Your HOA denied your project. Here is what the letter has to say.

What the letter has to say

The operative sentence is § 57-8a-109(4). On denial, the association's written notice must specify "(a) each governing document provision on which the association relied when denying the plan; and (b) the specific aspect of the proposed plan that does not conform to the specified governing document provision."

Read that as two separate obligations. First, a citation: a section number out of the declaration, the design guidelines, or the rules. Second, a match: which part of your drawing fails that section. A letter that says the plan "does not meet community standards" or "was not approved by the committee" has done neither. So has a letter that cites a section without saying what in your plan runs afoul of it.

Section 57-8a-109(1)(b) defines "lot plans" as plans for construction or improvement of a lot that must be approved before work may occur. If you got a decision by phone, at a meeting, or in a portal comment, ask for the denial in writing and ask that it state both items the statute lists. Put that request in an email so the date exists.

Two more limits sitting in the same section

Subsection (2): "An association may not charge a plan fee that exceeds the actual cost of reviewing and approving the lot plans." That is a cost cap, not a flat prohibition on fees. Published Washington County fee schedules are worth reading against it. Kayenta's Schedule of Fees and Deposits, dated August 18, 2020, sets a $1,000 architectural committee application fee for a new residence and $500 for an addition or modification, with repaints, reroofs, window and door swaps and driveway changes at zero. That schedule predates the current statute. We are not telling you any particular fee is unlawful. We are telling you the statute measures a plan fee against actual review cost, and that a homeowner is entitled to ask what the fee pays for.

Subsection (3) is newer and matters here. An association may not prohibit, unreasonably restrict, deny, or delay a plan because it includes fire-resistant material in an area with heightened wildfire risk. The materials named include Class A roofing, non-combustible siding, fiber cement, metal roofing and fire-rated gypsum. Note the word delay. In this section, sitting on a submittal counts.

Deadlines come from your documents

Because the statute sets no review clock, the clock is whatever your community wrote. These are the windows carried by documents that have been read in full. Every one of them needs to be checked against the current version before you rely on it, because several of these documents predate the 2022 through 2026 statutory changes and communities revise them.

Two practical notes on the table below. A deemed-approval clause is usually conditioned on a complete submittal, so an incomplete package restarts the argument rather than starting the clock. And where a document requires a written demand after the deadline passes, as Sand Hollow Resort's does, sending that demand is not optional. It is the step that makes the clause mean anything.

• Kayenta also requires the owner or the owner's representative to present in person, and says a presentation that is not ready is postponed rather than decided.
• Kayenta § 3.2.1 sends approval letters by certified mail or by email with return receipt, which means the delivery date is provable.

Get the document the letter cites

You cannot answer a citation you have not read, and there is no statewide requirement that an association publish its governing documents to the public. What exists is a production duty to members. Under § 57-8a-227 for a planned community, and § 57-8-17 for a condominium, the association must make available the governing documents, the most recent approved minutes, the most recent budget and financial statement, the most recent reserve analysis, a certificate of insurance for each policy, and board meeting minutes from the previous three calendar years, with the profit and loss statements and balance sheets for that period.

The request is written and must include the association's name, your name, the property address, your email address, a description of what you want, and how you want it delivered. The association has 10 business days to comply. If it does not, § 57-8a-227(5)(b) provides $25 per day beginning the eleventh business day for governing documents, minutes, and the budget and financial statement, plus reasonable costs and attorney fees. Copy charges may not exceed the actual third-party cost, or 10 cents per page and $20 per hour of staff time, and the association may not charge you anything for sending the documents electronically. If the association has an active website, the governing documents, the most recent approved minutes, and the most recent budget and financial statement must be posted there free of charge.

Two more sources. The recorded declaration, its amendments and the plats are at the Washington County Recorder, 111 East Tabernacle, St. George, (435) 301-7680. And the state registry, run by the Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman, holds contact information only. It does not hold your CC&Rs. That is a common and expensive misunderstanding.

One line in the same section is worth carrying into a records argument. Section 57-8a-227(2)(c) says that where a governing document conflicts with a provision of that section, the section governs. It settles disputes about records. It is not a general override of your CC&Rs.

If the rule you were denied under is new

Design criteria are not permanent fixtures. Section 57-8a-217 sets a procedure for adopting, amending or cancelling a rule or a design criterion, and boards miss it regularly. The board must deliver notice to lot owners at least 15 days before the meeting, provide an open forum for owners to be heard before it acts, and deliver a copy of the approved change to owners within 15 days after the meeting. It may skip the advance notice only for an imminent risk of harm, and then must give notice afterward.

Two remedies follow. The action is disapproved if, within 60 days, owners holding at least 51 percent of all allocated voting interests vote to disapprove it at a special meeting called for that purpose. The board does not have to call that meeting unless owners petition for it, and on petition the board's action is stayed until the meeting happens. Separately, an action challenging a procedural failure under subsection (2) must be commenced within 18 months.

So if the guideline you were denied under was adopted in the last year and a half, the first question is not whether the guideline is sensible. It is whether owners got 15 days' notice and an open forum before it was adopted.

The order that works

Resubmit before you escalate. A denial that complies with § 57-8a-109(4) has told you exactly which provision and which aspect. Change that aspect, cite the letter, and put the revised plan back in. A committee that denied you on a stated ground has a hard time denying the same plan on a different ground the second time without writing a second letter that names the new ground.

If it still stands, know what the state office can and cannot do. The Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman sits in the Department of Commerce under Utah Code Title 13, Chapter 79, at (801) 530-6670, weekdays 8 to 5. It issues advisory opinions "only for issues relating to a violation of a state statute." Section 13-79-103(5) bars it from any service that requires interpreting your governing documents, "including determining whether a provision of the governing documents is reasonable." So a denial letter that fails the § 57-8a-109(4) test is a statute question. An argument about whether the committee's taste is reasonable is not, and the office will decline it.

The filing fee is $150 and nonrefundable. You must file within one year of when you knew or should have known of the act, and you must first exhaust the dispute resolution procedures in your governing documents and describe how you did. An opinion is not binding and not admissible, but under § 13-79-104(10), if a court later rules the same way, it may award attorney fees and costs from the date the opinion was delivered, and a civil penalty of up to $5,000 if the other side knowingly and intentionally violated the law. In one published 2026 matter the office took about three months from filing to opinion. There is no statutory deadline for it to act.

If the denial was about landscape, there is a shorter road. The Washington County Water Conservancy District's own program FAQ says that if an association compels you to keep grass, you can email conservation@wcwcd.org and the District "will take reasonable steps to communicate with your HOA and ensure that they are aware of applicable state and local laws." The same FAQ is honest that associations "may still have authority to enforce design standards for water efficient landscape."

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