landlord tenant; judgment; fees; satisfaction

HB2708 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
landlord tenant; judgment; fees; satisfaction

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2708

Introduced by

Representatives
Villegas: Abeytia, Aguilar, Austin, Cavero, Connolly, Contreras P, Crews, De
Los Santos, Garcia, Luna-N�jera, M�rquez, Mathis, Peshlakai, Sandoval,
Simacek, Stahl Hamilton, Travers

AN
ACT

amending sections 12-1178, 33-1315,
33-1368 and 33-1379, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to residential landlord
and tenant.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 12-1178, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
12-1178.

Judgment; writ of restitution; limitation on issuance; criminal
violation; notice

A. If the defendant is found guilty of forcible
entry and detainer or forcible detainer, the court shall give judgment for the
plaintiff for restitution of the premises, for all charges stated in the rental
agreement and for damages, attorney fees, court and other costs and, at the
plaintiff's option, all rent found to be due and unpaid through the
periodic rental period, as described in section 33-1314,
subsection C, as provided for in the rental agreement

time of the defendant's actual possession of the premises, which shall be
determined as the prorated amount of the rent provided for in the rental
agreement
, and shall grant a writ of restitution.
The amount for unpaid rent may not include the entire periodic rental
period unless the defendant actually POSSESSES the premises for that entire
PERIODIC rental period.�
The person designated by the judge to prepare
the judgment shall ensure that the defendant's social security number is not
contained on the judgment.

B. If the defendant is found not guilty of forcible
entry and detainer or forcible detainer, judgment shall be given for the
defendant against the plaintiff for damages, attorney fees and court and other
costs, and if it appears that the plaintiff has acquired possession of the
premises since commencement of the action, a writ of restitution shall issue in
favor of the defendant.

C.
No

a
writ
of restitution shall
not
issue until the expiration of
five calendar days after the rendition of judgment. The writ of
restitution shall be enforced as promptly and expeditiously as
possible. The issuance or enforcement of a writ of restitution shall
not be suspended, delayed or otherwise affected by the filing of a motion to
set aside or vacate the judgment or similar motion unless a judge finds good
cause.

D. A defendant who is lawfully served with a writ of
restitution and who remains in or returns to the dwelling unit, as defined in
section 33-1310, or remains on or returns to the mobile home space, as
defined in section 33-1409, or the recreational vehicle space, as defined
in section 33-2102, without the express permission of the owner of the
property or the person with lawful control of the property commits criminal
trespass in the third degree pursuant to section 13-1502.

E. If the defendant is found guilty of forcible
entry and detainer or forcible detainer, the court shall give the defendant
notice that a defendant who is lawfully served with a writ of restitution and
who remains in or returns to the dwelling unit or remains on or returns to the
mobile home space or the recreational vehicle space without the express
permission of the owner of the property or the person with lawful control of
the property commits criminal trespass in the third degree pursuant to section
13-1502.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 33-1315, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
33-1315.

Prohibited provisions in rental agreements

A. A rental agreement shall not provide that the
tenant does any of the following:

1. Agrees to waive or to
forego

forgo
rights or remedies under this chapter.

2. Agrees to pay late fees that are
more than $50 per period of nonpayment or five percent of the unpaid periodic amount,
whichever is greater.

2.

3.
Agrees
to pay the landlord's attorney fees, except an agreement in writing may provide
that� attorney fees may be awarded to the prevailing party in the event of
court action and except that a prevailing party in a contested forcible
detainer action is eligible to be awarded attorney fees pursuant to section 12-341.01
regardless of whether the rental agreement provides for such an award.

3.

4.
Agrees
to the exculpation or limitation of any liability of the landlord arising under
law or to indemnify the landlord for that liability or the costs connected
therewith
with that liability
.

4.

5.
Agrees
to waive or limit the tenant's right to summon or any other person's right to
summon a peace officer or other emergency assistance in response to an
emergency.

5.

6.
Agrees
to
payment of

pay
monetary penalties
or otherwise penalizes the tenant for the tenant summoning or for any other
person summoning a peace officer or other emergency assistance in response to
an emergency.

B. A provision that is prohibited by subsection A of
this section and that is included in a rental agreement is
unenforceable. If a landlord deliberately uses a rental agreement
containing provisions known by the landlord to be prohibited, the tenant may
recover actual damages sustained by the tenant and not more than two months'
periodic rent.

C. This section does not limit the landlord's right
to evict a tenant pursuant to section 33-1368.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 33-1368, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
33-1368.

Noncompliance with rental agreement by tenant; failure to pay
rent; utility discontinuation; liability for guests; definition

A. Except as provided in this chapter, if there is a
material noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement, including
material falsification of the information provided on the rental application,
the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and
omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate
on a date not less than ten days after receipt of the notice if the breach is
not remedied in ten days. For the purposes of this section, material
falsification includes the following untrue or misleading information about
the:

1. Number of occupants in the dwelling unit, pets,
income of the prospective tenant, social security number and current employment
listed on the application or lease agreement.

2. Tenant's criminal records, prior eviction record
and current criminal activity. Material falsification of information
in this paragraph is not curable under this section.

If there is a noncompliance by the
tenant with section 33-1341 materially affecting health and safety, the
landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and
omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate
on a date not less than five days after receipt of the notice if the breach is
not remedied in five days.
However,
If the breach is
remediable by repair or the payment of damages or otherwise, and the tenant
adequately remedies the breach before the date specified in the notice, the
rental agreement will not terminate.� If there is an additional act of these
types of noncompliance of the same or a similar nature during the term of the
lease after the previous remedy of noncompliance, the landlord may institute a
special detainer action pursuant to section 33-1377 ten days after
delivery of a written notice advising the tenant that a second noncompliance of
the same or a similar nature has occurred. If there is a breach that
is both material and irreparable and that occurs on the premises, which may
include an illegal discharge of a weapon, homicide as prescribed in sections 13-1102,
13-1103, 13-1104 and 13-1105, prostitution as defined in
section 13-3211, criminal street gang activity as prescribed in section
13-105, activity as prohibited in section 13-2308, the unlawful
manufacturing, selling, transferring, possessing, using or storing of a
controlled substance as defined in section 13-3451, threatening or
intimidating as prohibited in section 13-1202, assault as prohibited in
section 13-1203, acts that have been found to constitute a nuisance
pursuant to section 12-991 or a breach of the lease agreement that
otherwise jeopardizes the health, safety and welfare of the landlord, the
landlord's agent or another tenant or involving imminent or actual serious
property damage, the landlord may deliver a written notice for immediate
termination of the rental agreement and shall proceed under section 33-1377.�
The foregoing list of actions
,
which may constitute a
material and irreparable breach of a tenant's lease
,
is
not exhaustive.

B. A tenant may not withhold rent for any reason not
authorized by this chapter. If rent is unpaid when due and the
tenant fails to pay rent within five days after written notice by the landlord
of nonpayment and the landlord's intention to terminate the rental agreement if
the rent is not paid within that period of time, the landlord may terminate the
rental agreement by filing a special detainer action pursuant to section 33-1377.
Before the filing of a special detainer action
,
the
rental agreement shall be reinstated if the tenant tenders all past due and
unpaid periodic rent and a reasonable late fee set forth in a written rental
agreement
and as prescribed by section 33-1315.� The tenant may
not be required to pay attorney fees and costs as a condition of reinstatement
. After
a special detainer action is filed
,
the rental agreement
is reinstated only if the tenant pays all past due rent, reasonable late fees
set forth in a written rental agreement, attorney fees and court
costs. After a judgment has been entered in a special detainer
action in favor of the landlord, any reinstatement of the rental agreement is
solely in the discretion of the landlord.

C. The landlord may recover all reasonable damages
resulting from noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement or section
33-1341 or occupancy of the dwelling unit, court costs, reasonable
attorney fees and all quantifiable damage caused by the tenant to the premises.

D. The landlord may discontinue utility services
provided by the landlord on the day following the day that a writ of
restitution or execution is executed pursuant to section 12-1181. Disconnections
shall be performed only by a person authorized by the utility whose service is
being discontinued. This section does not supersede standard tariff
and operational procedures that apply to any public service corporation,
municipal corporation or special districts providing utility services in this
state.

E. On the day following the day that a writ of
restitution or execution is executed pursuant to section 12-1181, the
landlord shall comply with section 33-1370, subsections D, E, F, G, H and
I regarding the tenant's personal property.

F. For the purposes of this chapter, the tenant
shall be held responsible for the actions of the tenant's guests that violate
the lease agreement or rules or regulations of the landlord if the tenant could
reasonably be expected to be aware that such actions might occur and did not
attempt to prevent those actions to the best of the tenant's ability.

G. For the purposes of this section,
"days" means calendar days.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 33-1379, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
33-1379.

Eviction action; dismissal; sealed records

A. In any action for eviction pursuant to section 33-1368
or 33-1377 or pursuant to a forcible entry and detainer action,
the court shall issue an order sealing all records related to the case

on
the occurrence of any of the following:

1.
The court entering an order
that dismisses the action for eviction
prior to

before
entry of a judgment or that enters judgment in favor of
the tenant
, the court shall issue an order sealing all records
related to the case
.

2. The landlord filing a satisfaction
of judgment.� A landlord shall file a satisfaction of judgment on receiving
complete payment from the tenant, whether for the full amount of the judgment
or an amount agreed to by the parties as satisfaction of the judgment.

B. The court shall also order the sealing of an
eviction case on the filing of a written stipulation by the landlord and the
tenant to set aside the order of eviction and seal the eviction case court
file.

C. If the records in an eviction case court file are
sealed, the tenant's case records shall
only
be made
available
only
to the following:

1. The person whose records are sealed and any party
or any attorney who has made an appearance in the case where records are
sealed.�

2. The court, except that the tenant's sealed
eviction case may not be sold or released as a part of a bulk or individual
records transfer to a third party.�

3. The clerk of the court or any department that is
responsible for maintaining records, except that the tenant's sealed eviction
case may not be sold or released as a part of a bulk or individual records
transfer to a third party.�

D. This section applies to all records relating to
an action for summary eviction, a forcible entry and detainer action or a
special detainer action that are maintained by the court, including the
complaint and any other pleadings, proof of service, any findings and orders of
the court and all other papers, records, proceedings and evidence, including
exhibits and transcript of the testimony.
END_STATUTE