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Arizona 5-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit (A.R.S. 33-1368(B))

If rent is unpaid when due, an Arizona landlord may give the tenant written notice of nonpayment and of the landlord’s intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within five days. If the tenant still has not paid after those five days, the landlord may file a special detainer action. The rule is A.R.S. 33-1368(B). The section prints no form and no wording.

What the notice must say

The text asks for two things in writing: that rent is unpaid, and that the landlord intends to terminate the rental agreement if it is not paid within that period. It does not require an amount, a heading or a particular form. Our template below adds the amount owed because reinstatement (see the table) is measured by it. Under A.R.S. 33-1314(C) rent is “payable without demand or notice at the time and place agreed on by the parties”, so the due date is whatever your lease says. Section 33-1368(B) also says a tenant may not withhold rent for any reason the chapter does not authorize.

Counting the five days and proving delivery

Subsection 33-1368(G) says that for that section days means calendar days, so Saturdays, Sundays and holidays count. Do not carry that rule to other sections; each section has its own counting words.

Delivery is defined in A.R.S. 33-1313(B). A tenant receives a notice when it is delivered in hand, or mailed by registered or certified mail to the place the tenant holds out for receipt or, absent that, the tenant’s last known place of residence. For registered or certified mail the tenant is deemed to receive it on the date actually received or five days after mailing, whichever is first. Posting on the door and ordinary mail are not among the listed methods.

Two gaps. Subsection (B) counts five days after written notice by the landlord, while subsection (A) counts from receipt. The text does not say which moment starts the five days in (B), or whether the delivery day counts. We count from receipt as 33-1313(B) defines it and start on the following day, the longer count. If timing is disputed, ask an Arizona attorney.

Worked example, October 2026

Our template

Our template; the statute lists the contents, not the wording.

NOTICE OF NONPAYMENT OF RENT AND INTENTION TO TERMINATE
Date of notice: ____________
To (all adult tenants): ____________
Rental address: ____________
From (landlord): ____________

1. Rent of $________ for the period beginning ________ was due on
   ________ and has not been paid.
2. Late fee set forth in the written rental agreement (section ____):
   $________  (leave out if the written agreement has none).
3. If the rent is not paid within five days after this written notice,
   the landlord intends to terminate the rental agreement by filing a
   special detainer action under A.R.S. 33-1368(B) and 33-1377.
4. Delivered: [ ] in hand on ________  [ ] certified mail sent on ________

Signed: ____________

Reinstatement: three separate stages

StageWhat the text says
Before a special detainer action is filedThe 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 filingReinstated “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 judgment for the landlordAny reinstatement is “solely in the discretion of the landlord”.

Late fees

Only a reasonable late fee set forth in a written rental agreement counts at the first two stages. The text does not define reasonable or set a dollar cap; ask an Arizona attorney. A late fee promised only orally is not described by those words.

Partial payments

A.R.S. 33-1371(A) says “A landlord is not required to accept a partial payment of rent or other charges.” A landlord who does accept one keeps the right to proceed “only if the tenant agrees in a contemporaneous writing” to the terms for continuing the tenancy, and the writing must contain a date on which the balance is due. If the 5-day notice was already given before that agreement, no new notice is needed if the tenant breaches it. Otherwise, under 33-1371(C), accepting rent or any part of it with knowledge of the default waives the right to terminate for that breach. A housing assistance payment is not a partial payment (33-1371(B)).

Common mistakes

Checked against the text published on azleg.gov on 5 October 2026.

Sources

Related guides

Informational only, not legal advice. Statute text checked against the Arizona Revised Statutes (Title 33, Chapter 10 and Title 12, Chapter 8, Article 4) as published at azleg.gov on October 5, 2026. Statutes change every legislative session and a court may read them differently than a summary does; for a dispute, an eviction or anything expensive to get wrong, talk to an Arizona landlord-tenant attorney.

Want the complete picture? The Arizona Small Landlord Compliance Guide puts the deposit, notice and eviction rules of the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in one place, with each rule cited to the statute text.

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