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Arizona Landlord Failed to Repair: Tenant Remedies and Deadlines

Four sections give an Arizona tenant routes when repairs are not made, each with its own clock: a written notice that ends the rental agreement after 10 days, or 5 days for a health-and-safety breach (A.R.S. 33-1361(A)); a 10-day notice of intent to fix a minor defect and deduct the cost (A.R.S. 33-1363); “reasonable notice” with no stated number of days for lost water, power, heat or cooling (A.R.S. 33-1364); and a counterclaim if you sue for rent or possession for nonpayment (A.R.S. 33-1365). Fixing the problem inside the window, with proof, is the landlord's way out.

What the landlord must provide

A.R.S. 33-1324(A) requires the landlord to meet building codes materially affecting health and safety, to “put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition”, to keep common areas clean and safe, to keep supplied electrical, plumbing, sanitary and heating or cooling equipment in good and safe working order, to arrange waste removal, and to supply running water, reasonable hot water, and reasonable heat and cooling “where such units are installed and offered”. A tenant may take on named repairs only on the terms in subsections (C) and (D) (a writing, good faith, adequate consideration), never for work needed to cure noncompliance with paragraphs (A)(1) and (A)(2).

The remedies at a glance

SituationTenant's stepDeadlineRemedySection
Material noncompliance with the rental agreementWritten notice of the breach and a termination dateNot less than 10 days after receiptAgreement ends unless you remedy first33-1361(A)
Breach of 33-1324 materially affecting health and safetySame written noticeNot less than 5 days after receiptSame33-1361(A)
Any noncompliance with the agreement, 33-1318 or 33-1324Court action for damages or an injunctionNone stated in the sectionDamages, injunctive relief33-1361(B)
Minor defect: cost under $300 or half a month's rent, whichever is greaterWritten notice of intent to correct at your expense10 daysLicensed contractor, then deduct cost (capped), or damages33-1363(A)
No water, gas or electricity, hot water, heat, cooling or essential services“Reasonable notice” specifying the breachNo number of days in the textBuy the service and deduct it, damages, or substitute housing33-1364(A)
You sue for rent or possession for nonpaymentCounterclaimIn that actionOffset; court may order rent paid into court33-1365

What each section says

33-1361 (notice)

The notice must specify “the acts and omissions constituting the breach” and a termination date, and it ends nothing if “the landlord adequately remedies the breach prior to the date specified in the notice” ((A)(1)). A tenant cannot terminate for a condition caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, the tenant's family or a person on the premises with the tenant's consent ((A)(2)). The damages and injunction route in (B) is in addition to termination (C). If the agreement ends, you must return the security recoverable under A.R.S. 33-1321 (D). The section has no day-counting rule. “Receipt” follows A.R.S. 33-1313(B): hand delivery, or registered or certified mail, deemed received on actual receipt or “five days after the date the notice is mailed, whichever occurs first”.

33-1363 (minor defects)

The limit is a cost “less than three hundred dollars, or an amount equal to one-half of the monthly rent, whichever amount is greater”. At $1,500 rent that is $750; at $500 rent half is $250, so $300 applies. After written notice and no compliance “within ten days or as promptly thereafter as conditions require in case of emergency” (the text does not say how the emergency wording changes the ten days), the tenant may use a licensed contractor and, after giving you “an itemized statement and a waiver of lien”, deduct the actual and reasonable cost. Subsection (B) bars it for tenant-caused conditions or “if the condition repaired does not constitute a breach of the fit and habitable condition of the premises”.

33-1364 (essential services)

It applies when the landlord “deliberately or negligently” fails to supply the listed services. The tenant picks one remedy: buy the service and deduct it (or, where your unpaid utility bill caused the shutoff and tenants have no separate meters, pay that bill with the utility's approval and deduct it); damages for the drop in fair rental value; or substitute housing, with rent excused and excess cost recoverable up to 25 per cent of the excused rent. For a deliberate failure, (F) adds substitute-housing cost up to one period's rent. This route bars 33-1361 and 33-1363 for that breach (G), and the rights “do not include the right to repair” (H). You may not cut utilities “except as necessary to make needed repairs or as provided in section 33-1368” (C; see A.R.S. 33-1368); (D) adds damages, costs and attorney fees, and a wilful interruption under A.R.S. 33-1367 allows “an amount not more than two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained by him, whichever is greater”.

33-1365 (defense)

In a nonpayment possession case, or a rent case against a tenant in possession, “the tenant may counterclaim for any amount which he may recover under the rental agreement or this chapter”. The court may order undisputed rent and later rent paid into court, and judgment for possession goes to the tenant if no rent remains due after the offset, or if a tenant found to have acted in good faith satisfies a rent judgment. Where the tenant has left, a counterclaim needs no payment into court (B). Separately, A.R.S. 33-1368(B) says “A tenant may not withhold rent for any reason not authorized by this chapter.”

What to do inside the deadlines

  1. On receipt, record the date, how it arrived and the exact complaint. Keep the contact details you gave the tenant under A.R.S. 33-1322 current.
  2. Sort the clock: health and safety (5 days), other breach (10), minor defect (10), lost utility (act the same day; the text states no grace period).
  3. Ask for entry. A written maintenance request already permits entry for that work (A.R.S. 33-1343(B)); we still send a time window.
  4. Finish a day early. Send the tenant a dated written note with the invoice and photos.
  5. If the tenant caused it, say so in writing with photos before the date.

Worked dates

These sections have no counting rule, so we count calendar days from receipt and finish a day early (our planning method, not statutory text). Notice received Monday 5 October 2026: the 33-1363 ten days reach Thursday 15 October, so finish by Wednesday 14 October; a 33-1361 ten-day notice names a termination date no earlier than 15 October. A five-day health-and-safety notice received that day names no date earlier than Saturday 10 October (the text has no weekend exclusion), so finish by Friday 9 October. If the tenant instead sends that five-day notice by certified mail on Tuesday 6 October and you sign for it on Friday 9 October, receipt is 9 October and the earliest termination date is Wednesday 14 October. If nobody collects it, deemed receipt is Sunday 11 October and the earliest date is Friday 16 October.

Common mistakes

This describes the statute and is not legal advice. Disputed notices, tenant-caused damage or a court filing: see an Arizona attorney. Court procedure and forms are outside the statute text; ask the justice court clerk.

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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