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HB2718 • 2026

landlord tenant; rental amounts

HB2718 - landlord tenant; rental amounts

Housing
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Betty J Villegas, Anna Abeytia, Cesar Aguilar, Lorena Austin, Junelle Cavero, Oscar De Los Santos, Brian Garcia, Nancy Gutierrez, Sarah Liguori, Elda Luna-Nájera, Aaron Márquez, Christopher Mathis, Mariana Sandoval, Stephanie Simacek, Stephanie Stahl Hamilton
Last action
2026-01-21
Official status
House second read
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify details on informing landlords and tenants or enforcement mechanisms for the bill's provisions.

Landlord Tenant Act; Rental Amounts

This bill sets limits on how much landlords can increase rent each year and establishes rules for handling a tenant's property if they die or become incapacitated.

What This Bill Does

  • Limits the amount by which landlords can increase rent to no more than seven percent annually, based on inflation plus an additional three percent of the current rental rate.
  • Requires landlords to request and tenants to provide contact information for someone authorized to handle their property if they die or become incapacitated.
  • Allows landlords to dispose of unclaimed property after trying to contact an authorized person under specific conditions.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Landlords who rent residential properties in Arizona.
  • Tenants living in rental units in Arizona.
  • Authorized persons designated by tenants to handle their property if they die or become incapacitated.

Terms To Know

Consumer Price Index
A measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
Authorized Person
Someone designated by a tenant to handle their property if they die or become incapacitated.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not apply to rental units during the first thirty-six months after an initial certificate of occupancy is issued.
  • It's unclear how landlords and tenants will be informed about these changes and how compliance with the new rules will be enforced.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-21 House

    House second read

  2. 2026-01-20 House

    House Rules: None

  3. 2026-01-20 House

    House Commerce: None

  4. 2026-01-20 House

    House first read

Official Summary Text

HB2718 - landlord tenant; rental amounts

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
HB2718 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
landlord tenant; rental amounts

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2718

Introduced by

Representatives
Villegas: Abeytia, Aguilar, Austin, Cavero, De Los Santos, Garcia, Gutierrez,
Liguori, Luna-N�jera, M�rquez, Mathis, Sandoval, Simacek, Stahl Hamilton

AN
ACT

amending section 33-1314, Arizona
Revised Statutes; amending section 33-1314, Arizona Revised Statutes, as
amended by this act; relating to the Arizona residential landlord and tenant
act.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

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

Section 1. Section 33-1314, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
33-1314.

Terms and conditions of rental agreement; contact information;
property; pets; rental rate increases

A. The landlord and tenant may include in a rental
agreement terms and conditions not prohibited by this chapter or any other law,
including rent, term of the agreement and other provisions governing the rights
and obligations of the parties.

B. In the absence of a rental agreement, the tenant
shall pay as rent the fair rental value for using and occupying the dwelling
unit.

C. Rent shall be payable without demand or notice at
the time and place agreed on by the parties. Unless otherwise
agreed, rent is payable at the dwelling unit and periodic rent is payable at
the beginning of any term of one month or less and otherwise in equal monthly
installments at the beginning of each month. Unless otherwise
agreed, rent shall be uniformly apportionable from day-to-day.

D. Unless the rental agreement fixes a definite
term, the tenancy shall be week-to-week in case of a roomer who
pays weekly rent, and in all other cases month-to-month.

E. Notwithstanding section 14-3911, the
landlord may request and the tenant may provide and routinely update the name
and contact information of a person who is authorized by the tenant to enter
the tenant's dwelling unit to retrieve and store the tenant's property,
including the tenant's animal, if the tenant dies or is otherwise
incapacitated. If the landlord is unable to contact the authorized
person at the address and telephone number provided to the landlord by the
tenant or the authorized person fails to respond to the landlord's request
within one day for the animal or ten days for all other property after initial
written contact, the landlord may dispose of the property as prescribed in
section 33-1370 or may deem the animal abandoned, and if deemed
abandoned, shall remove and release the animal to an animal shelter or boarding
facility as prescribed in section 33-1370, subsection E. The
landlord may release the animal to a relative of the deceased or incapacitated
tenant if any of the following applies:

1. The landlord was not provided the contact
information of a person who is authorized by the tenant to retrieve the
tenant's animal.

2. The contact information is no longer valid.

3. The landlord is unable to contact the authorized
person after one calendar day.

F. Before removing any of the tenant's personal
property or the tenant's animal, the authorized person shall present to the
landlord a valid government issued identification that confirms the identity of
the authorized person. The authorized person shall have twenty days
after the date of initial written contact by the landlord or the last date for
which rent is paid, whichever is longer, to remove items from the rental
property and return keys to the landlord during regular business hours.� If the
landlord allows an authorized person to enter the property to remove the
tenant's personal possessions as prescribed by this subsection, the landlord
has no further liability to the tenant, the tenant's estate or the tenant's
heirs for lost, damaged or stolen items. If the tenant's personal
property is not entirely removed from the rental unit by an authorized person,
the landlord may dispose of the property as prescribed in section 33-1370.

G. Subsections E and F of this section apply only as
follows:

1. To the tenant's personal property if the periodic
rent is unpaid and outstanding for at least five days.

2. To the tenant's animal if the tenant is deceased
or is otherwise incapacitated.

H. A landlord may not increase and
charge a rental rate that exceeds the maximum rental rate increase prescribed
by this section.� The maximum rental rate increase is the annual rate of
increase in the consumer price index, plus an additional three percent of the
current rental amount, but not more than a seven-percent total annual
increase.� The office of economic opportunity established by section 41-5302
shall provide annually to the Arizona department of housing the appropriate
consumer price index percentage amount.

I. The Arizona department of housing
shall apply the limit prescribed by this section and, on request of an
individual landlord or tenant, shall calculate the amount of permissible rent
increase prescribed by subsection H of this section. The department
also shall accept complaints from tenants regarding a landlord's compliance
with subsection H of this section and shall investigate tenant complaints
and if the department determines that there is probable cause that the landlord
violated the maximum rental rate increase, the department shall refer the
matter to the attorney general for further action.� A knowing violation of the
maximum rental rate increase is an unlawful practice prescribed by section 44-1522
and the attorney general may investigate the matter and seek restitution,
injunctive relief or other remedies as prescribed by title 44, chapter 10,
article 7.

J. Subsection H of this section does
not apply to a dwelling unit during the first thirty-six months after an
initial certificate of occupancy is issued for that dwelling unit if the
dwelling unit is newly-built from the ground up.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 33-1314, Arizona Revised
Statutes, as amended by section 1 of this act, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
33-1314.

Terms and conditions of rental agreement; contact information;
property; pets

A. The landlord and tenant may include in a rental
agreement terms and conditions not prohibited by this chapter or any other law,
including rent, term of the agreement and other provisions governing the rights
and obligations of the parties.

B. In the absence of a rental agreement, the tenant
shall pay as rent the fair rental value for using and occupying the dwelling
unit.

C. Rent shall be payable without demand or notice at
the time and place agreed on by the parties. Unless otherwise
agreed, rent is payable at the dwelling unit and periodic rent is payable at
the beginning of any term of one month or less and otherwise in equal monthly
installments at the beginning of each month. Unless otherwise
agreed, rent shall be uniformly apportionable from day-to-day.

D. Unless the rental agreement fixes a definite
term, the tenancy shall be week-to-week in case of a roomer who
pays weekly rent, and in all other cases month-to-month.

E. Notwithstanding section 14-3911, the
landlord may request and the tenant may provide and routinely update the name
and contact information of a person who is authorized by the tenant to enter
the tenant's dwelling unit to retrieve and store the tenant's property,
including the tenant's animal, if the tenant dies or is otherwise
incapacitated. If the landlord is unable to contact the authorized
person at the address and telephone number provided to the landlord by the
tenant or the authorized person fails to respond to the landlord's request
within one day for the animal or ten days for all other property after initial
written contact, the landlord may dispose of the property as prescribed in
section 33-1370 or may deem the animal abandoned, and if deemed
abandoned, shall remove and release the animal to an animal shelter or boarding
facility as prescribed in section 33-1370, subsection E. The
landlord may release the animal to a relative of the deceased or incapacitated
tenant if any of the following applies:

1. The landlord was not provided the contact
information of a person who is authorized by the tenant to retrieve the
tenant's animal.

2. The contact information is no longer valid.

3. The landlord is unable to contact the authorized
person after one calendar day.

F. Before removing any of the tenant's personal
property or the tenant's animal, the authorized person shall present to the
landlord a valid government issued identification that confirms the identity of
the authorized person. The authorized person shall have twenty days
after the date of initial written contact by the landlord or the last date for
which rent is paid, whichever is longer, to remove items from the rental
property and return keys to the landlord during regular business hours.� If the
landlord allows an authorized person to enter the property to remove the
tenant's personal possessions as prescribed by this subsection, the landlord
has no further liability to the tenant, the tenant's estate or the tenant's
heirs for lost, damaged or stolen items. If the tenant's personal
property is not entirely removed from the rental unit by an authorized person,
the landlord may dispose of the property as prescribed in section 33-1370.

G. Subsections E and F of this section apply only as
follows:

1. To the tenant's personal property if the periodic
rent is unpaid and outstanding for at least five days.

2. To the tenant's animal if the tenant is deceased
or is otherwise incapacitated.

H. A landlord may not increase and
charge a rental rate that exceeds the maximum rental rate increase prescribed
by this section.� The maximum rental rate increase is the annual rate of
increase in the consumer price index, plus an additional three percent of the
current rental amount, but not more than a seven-percent total annual
increase.� The office of economic opportunity established by section 41-5302
shall provide annually to the Arizona department of housing the appropriate
consumer price index percentage amount.

I. The Arizona department of housing
shall apply the limit prescribed by this section and, on request of an
individual landlord or tenant, shall calculate the amount of permissible rent
increase prescribed by subsection H of this section. The department
also shall accept complaints from tenants regarding a landlord's compliance
with subsection H of this section and shall investigate tenant complaints
and if the department determines that there is probable cause that the landlord
violated the maximum rental rate increase, the department shall refer the
matter to the attorney general for further action.� A knowing violation of the
maximum rental rate increase is an unlawful practice prescribed by section 44-1522
and the attorney general may investigate the matter and seek restitution,
injunctive relief or other remedies as prescribed by title 44, chapter 10,
article 7.

J. Subsection H of this section does
not apply to a dwelling unit during the first thirty-six months after an
initial certificate of occupancy is issued for that dwelling unit if the
dwelling unit is newly-built from the ground up.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3.
Effective date

Section 33-1314, Arizona Revised
Statutes, as amended by section 2 of this act, is effective from and after
December 31, 2032.