Asphalt

Heywood [Et. al.] - In addition to “h.” above; please provide documentation which supports the quarterly invoices “postage and black and white duplicating” typically in the thousands of dollars.

Hearing Evidence

Petitioner testified on her own behalf. Respondent presented the testimony of Heywood Community Management Vice President, Austin Heywood. Administrative notice was taken of the Department’s electronic file and Notice of Hearing. The substantive evidence of record was as follows:

In August 2025, Petitioner filed a written request for records with the Association. The Association responded and sent Petitioner over 1,000 pages of documents.

On October 14, 2025, Petitioner filed a written request for records with the Association. The request included five categories of documents and Petitioner detailed that she sought electronic copies of the records. Later that day, Respondent responded to Petitioner by email that her request was received and they would get back to her with an estimate on when the documents would be ready.

On October 31, 2025, the Association completed its review of records and provided Petitioner with approximately 25 documents which included election materials, monthly financial statements, bank statements, check registers, and the specific invoices identified in the request. The Association provided Petitioner records that were listed in her request identified as categories #1, #2, and #4.

On November 11, 2025, Petitioner detailed that she received documents from the Association, as part of her request, from categories #1, #2, and #4. Petitioner alleged that she did not receive records related to categories #3 and #5.

Category #3 requested accounting information for the period from July 1, 2018 through September 30, 2025, including general ledger data, accounts payable and receivable histories, and check register information in CSV or Excel format.

Category #5 requested vendor-specific ledgers and records surrounding vendors, including agreements, change orders, communications, inspections, invoices (not previously provided), and walk-through documentation for approximately 11 vendors including Heywood Community Management.

Arguments

Petitioner’s Argument

Petitioner argued that the Association did not comply with Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258. Petitioner contended that her records request should have taken an hour or less to pull together and the computer accounting systems should be capable of producing these records in multiple formats. Petitioner persistently argued that she should have received a (1) digital record that resides within the computer which must be converted, and (2) a corresponding source document. Petitioner contended that she received neither form of record for categories #3 and #5 and that her petition should be granted.

Respondent’s Argument

Respondent asserted that they provided all of the records that can be produced and made them available to Petitioner. Respondent argued that they are not required to take data that may exist within its systems and generate something new by extracting and converting that data into a new record that was not kept in the ordinary course of business. Respondent further argued that the Petitioner was unable to identify any specific records that were maintained by the Association, that were requested by Petitioner, and were not produced. Respondent requested that the Tribunal deny Petitioner’s petition.

Conclusions of Law

The Department’s jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 32-2102 and 32-2199 et seq., regarding a dispute between an owner and a condominium/community association. The owner or association may petition the department for a hearing concerning violations of community documents or violations of the statutes that regulate planned communities as long as the petitioner has filed a petition with the department and paid a filing fee as outlined in Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-2199.05.

Pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 32-2199(2), 32-2199.01(A), 32-2199.01(D), 32-2199.02, and 41-1092 et seq., OAH has the authority to hear and decide the contested case at bar. OAH has the authority to interpret the contract between the parties.

In this proceeding, Petitioner bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that Respondent violated the aforementioned Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258.

A preponderance of the evidence means “proof which leads the [trier of fact] to find that the existence of the contested fact is more probable than its nonexistence.”

Condominium Associations are regulated by Ariz. Rev. Stat. Title 33, Chapter 9, Article 3 and Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 10-11601 does not govern in this matter.

Based on the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, this matter was focused on the October 14, 2025 requests #3 and #5. In this case, Petitioner received a voluminous amount of documents, over 1,000 pages, from the Association between two different records requests made in 2025. Mr. Heywood credibly testified that all of the Association records kept in the normal course of business were provided to Petitioner. In fact, Petitioner admitted that some of the documents in category #3 were provided but may have not been complete. As an example, Petitioner testified that a homeowner may have received an insurance payout and that should have been a record provided to her. However, Petitioner had no proof that the Association had any such record and refused or failed to provide.

The credible weight of the evidence establishes that it is challenging for Petitioner to prove that a particular record exists when Mr. Heywood credibly testified that they provided all requested records that do exist. Respondent successfully argued that Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1258, does not require an Association to create new documents or generate data into a particular format.

Therefore, the undersigned Administrative Law Judge concludes that, because Petitioner failed to meet her burden of proof that Respondent committed the alleged violation, her petition must be denied.

ORDER

Based on the foregoing,

It is Ordered that Petitioner’s petition be DENIED.

It is Further Ordered pursuant to ARIZ. REV. STAT. § 32-2199.02(A), Respondent shall not reimburse Petitioner’s filing fee as required by Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-199.01.

In the event of certification of the Administrative Law Judge Decision by the Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings, the effective date of the Order will be forty (40) days from the date of that certification.

-54864001

001

-137160-45720000Done this day, April 15, 2026.

/s/ Nicole Robinson

Administrative Law Judge

Transmitted by either mail, e-mail, or facsimile to:

Susan Nicolson, Commissioner

Arizona Department of Real Estate

100 N. 15th Avenue, Suite 201

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

[email redacted]

Ann Galpin

2510 E 6th St.

Tempe, AZ 85288

[email redacted]

Mark Lines

Shaw & Lines, LLC

4523 E. Broadway Rd.

Phoenix, AZ 85040

[email redacted]

By: OAH Staff