A.R.S. 33-1808: HOA Flag and Political Sign Rules in Arizona

Your HOA controls a lot about your lot, but A.R.S. 33-1808 carves out four things it cannot fully ban: certain flags, political signs, real estate signs, and door-to-door political activity. The HOA can set reasonable placement rules, but it cannot tell you the American flag is off limits, cannot pull your campaign sign outside a protected window, and cannot stop you from putting a standard for-sale sign in your yard. Here is exactly what is protected and where the limits sit.

The flags your HOA cannot prohibit

An HOA cannot stop you from flying a defined list of flags, as long as you follow reasonable rules on size, number, location, and the way it is mounted. The protected list includes the flag of the United States, the flags of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard, the POW/MIA flag, the Arizona state flag, an Arizona Indian nations flag, the Gadsden flag, a first responder flag, and a blue star or gold star service flag.

An association shall not prohibit the outdoor front yard or backyard display of any of the following flags... if the flag is displayed in a manner consistent with the federal flag code.

The key word is "prohibit." The HOA can still write a neutral rule, like one flagpole per lot or a maximum flag size, but it cannot single out a protected flag and say no. So in a Scottsdale community, the board can require flags to be displayed on an approved pole, but it cannot ban the U.S. or Arizona flag outright.

Political signs and the date window

You get a protected window to display political signs, and the HOA cannot ban them inside it. The window opens 71 days before a primary election and closes 15 days after the general election. The statute also limits how much the HOA can shrink your display:

An association shall not prohibit the indoor or outdoor display of a political sign by an association member on that member's property, except that an association may prohibit the display of political signs earlier than seventy-one days before the day of an election and later than fifteen days after an election day.

Inside that window the HOA cannot cap you at fewer signs than local ordinance allows, and any size limit it sets cannot be more restrictive than what the city or town permits. A "political sign" here means a sign that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure.

For-sale signs and political activity

If you are selling or renting your home, the HOA cannot ban your sign. You may post an industry-standard sign that does not exceed 18 by 24 inches, plus a rider, and the HOA cannot require a special HOA-branded sign instead. There is a real penalty with teeth: if the HOA violates the sign rule, it loses the right to enforce a lien against that member for six straight months.

The section also protects people, not just signs. The HOA cannot stop members from peacefully assembling to discuss the association or community matters, and it cannot prohibit door-to-door political activity, including asking neighbors to support or oppose a candidate or ballot issue.

For example, if you list your Cave Creek home for sale, you can put a 24-inch sign in the yard even if the CC&Rs say otherwise, and if the board makes you take it down, it forfeits six months of lien enforcement against you.

How it connects to the rest of the law

This is one of several statutes that override your recorded CC&Rs from A.R.S. 33-1802 . It sits next to other "the HOA cannot ban this" protections, like the solar rights in A.R.S. 33-1816 and the parking carve-out for service vehicles in A.R.S. 33-1809 . If the HOA tries to fine you for a protected flag or sign, the notice and hearing process in A.R.S. 33-1803 controls how it has to proceed. For the bigger picture on living under design rules while building, see how HOA design review affects building a custom home .

Full text and source

Read the current section, including the full protected-flag list and any amendments, on the legislature's site: View A.R.S. 33-1808 on azleg.gov .

Whether a specific sign or flag rule in your community is enforceable turns on the exact wording of your governing documents, so check those against this statute or with an HOA attorney before you take a sign down or put one up.