In case 12F-H1212006-BFS, Petitioner Joseph DeBenedictis filed a complaint against the Sunrise Desert Vistas Property Owners Association (Respondent), a homeowners association located in Scottsdale, Arizona [1, 2]. The core issue centered on a $400 initial regular assessment outlined in Paragraph 4.G of the community's Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) [3]. The Petitioner alleged that the Respondent violated the CC&Rs by failing to impose and collect this $400 assessment every time a parcel in the community was transferred to a new party [4, 5]. This dispute followed a March 2011 Superior Court settlement in a separate case where the Respondent had previously agreed not to assess or collect any further $400 initial regular assessments from past, present, or future members [2, 3].

During the hearing, the Petitioner argued that the CC&Rs mandated the assessment for all property transfers, while the Respondent maintained the fee only applied when a parcel was first transferred from the developer or initially divided [5, 6]. The Administrative Law Judge determined that even if the Petitioner's interpretation of the CC&Rs were valid, he failed to present any evidence showing that a parcel had actually been transferred to a new party since the 2011 settlement agreement [7]. Furthermore, the Petitioner failed to prove that the Respondent had neglected to assess or collect the fee in any specific, existing instance [7]. Because the Administrative Law Judge cannot address potential future violations, and the 2011 settlement only served as evidence of possible future actions, the Petitioner failed to establish that an existing violation of the CC&Rs had occurred [7, 8].

As a result, the Administrative Law Judge concluded that the Petitioner failed to meet the burden of proof and recommended that the petition be dismissed, ordering that no action was required by the Respondent [8, 9]. The Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety took no action to modify, accept, or reject the ruling during the statutory 35-day review period [10]. Consequently, on November 7, 2012, the Office of Administrative Hearings certified the judge's recommendation as the final administrative decision [11].