Arizona legally requires landlords to meet certain “habitability” requirements for all rental properties. This means that they’re responsible for providing a property that meets specific health and safety standards and for fixing issues that violate them.
Arizona Implied Warranty of Habitability
In Arizona, the implied warranty of habitability means that a landlord must provide and maintain a safe and habitable rental property. “Implied” means the requirement applies whether or not the lease agreement specifically says so and even if the lease tries to waive the obligation.
Examples of clear habitability violations include:
- Exposed electrical wiring.
- A pipe leaking human waste.
- A broken front doorknob that won’t lock.
-
However, the implied warranty of habitability does not guarantee that anything at the property will be pretty, clean, new or issue-free, so it doesn’t cover things like peeling carpet or dents in a wall. It only guarantees basic health and safety.
Landlord Responsibilities in Arizona
Note: Check local city/county laws and ordinances for additional requirements. In Arizona, landlord and tenant can make a special written agreement for the tenant to repair issues that don’t affect health and safety or basic habitability. Check the lease carefully.
| Item | Has To Provide? | Has To Fix / Replace? |
| Air Conditioning / Heating | Yes (seasonally) | Yes |
| Hot Water | Yes | Yes |
| Kitchen Appliances | No | Yes |
| Washer & Dryer | No | Yes |
| Smoke/CO Detectors | Smoke Only | Yes |
| Window Coverings | No | No |
| Light Fixtures | No | Only If Provided |
| Landscaping | No | No |
| Garbage Removal | Yes | Yes |
| Garbage Pickup | Yes | Yes |
| Mold | N/A | Yes |
| Pest Control | No | N/A |
| Pest Infestations | N/A | Yes |
| Water Leaks | N/A | Usually |
| Clogs | N/A | Usually |
Landlord Responsibilities for Heating & Air Conditioning in Arizona
Arizona landlords are responsible for providing heating and cooling as required by seasonal weather conditions, and keeping these features in good working order.
Are Landlords Required to Provide Air Filter Replacements in Arizona?
Arizona landlords don’t have to replace things like air filters, unless required heating or cooling equipment won’t work otherwise.
Landlord Responsibilities for Plumbing in Arizona
Arizona landlords must keep plumbing in reasonable working condition.
Are Landlords Required To Provide Hot Water in Arizona?
Arizona landlords must provide and maintain running heated water for rental properties.
Are Landlords Responsible for Fixing Clogged Drains & Toilets in Arizona?
Arizona landlords must fix clogs that keep the plumbing from being in reasonable working condition, unless they’re the renter’s fault.
Are Landlords in Arizona Responsible for Fixing Leaks?
Arizona landlords must fix leaks that keep the plumbing from being in reasonable working condition, unless they’re the renter’s fault.
Landlord Responsibilities for Kitchen Appliances in Arizona
Arizona landlords don’t have to provide or maintain kitchen appliances such as a dishwasher, stove, oven, microwave, or refrigerator. However, if provided, the landlord has to keep them in reasonable working order.
Landlord Responsibilities for Electrical Issues in Arizona
Arizona landlords must maintain electrical facilities and appliances on the rental premises.
Are Landlords Responsible for Replacing Light Bulbs in Arizona?
Arizona landlords are not responsible for providing or replacing light bulbs or particular light fixtures.
Landlord Responsibilities for Garbage Removal in Arizona
Arizona landlords must provide and maintain garbage containers, and arrange for garbage removal.
Landlord Responsibilities for Landscaping in Arizona
Arizona landlords have no specific obligation to provide landscaping or maintain it with actions like cutting grass. They only have to deal with issues like fallen trees if they interfere with the cleanliness of common areas, violate local codes, or create a hazard to health and safety.
Landlord Responsibilities Regarding Mold in Arizona
Arizona landlords are responsible for most mold issues. While there’s no state requirement for testing, landlords must investigate and fix mold problems since they threaten health and safety. If the renter caused the mold issue, a landlord can make the renter fix it, or pay for repairs.
Landlord Responsibilities Regarding Pests in Arizona
Arizona landlords must fix pest issues the renter didn’t cause, including rats, roaches, mice, bed bugs, and ants.
While there’s no requirement for regular testing, Arizona does have special requirements relating to bed bugs. Landlords must give tenants an information package about treatment, and tenants must take extra precautions with their personal goods if they discover an infestation.
Landlord Responsibilities for Windows & Window Coverings in Arizona
Arizona landlords must have no responsibility to provide or maintain windows and window coverings to a particular legal standard. Broken windows threaten health and safety, so the landlord has to fix them if the renter didn’t cause the issue.
Landlord Responsibilities Regarding Safety Devices in Arizona
Arizona landlords must ensure required smoke detectors are installed at the beginning of a tenancy, and repair or replace them upon request by the tenant.
Are Landlords Responsible for Replacing Batteries of Safety Devices in Arizona?
Arizona landlords are generally not responsible for replacing batteries of safety devices. While the tenant can specially request repair and replacement, day-to-day maintenance of safety devices like smoke detectors is normally the tenant’s responsibility.
Landlord Responsibilities for Doors & Locks in Arizona
Arizona landlords must, upon request, replace or rekey the locks of a tenant who’s a victim of domestic or sexual assault. The tenant pays the relevant expenses. The landlord doesn’t have other specific responsibilities for doors and locks except what’s required for basic health and safety.
Landlord Responsibilities for Washers and Dryers in Arizona
Landlords in Arizona are not responsible for providing or maintaining a washer or dryer. However, if provided, the landlord must keep them in working order.
Renter’s Rights for Repairs in Arizona
Renters in Arizona have the right to repairs for issues that affect health and safety, unless they caused the issue themselves. To exercise this right, the renter must start by requesting repairs from the landlord in writing.
After written notice, the landlord gets 10 days to fix the issue (or 5 days, for issues affecting health and safety). If the issue isn’t fixed, the renter can end the rental agreement, ask a court to order repairs or compensation, or repair and deduct. Rent withholding usually isn’t allowed.
Sources
- 1 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1324(A) (2022)
-
“The landlord shall: 1. Comply with the requirements of applicable building codes materially affecting health and safety as prescribed in section 9-1303. 2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition. 3. Keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition. 4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him. 5. Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for their removal. 6. Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, reasonable heat and reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when required by seasonal weather conditions…”
Source Link - 2 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1324(C) & (D) (2022)
-
“The landlord and tenant of a single family residence may agree in writing, supported by adequate consideration, that the tenant perform the landlord’s duties specified in subsection A, paragraphs 5 and 6 of this section, and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling, but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith, not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord and the work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section. … [and for] other than a single family residence may agree that the tenant is to perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations or remodeling [under similar terms otherwise, if] …[t]he agreement does not diminish or affect the obligation of the landlord to other tenants in the premises.”
Source Link - 3 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1369 (2022)
-
“If there is noncompliance by the tenant with section 33-1341 [tenant duties] materially affecting health and safety that can be remedied by repair, replacement of a damaged item or cleaning and the tenant fails to comply as promptly as conditions require in case of emergency or within fourteen days after written notice by the landlord specifying the breach and requesting that the tenant remedy it within that period of time, the landlord may enter the dwelling unit and cause the work to be done in a workmanlike manner and submit an itemized bill for the actual and reasonable cost or the fair and reasonable value thereof as rent on the next date when periodic rent is due, or if the rental agreement has terminated, for immediate payment.”
Source Link - 4 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1319 (2022)
-
In Arizona, landlords must provide “bedbug educational materials” to tenants, and cannot rent a unit they know to have a current infestation. Tenants are required to keep from moving personal materials into a place known to be infested. See Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1319 (2022).
Source Link - 5 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 36-1637(A) & (B) (2022)
-
“A. An approved smoke detector shall be installed during construction in each new residential housing unit in this state. An approved smoke detector shall be installed in each existing residential housing unit in this state which does not comply with the requirements of this section if a sleeping area is remodeled and if this remodeling requires a permit from the local political subdivision.
“B. A smoke detector installed in a new residential housing unit or in a remodeled area pursuant to this section shall be maintained and kept operable by the tenant unless the tenant gives written notification to the landlord of its malfunction. The landlord shall be responsible for the repair of a smoke detector if such notice is given by the tenant.”
Source Link - 6 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1318(E) (2022)
-
“A tenant who is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault may require the landlord to install a new lock to the tenant’s dwelling if the tenant pays for the cost of installing the new lock.”
Source Link - 7 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1361(A) (2022)
-
“…if there is a material noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement… the tenant may deliver a written notice to the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than ten days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in ten days. If there is a noncompliance by the landlord with section 33-1324 [landlord duties] materially affecting health and safety, the tenant may deliver a written notice to the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than five days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in five days.”
Source Link - 8 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1361(A) & (B) (2022)
-
“The rental agreement shall terminate and the dwelling unit shall be vacated as provided in the notice subject to the following: 1. If the breach is remediable by repairs or the payment of damages or otherwise and the landlord adequately remedies the breach prior to the date specified in the notice, the rental agreement will not terminate. 2. The tenant may not terminate for a condition caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a member of the tenant’s family or other person on the premises with the tenant’s consent.
“Except as provided in this chapter, the tenant may recover damages and obtain injunctive relief for any noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement or with section 33-1318 or 33-1324.”
Source Link
