Landlord and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

questions & answers

Question: I haven’t written my landlord about my A/C not working, however, I called him. It’s going on 9 days now that it hasn’t been fixed. Is there a way I don’t have to pay full rent?

Answer: Although common courtesy demands the landlord respond to your verbal complaint, the Arizona Landlord/Tenant Act requires written communication to require the landlord to respond.  Arizona Revised Statute, Section 33-1364 requires your landlord to maintain the rental unit and to provide essential services.  In Arizona, Air conditioning is an essential service.  The statute requires you as the tenant to give him written notice of the problem.  In this written notice, you inform the landlord that he has 5 days to remedy the problem because A/C is an essential service.  You further inform him that you will terminate the lease when his remedy time has expired if he has not fixed your A/C.  You also have the options (instead of terminating the lease) of suing him for damages or going to court to make him do the repair.  You must sign and date the notice.  Then, you can either hand-deliver it to the landlord or his agent or mail it to him by certified mail/return receipt requested.  Be sure you keep a copy of the document.  If you hand-deliver, you must document the delivery.  You can hire a process server or you can have a neutral person witness the delivery, document to whom it is delivered, and if possible, have them sign a receipt.