questions & answers

Question: We signed a new house on july 19th, and before we moved in, we hired a cleaning company trying to clean the entire house. The thing is when the cleaning company was cleaning, they found out a bunch of fleas inside of the house. We asked landlord see if he can refund the rent for the days before the entire house completly cleaned. Should be the landlord responsbility to take care of it before we move in? Can we ask for the refund the rent for the days we can't live inside of the house?

Answer:

The short answer is yes, you should absolutely request a pro-rated refund for the days during which you could not inhabit the house.  A.R.S. 33-1324 requires the landlord to maintain fit premises, which includes "do[ing] whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition."  Further, A.R.S. 33-1361(B) gives a tenant the ability to recover damages for a violation of A.R.S. 33-1324. 

You should first request that the landlord give you a prorated refund for these days rather than withholding rent.  If he or she refuses, you may be able to withhold rent, but it would depend on your specific lease and facts not available to me here.

I do recommend that you consult Arizona's Residential Landlord Tenant Act found here:  http://azhousing.gov/azcms/uploads/PUBLICATIONS/Landlord%20Tenant%20Act.pdf.