questions & answers

Question: About two weeks ago our shed caught on fire in the middle of the night while we were asleep. The fire department determined the cause unknown. Who's responsibility is it to have the ashes and debris removed from the yard, mine or the landlords?

Answer: The specific answer to the question likely depends upon whether the landlord or the tenant is responsible for the maintenance of the shed and/or the yard under the terms of your lease. If the lease is silent on the matter, and the ashes and debris pose a health or safety hazard to people using the yard, then the landlord may well be responsible for removing them. Under Arizona law, landlords are required to “maintain fit premises” and to ensure that the dwellings that they rent out to tenants are kept in “a clean and safe condition.” As a general rule, this obligation on the part of the landlord applies to all residential dwellings. However, under some circumstances, a lease agreement for a single-family residence may transfer some of these responsibilities to the tenant (A.R.S. 33-1324). Ideally, in these sorts of situations, where neither party is known to have been at fault, the landlord and the tenant reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.