questions & answers

Question: I put in a work order for my microwave to be fixed on July 3rd. It is now July 24th and they have still not fixed the microwave. I call the office and put in another work order, but they keep pushing it off. When I ask why is it taking so long, management gives me different stories.

Answer: When a rental agreement states that the landlord will supply a specific appliance but the landlord fails to do so, the tenant’s first step is to provide the landlord with formal written request – ideally in a signed and dated letter (keeping a copy for the tenant’s own records) – describing the problem with the appliance in detail and requesting that the required repairs be made as soon as reasonably possible. The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (ARLTA) provides that if the cost of making the required repairs would be no more than an amount equal to one-half of the tenant’s monthly rent payment, then the tenant may notify the landlord in writing of the tenant’s intention to make the repairs at the landlord’s expense. If, even after being notified by the tenant in writing of the tenant’s intention to pay for the work then charge the landlord, the landlord still fails to comply within ten days (or as soon thereafter as conditions require in the case of an emergency), then the ARLTA says that the tenant may have the work “done by a licensed contractor and, after submitting to the landlord an itemized statement and a waiver of lien, deduct from the tenant’s rent the actual and reasonable cost of the work,” not exceeding either $300 or 1/2 of one month’s rent, whichever is greater (A.R.S. 33-1363(A)).