Seller did not disclose an HOA special assessment. What do I do?

[Nathanael Johnson]

Dear BP community,

Looking for some advice here. Would especially like to hear from AZ brokers and real estate lawyers as to their thoughts, but would welcome any and all feedback. Here's the skinny:

We just bought a condo in Arizona, and we closed September 6th, 2022. The condo is part of two HOA's:

HOA #1 which encompasses many neighborhoods and manages club houses and some green spaces and HOA #2 which which manages my building specifically.

It's HOA #1 that is of concern. About a month ago, we received a letter regarding a surprise Special Assessment for $2,000 that was ratified the day we went under contract, and this assessment was not disclosed by the seller. Here's the timeline and details:

–May / June 2022: there is a vote for the aforementioned special assessment.

–July 2022: the seller puts the condo on the market.

–July 30, 2022: we go under contract for the condo. We received a Seller's Disclosure, dated July 28th, and the seller marked "No" for the question "Are you aware of any proposed or existing association assessment(s)?" The HOA also did not disclose it in any of the documents they sent to me while we were in escrow. On this very day, the special assessment is ratified by the membership. However, because the HOA is in Chapter 11 (another story for another time), it needed a 90 day approval process (I think by a judge?). There is no follow-up during our 30+ day escrow period from the seller regarding this.

–September 6, 2022: we close on the property.

–March 2023: we receive notice of the $2,000 special assessment.

I did reach out to our realtor regarding this, and he seems to want to stay out of it. Says he cannot give legal advice.

HERE'S MY QUESTION / DILEMMA: can the seller be held liable for this?  Or was it the HOA's responsibility to disclose this to us before closing? If yes to any of those questions, what would be the next steps to settle this? 

Or... do we just count our losses, pony up the $2k, and move on?

Thank you for reading and for taking the time to respond!

–N&C