Arizona couple say HOA is forcing foreclosure of their home over $977 in unpaid fees
A couple in Arizona say they may lose their home due to a less than $1,000 debt they owed to a Home Owners' Association.
Toby Newton lives in East Mesa, Arizona, where he purchased a four-bedroom home for $475,000 in 2022. Newton lost his job two years later and was diagnosed with diabetes, leaving him struggling to pay his bills, according to the Mesa Tribune.
Among those bills were HOA assessments, which forced him to pay approximately $170 per quarter.
Newton said he began falling behind, ultimately owing the HOA $977 in fees and interest. He said that he called the HOA in 2024 to set up a payment plan, and offered to pay $50 per month toward the principal. The HOA reportedly denied his offer, so he said he came back with another, offering instead to pay $133.70 each month, and a third time offering to pay $200 per month.
By November of 2024, he said the HOA's lawyer, Augustus Shaw IV, had started foreclosure proceedings on Newton's home.
The foreclosure was made official in 2025. Filings indicated that Newton owed $1,311 for his missed HOA assessments, $1,042.09 in plaintiff's fees, and an additional $3,345 in attorney's fees.
In October of that year, his home was sold on a public action to the Superstition Springs Community Master Association for $8,172. Newton's debt at the time was $6,579.
Newton told the paper that the HOA offered to give his home back if he paid off his debt within six months.
However, his longtime partner, Sherri Patten, was diagnosed with breast cancer in both breasts, forcing her onto long-term disability and making the prospects of paying back their debt that much more difficult.
The couple said they needed to prioritize their health, and the six-month window passed before they could pay back the debt.
The HOA reportedly told Newton that the original window had closed, but offered to give him his home back if he could come up with $10,484 by May 2026.
Newton filed for an emergency stay and attended an HOA board meeting earlier this month asking to know why they wouldn't take his offer.
In the meantime, Patten is still receiving treatment for her cancer and the couple are trying to raise the money to buy back their home on GoFundMe.
"We are holding on to hope that we may still have a chance to buy our home back," Patten wrote. "We are asking for support to help us with the urgent costs of this fight and with our immediate needs during this incredibly difficult time."
Arizona has since passed a law that "increases the threshold for foreclosure from one year of delinquency to eighteen months, and raises the minimum dollar amount that triggers foreclosure from $1,200 to $10,000," which means β had the law been in place a year prior β the HOA wouldn't have been able to proceed with its foreclosure on Newton's home.
The Independent has requested comment from Augustus Shaw IV.
