Phoenix Repairs: Arizona's 5-Day and 10-Day Notices, Explained
Arizona doesn't let Phoenix renters simply stop paying rent when the air conditioning dies or the ceiling leaks. What state law gives you instead is a set of written notices, each with its own clock and its own payoff. Pick the right one, deliver it the right way, and your landlord has a legal deadline to meet.
AT A GLANCE
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First, a reality check on Arizona repair law
Under A.R.S. 33-1324, your landlord must follow building codes that materially affect health and safety, make all repairs needed to keep your home fit and habitable, and keep the electrical, plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and other supplied appliances in good and safe working order. The landlord must also supply running water, reasonable hot water, and reasonable heat and cooling where those systems are installed.
You have duties too. State law requires tenants to promptly notify the landlord in writing of any problem that needs repair (A.R.S. 33-1341). That written request also counts as your permission for the landlord to come in and fix it.
None of the remedies below work if you, your family or a guest caused the problem through a deliberate or careless act. Each one also starts with a written notice. A phone call or a maintenance-portal message you can't print may not be enough proof later.
Every Arizona repair remedy starts the same way: a written notice, delivered so you can prove the date.
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Choose your notice
Arizona gives you several routes. They don't all combine, so decide which outcome you want before you write.
What you want | Notice to give | Landlord's deadline | Law |
|---|---|---|---|
End the lease if a health or safety problem isn't fixed | Written notice describing the problem and a termination date | 5 days after receipt | A.R.S. 33-1361(A) |
End the lease over another material breach | Same, with a later termination date | 10 days after receipt | A.R.S. 33-1361(A) |
Hire a contractor for a small repair and deduct the cost | Written notice of your intent to repair at the landlord's expense | 10 days, or sooner in an emergency | A.R.S. 33-1363 |
Buy cooling, heat or water yourself, or stay elsewhere | Reasonable notice describing the breach | A reasonable time | A.R.S. 33-1364 |
Money damages or a court order to repair | Any of the above | Not set | A.R.S. 33-1361(B) |
If the landlord fixes the problem before the date in your notice, the lease doesn't end.
Delivering the notice
The safest way is to hand-deliver it to the landlord or their authorized agent and keep a copy. Certified mail also works. Under A.R.S. 33-1313, a certified letter counts as received on the day it's actually received or five days after mailing, whichever comes first. The city's air-conditioning guide strongly recommends hand delivery for that reason, since mailing can eat into a 5-day clock.
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Route 1: The 5-day and 10-day notices
These are the strongest tools when the problem is serious. A 5-day notice applies when the landlord's failure to keep the home fit "materially" affects health and safety. Phoenix's housing code helps define that. City Code 39-5 requires:
Cooling that brings habitable rooms, bathrooms and toilet rooms to 82°F or below with air conditioning, or 86°F or below with an evaporative cooler, measured three feet above the floor in the center of the room
Heating that can reach at least 70°F in those rooms, using permanently installed equipment
Running hot and cold water, a working toilet, sink and tub or shower, and a separate kitchen sink
Electrical, plumbing and gas systems free of hazards, and freedom from insect and rodent infestation
Major appliances kept hazard-free
The code also bars landlords from removing a heating or ducted cooling system except for immediate repair or replacement.
If the landlord misses the deadline, the lease ends on the date you named, and you move out. You still owe rent for the time you're there, and the landlord must return the deposit money you're owed under the security deposit law.
If you want to stay
Many tenants don't want to move. In that case, you can still give the 5-day notice and then go to court for damages and an order forcing the repair (A.R.S. 33-1361(B)). The city's air-conditioning guide describes exactly that option.
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Route 2: Self-help for minor defects
A.R.S. 33-1363 lets you fix a problem yourself and take the cost off your rent, with tight limits:
Check the price. The reasonable cost must be less than $300 or half your monthly rent, whichever is greater. On $1,200 rent, that's under $600.
Give written notice that you'll fix the condition at the landlord's expense if they don't.
Wait 10 days, or less if an emergency requires faster action.
Hire a licensed contractor. You can check a license with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors at azroc.gov or 602-542-1525.
Get two documents from the contractor: an itemized bill marked "PAID" and a signed waiver of lien.
Give the landlord copies with your next rent, minus the actual, reasonable cost of the work.
You can't use this route for cosmetic problems. The condition has to be a real breach of the landlord's duty to keep the home fit and habitable.
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Route 3: No cooling, heat or water
A.R.S. 33-1364 covers a landlord's deliberate or negligent failure to supply running water, gas or electricity, hot water, heat, or cooling where it's installed. After reasonable notice, you may choose one of these:
Option | What you can recover |
|---|---|
Buy the service yourself | The actual reasonable cost, deducted from rent. The city's guide gives fans or a window unit as examples. Keep the receipts. |
Get substitute housing | You're excused from rent while the problem lasts. If the housing costs more than your rent, you can recover the extra, up to 25% of the excused rent. |
Sue for reduced value | Damages for the drop in your home's fair rental value until service is restored |
This route doesn't include the right to repair it yourself, and once you choose it you generally can't also use the 5-day notice or self-help for the same problem.
When the landlord didn't pay the utility
If service was cut because the landlord didn't pay the bill and there's no separate meter for your unit, the law lets tenants, alone or together, pay the landlord's past-due bill with the utility's approval after written notice to the landlord, and deduct it from rent.
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If your landlord files for eviction
If your landlord sues for unpaid rent while the home isn't in compliance, A.R.S. 33-1365 lets you file a counterclaim for what the law lets you recover. The court may order you to pay some or all of the undisputed rent into court while it decides. Keep the rent money available.
Arizona also bars retaliation. Under A.R.S. 33-1381, a landlord can't raise your rent, cut services or threaten eviction because you complained to them about a repair or reported a code violation to the city. A complaint within six months before the landlord's action creates a presumption of retaliation, though not if you're behind on rent or caused the problem.
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Where to get help in Phoenix
Landlord and Tenant Program (Human Services): free one-on-one counseling on the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, by phone or at the Travis L. Williams Family Services Center, 4732 S. Central Ave. Request a session online and staff call back within 48 business hours, or call 602-262-7210 (TTY 711). It's education, not legal advice.
Emergency assistance for tenants: for no cooling or heat, plumbing or electrical failures, roof leaks or other unsafe conditions, the city can help with temporary shelter, transportation, cooling centers or coordinating repairs. Generally you must live in Phoenix or get city water, and your household income must be at or below 80% of the area median. It doesn't provide money.
Neighborhood Services: reports blight at 602-534-4444, blight@phoenix.gov or myPHX311.
Free legal aid: see our guide to Community Legal Services below.
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Before you call
☐ Your lease, the landlord's or manager's address for notices, and any agent named in the lease
☐ The date you first reported the problem, and how
☐ Indoor temperature readings taken 3 feet off the floor, with dates and times
☐ Photos or video of the problem
☐ Copies of every notice, plus proof of delivery
☐ A contractor quote, if you're considering self-help
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WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
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More help in Phoenix
Related guides
Official sources
Last checked: October 23, 2026. Statutes from azleg.gov; city program details and phone numbers from phoenix.gov.
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