This page is written for the tenant — the person living in the home. If you are the owner leasing it out, the guide for landlords covers the same rules from your end.
Arizona gives a tenant a set of rights that the lease cannot take away. The landlord has to keep the place fit to live in, give at least two days’ notice before coming in unless it is an emergency or notice cannot practically be given, and complete every blank space in the agreement and hand you a signed copy. After the tenancy ends, you have moved out and you have asked for your deposit, the landlord has fourteen days to send you an itemized list of any deductions and whatever is left — not counting Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays. Five kinds of clause are unenforceable here whatever the paperwork says.
You may have been driving past this new apartment complex for weeks, and finally found the time to stop and explore. Wow — just what you have been looking for, and what a view from the bedroom window. You decide it is perfect, and you make an appointment for Saturday morning to close the deal.
There are probably twenty or thirty rules and expectations you will need to know. Can I hang my new 75-inch TV on the living room wall? Can I paint the bedroom wall behind my waterbed? What are the rules for getting my security deposit back when I move out?
The first two of those are the landlord’s own rules, and the answers will be whatever the lease says they are. The last one is not. There is a larger authority — the state of Arizona — setting its own rules for how a landlord and a tenant deal with each other, in the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. As a tenant you should know some of the basics, so you can protect your own interests in any lease agreement you enter into. The deposit is one of the big ones, and it is worth knowing now, not at the end of your lease.
There is some good news in all of this. Many of the rules in the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act are requirements placed on the landlord. From your side of the lease, those requirements become protections.
You certainly do not need to memorize the Act. But knowing a few of the important rules can help you recognize when something may not be right.
One thing to keep in mind as you read this page: we are talking about ordinary residential homes and apartments. Mobile home parks and commercial property are covered by different laws.
Before You Sign Anything
Make Sure There Are No Blank Spaces
You have found the apartment you want, the rent is within your budget, and you are ready to sign the lease. Before you do, take a few minutes and read the entire agreement. Pay particular attention to any blank spaces.
Arizona law requires the blank spaces in a written rental agreement to be completed. This may seem like a small detail, but an unanswered question today can become a disagreement six months from now.
Who takes care of the yard? Is your dog allowed? What day does the lease actually end? If the lease has a space for an answer, make sure the answer is there before you sign.
You should also receive a signed copy of the completed lease. Keep it. If there is ever a question about what you and the landlord agreed to, you will have the same document the landlord has.
Learn more about what an Arizona lease must include.
Your Signature Does Not Make Every Lease Provision Legal
Signing a lease generally means you have agreed to its terms. But that does not mean a landlord can put anything into a lease and make it enforceable simply because you signed it.
Arizona law prohibits certain provisions in residential rental agreements. For example, a lease cannot require you to give up rights provided to you by the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It also cannot require you to agree in advance to pay the landlord’s attorney fees.
There are five types of prohibited provisions covered by the Act. If your lease contains one of them, your signature does not make that provision valid.
There can also be consequences for a landlord who knowingly uses a rental agreement containing a prohibited provision. Depending on the circumstances, the tenant may be entitled to actual damages plus an amount of up to two months’ periodic rent.
See the five prohibited lease provisions.
Before You Move In
Before the furniture and boxes start coming through the door, take a good look around your new home.
You should receive a move-in form that gives you an opportunity to identify damage that was already there. Use it.
If there is a cracked tile, write it down. If the carpet is stained, write it down. If a door is damaged or a window does not work properly, write it down. Taking photographs is also a good idea.
This is not about expecting a problem with your landlord. It is simply a way for both of you to have a record of the condition of the property when you moved in.
You should also receive written notice that you may be present when the landlord conducts the move-out inspection.
Why does all of this matter?
Because someday you will probably want your security deposit back. A good record of the property’s condition when you moved in can help establish which damage was already there and which damage occurred while you were living there.
While You Are Living There
When Can the Landlord Come Into Your Home?
You are leasing the property, but while you live there it is your home. The landlord does have a right to enter under certain circumstances, but there are rules.
Except in an emergency, or in the unusual case where giving notice is not practical, an Arizona landlord must give you at least two days’ notice before entering and may enter only at reasonable times.
There is another important part of this rule. The landlord cannot abuse the right of access or use it to harass you.
At the same time, you cannot unreasonably prevent the landlord from entering when there is a legitimate reason, such as making a necessary repair.
Suppose the landlord tells you on Monday that a repairman needs to come in on Wednesday. You have a medical appointment Wednesday morning and ask whether he can come Wednesday afternoon instead. That is quite different from simply refusing to allow the repair to be made.
There is also an exception worth knowing. If you put a repair or service request in writing, the normal two-day notice requirement does not apply. By making the request, you have already given permission for the landlord to enter for that purpose. That is a good reason to send repair requests in writing rather than mentioning them in passing. It is what the law is built around, and it leaves you with a record either way.
Learn more about when an Arizona landlord may enter.
Rent, Utilities and Other Charges
Your monthly rent may not be the only amount you pay your landlord. Depending on your lease, there may be charges for utilities or other services.
If utilities are supplied to the property and then charged to you rather than being billed directly by the utility company, Arizona has rules governing how those charges are handled. There is also a procedure for objecting when you believe a utility charge is incorrect. Learn more about utility charges.
There is another charge you should no longer see on your rental bill: residential rental tax.
Arizona cities and towns were previously permitted to impose this tax, and landlords could pass the cost along to tenants. That changed beginning in 2025. A landlord may no longer charge a tenant the amount of that repealed residential rental tax.
So if you see a separate residential rental tax charge on a current bill, don’t simply assume that it belongs there.
Learn more about rent, fees and the repealed rental tax.
When You Move Out
Getting Your Security Deposit Back
Remember the security deposit we mentioned before you signed the lease? Now it becomes important.
You will often hear that an Arizona landlord has 14 days to return a tenant’s security deposit. That description leaves out two important details.
First, Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays are not included when those 14 days are counted. The actual calendar period can therefore be longer than two weeks.
Second, the 14-day period does not simply begin because you moved out.
According to the rule described in the Act, three things are involved: the tenancy has ended, you have delivered possession of the property back to the landlord, and you have made a demand for the deposit.
That last part is easy to overlook.
You can move out, return the keys and wait for your deposit, believing the landlord’s deadline is running. But if the required demand has not been made, the deadline may not have started.
This is one of those rules worth knowing before you move out rather than discovering it several weeks afterward.
Read the complete guide to Arizona security deposits.
How Much Notice Do You Have to Give?
There is no single answer because it depends upon the type of rental agreement you have.
A month-to-month tenancy is different from a fixed-term lease that ends on a particular date. The amount of notice required depends on how your tenancy was established and how it is being ended.
Before giving notice — or assuming you do not need to give one — check which rule applies to your particular rental arrangement.
See the notice requirements for ending an Arizona tenancy.
What If You and the Landlord End Up in Court?
Most landlord-tenant disagreements never end up in court. But if yours does, it is helpful to know where the case belongs.
Residential landlord-tenant cases are normally handled by the justice court that has jurisdiction over the property. Justice courts share that work with the superior court, which takes the larger cases, and neither of them is the city or municipal court. That may not necessarily be the courthouse closest to where you live.
If you ever need to locate the proper court, we have organized Arizona’s justice courts by county, including addresses and other information to help you find the right one.
Find Arizona justice courts by county.
Where This Website Stops
Our purpose is to help you understand Arizona’s landlord-tenant rules in ordinary English. We are not a law firm, and the information on this website is not legal advice.
There will always be situations a general website cannot answer.
Maybe you received a notice and are not sure whether it is valid. Maybe your lease contains an unusual provision and you don’t understand what it means. Or perhaps you and your landlord disagree about what happened, and the answer depends upon facts that are unique to your situation.
Those are the situations where you may need to talk with a lawyer who can review the actual facts and documents involved.
Information about finding a lawyer.
One final point because we don’t want there to be any confusion.
The lease forms offered elsewhere on this website were written for the person preparing the rental agreement, which is usually the landlord. That is who we had in mind, and most of what is in the package is aimed at that side of the lease.
That does not mean a tenant cannot buy them. Some tenants want to read a complete, properly drafted lease before signing the one they have been handed. Others have a use of their own for a particular form, such as subletting a room to a roommate where the lease permits it, or assigning a lease to someone else when they move out. Those documents are included.
What a form cannot do is change the lease your landlord is asking you to sign. If that is the question, a lawyer who can read the actual document will be more use to you than a blank form. Have a look at the lease forms if you would like to see what is in the package.
This page is here for a different reason: to help you understand some of the rules that apply before you sign a lease, while you are living in the property, and when it is time to move out.
Common Questions
My landlord has not returned my deposit and it has been more than fourteen days. What now?
There are two things worth checking before you assume a deadline has been missed. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays are not counted in those 14 days, so the actual calendar period is longer than two weeks. And the 14 days do not start simply because you moved out. The tenancy has to have ended, you have to have delivered possession back to the landlord, and you have to have made a demand for the deposit. If that demand was never made, the deadline may not have started running yet.
Can my landlord come into my home without telling me first?
Usually not. Except in an emergency, or in the unusual case where giving notice is not practical, an Arizona landlord must give you at least two days' notice before entering, and may enter only at reasonable times. There is one exception that comes up often: if you asked for the repair yourself, the two-day notice does not apply, because requesting the work already gave permission to enter for that purpose. The Act also says the landlord cannot abuse the right of access or use it to harass you.
I signed a lease with a provision that looks unfair. Am I stuck with it?
Not necessarily. Arizona law prohibits five types of provisions in a residential rental agreement, including one that requires you to give up rights the Act provides, and one that requires you to agree in advance to pay the landlord's attorney fees. If your lease contains a prohibited provision, your signature does not make it valid. Whether your particular provision is one of the five depends on how it is worded, and that is a question for a lawyer who can read the actual lease.
Does this website take the landlord's side?
Most of the site is written for landlords, because they are usually the ones preparing the rental agreement, and the lease forms offered here are for them. The rules themselves apply to both sides of the lease. This page exists so that a tenant can read those same rules without having to work backward through pages written for someone else.
Do these rules apply if I am leasing a room, or leasing from a family member?
Usually they do. Arizona's residential rules follow the arrangement itself rather than how formal or friendly it feels, so sharing a kitchen with your landlord or leasing from a relative does not by itself place the tenancy outside the Act. A few arrangements genuinely do fall outside it. If yours is unusual, that is worth asking a lawyer about rather than assuming the answer either way.
Is there anything on this website for me to buy?
You can buy the lease forms if you want them. They were written for the person preparing the rental agreement, which is usually the landlord, and most of the package is aimed at that side of the lease. A tenant does sometimes have a real use for one of the forms, such as subletting a room where the lease permits it, or assigning a lease when moving out, and those documents are included. What a form cannot do is change a lease you have already been handed to sign. For that, or for advice about your own situation, the lawyer page explains that option.