Selective enforcement — the board fines your camper while the identical camper across the cul-de-sac sits unremarked — is an equitable defense in Arkansas, not a statute. It draws on doctrines Arkansas courts already apply to restrictive covenants: waiver and abandonment, where a restriction has gone so broadly unenforced that equity won't revive it against one owner; estoppel, where the association's own conduct invited reliance; and the state's baseline rule that covenants are strictly construed with doubts resolved in favor of the free use of land. Those doctrines do their best work exactly where selective enforcement lives — an association trying to enforce, against you alone, a clause its own history shows it never took seriously.
The proof is documentary, and Arkansas gives you three sources. Your own dated photographs of comparable, uncited conditions, identified by address or lot number, never by the neighbors' names. The association's paper: in a condo, the minute book where resolutions and enforcement decisions are recorded (§ 18-13-108) and the book of receipts and expenditures with its vouchers (§ 18-13-110), where imposed fines actually show up as ledger entries; in an incorporated HOA, the corporate records reachable through a member demand under the Nonprofit Corporation Act. And the county file: the recorded bill of assurance or master deed showing exactly what the rule says, which is where a surprising number of these disputes end — because the clause being 'selectively enforced' turns out not to prohibit the conduct at all.
Waiver versus selective enforcement
Keep the two arguments distinct, because they aim at different targets. Waiver or abandonment says the restriction itself is dead — years of open, unaddressed violations community-wide extinguished the association's right to enforce it against anyone. Selective enforcement is narrower: the rule may survive, but enforcing it against you while knowingly tolerating identical violations elsewhere is inequitable. Gather the record before choosing. A community-wide pattern of ignored violations supports the broad argument; a handful of pointed comparisons supports the narrow one. In a state whose courts already dislike expansively read covenants, either framing lands on receptive doctrine.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Arkansas common-law waiver / abandonment doctrine
Equitable defenses — waiver, abandonment, estoppel — can bar enforcement of a covenant the association has broadly ignored or applied inconsistently, layered on Arkansas's strict construction of restrictions in favor of free land use.
Ark. Code § 18-13-110
The condo expense book and vouchers — where imposed fines appear as real ledger entries — open to co-owner examination, a direct source for who was actually charged and who wasn't.
Ark. Code § 18-13-108
The required minute book of co-owner resolutions — the record of what enforcement the association formally decided, and against whom.
Step by step
How to document and assert selective enforcement in Arkansas
Build the evidentiary record that supports a waiver or selective-enforcement defense to an Arkansas association's citation or fine.
- 01
Verify the rule's recorded text first
Pull the bill of assurance or master deed from the county and read the exact clause. Strictly construed, does it plainly prohibit your conduct? Many Arkansas enforcement disputes end here, before the comparison is even needed.
- 02
Photograph comparable violations
Document identical conditions on other properties that drew no citation. Date-stamp every photo and identify properties by address or lot number — never by the names of the people living there.
- 03
Examine the association's own paper
In a condo, review the minute book (§ 18-13-108) and the expense book and vouchers (§ 18-13-110) for enforcement actions and fine entries; in an incorporated HOA, make a written member demand for the corporate records. Uneven ledger entries are the pattern, in the board's own hand.
- 04
Raise the pattern in writing
Present the comparables and the association's records in a dated letter framed as waiver and inconsistent enforcement, and ask that your objection be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting.
- 05
Preserve everything for court
Because Arkansas associations can only ultimately enforce through the courts, your organized record — recorded text, photos, ledger entries, letters — is the case a judge weighs. Keep it intact and consult a licensed Arkansas attorney before any litigation deadline.
Straight answers
Common questions
Is selective enforcement a real defense in Arkansas?
Yes, as an equitable defense: waiver, abandonment, and estoppel can bar enforcement of a covenant the association has ignored or applied unevenly, and Arkansas's strict-construction rule makes courts skeptical of stretched restrictions to begin with. It's fact-driven — the documentation is the case.
What evidence matters most?
Dated photographs of identical uncited conditions (by address), the association's own minute book and fine ledger showing who was charged and who wasn't, and the recorded covenant text itself. A pattern in the board's own records outweighs any number of verbal assurances.
What if the covenant doesn't clearly prohibit what I did?
Then you may not need the enforcement comparison at all. Arkansas strictly construes restrictive covenants and resolves ambiguity in favor of the free use of land — a clause that requires stretching to reach your conduct fails on construction before waiver ever comes up.
Should I name the neighbors who weren't cited?
No. Identify comparable properties by address or lot number and keep the focus on the association's uneven conduct. The defense is about how the entity enforced its rules, not about the people next door.