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Arizona Tenant Noncompliance

The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act gives landlords the right to file an eviction action against tenants who violate the terms of a lease agreement, provide false information or engage in criminal activity on the premises:

Material Noncompliance or Falsification

If there is a material noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement, including material falsification of the information provided on the rental application, the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than ten days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in ten days. For the purposes of this section, material falsification includes the following untrue or misleading information about the:

  • Number of occupants in the dwelling unit, pets, income of the prospective tenant, social security number and current employment listed on the application or lease agreement.
  • Tenant’s criminal records, prior eviction record and current criminal activity. Material falsification of information in this paragraph is not curable under this section.

Noncompliance Affecting Health and Safety

If there is a noncompliance by the tenant with the section Arizona Tenant to Maintain Fit Premises materially affecting health and safety, the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than five days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in five days. However, if the breach is remediable by repair or the payment of damages or otherwise, and the tenant adequately remedies the breach before the date specified in the notice, the rental agreement will not terminate.  If there is an additional act of these types of noncompliance of the same or a similar nature during the term of the lease after the previous remedy of noncompliance, the landlord may institute a special detainer action pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes section 33-1377 ten days after delivery of a written notice advising the tenant that a second noncompliance of the same or a similar nature has occurred.

Material and Irreparable Violations

If there is a breach that is both material and irreparable and that occurs on the premises, which may include an illegal discharge of a weapon, homicide as prescribed in sections 13-1102, 13-1103, 13-1104 and 13-1105, prostitution as defined in section 13-3211, criminal street gang activity as prescribed in section 13-105, activity as prohibited in section 13-2308, the unlawful manufacturing, selling, transferring, possessing, using or storing of a controlled substance as defined in section 13-3451, threatening or intimidating as prohibited in section 13-1202, assault as prohibited in section 13-1203, acts that have been found to constitute a nuisance pursuant to section 12-991 or a breach of the lease agreement that otherwise jeopardizes the health, safety and welfare of the landlord, the landlord’s agent or another tenant or involving imminent or actual serious property damage, the landlord may deliver a written notice for immediate termination of the rental agreement and shall proceed filing a special detainer action with the court.

Note: The foregoing list of actions which may constitute a material and irreparable breach of a tenant’s lease is not exhaustive and for the purposes of this Act, the tenant shall be held responsible for the actions of the tenant’s guests that violate the lease agreement or rules or regulations of the landlord if the tenant could reasonably be expected to be aware that such actions might occur and did not attempt to prevent those actions to the best of the tenant’s ability.

Unpaid Rent

A tenant may not withhold rent for any reason not authorized by this Act. If rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within five days after written notice by the landlord of nonpayment and the landlord’s intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period of time, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement by filing a special detainer action. Before the filing of a special detainer action the rental agreement shall be reinstated if the tenant tenders all past due and unpaid periodic rent and a reasonable late fee set forth in a written rental agreement. After a special detainer action is filed the rental agreement is reinstated only if the tenant pays all past due rent, reasonable late fees set forth in a written rental agreement, attorney fees and court costs. After a judgment has been entered in a special detainer action in favor of the landlord, any reinstatement of the rental agreement is solely in the discretion of the landlord.

Damages and Attorneys Fees

The landlord may recover all reasonable damages resulting from noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement or the section Arizona Tenant to Maintain Fit Premises or occupancy of the dwelling unit, court costs, reasonable attorney fees and all quantifiable damage caused by the tenant to the premises.

Article 04. Section 33-1368.

Return to Arizona Landlord-Tenant Laws.