Outline of the eviction process in Arizona

Arizona residential evictions are governed by the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (A.R.S. Title 33, chapter 10), the forcible entry and detainer statutes (A.R.S. §§ 12-1171 and following) and the Arizona Rules of Procedure for Eviction Actions. Almost all cases are filed as a “special detainer” in the justice court for the precinct where the property sits; the superior court also has jurisdiction. The process is fast: the summons issues the day the complaint is filed, the hearing is set three to six days out, the appeal period is five calendar days, and the writ of restitution can issue five calendar days after judgment.

A notice that was served the wrong way, counted a day short, or undermined by a partial payment gets the case dismissed, and a dismissed case is sealed from public view. The state preempts local rent control (§ 33-1329) and there is no statewide just-cause requirement, so the rules below apply essentially unchanged statewide.

1. Grounds

• Nonpayment of rent (§ 33-1368(B)).
• Material noncompliance with the rental agreement, including noncompliance materially affecting health and safety (§ 33-1368(A)).
• Material and irreparable breach (§ 33-1368(A)). The statute lists conduct such as illegal discharge of a weapon, homicide, prostitution, criminal street gang activity, controlled substance offenses, threatening or intimidating, assault and serious property damage.
• Holdover after a periodic tenancy has been properly terminated or the term has expired (§ 33-1375).

Retaliation is the main substantive defense. A landlord may not raise rent, cut services or bring or threaten a possession action because the tenant complained to a code enforcement agency, complained to the landlord about a maintenance violation, or joined a tenants’ union. A complaint within six months before the landlord’s act creates a presumption of retaliation. The defense is not available where the tenant is in default in rent (§ 33-1381).

2. Notices, service and counting days

• Nonpayment: five days. A written notice of the nonpayment and of the landlord’s intention to terminate if the rent is not paid within five days after the notice. If it is not paid, the landlord may file a special detainer (§ 33-1368(B)).
• Material noncompliance: ten days. The notice must specify the acts and omissions constituting the breach and state that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than ten days after receipt if the breach is not remedied in ten days (§ 33-1368(A)). Material falsification on the application, as described in the statute, is not curable.
• Health and safety noncompliance: five days. Same content, but termination not less than five days after receipt if the breach is not remedied in five days (§ 33-1368(A)).
• Second breach of the same or a similar nature during the term: ten days, no cure. After a cured first breach, the landlord may file a special detainer ten days after delivering a written notice advising the tenant of the second noncompliance (§ 33-1368(A)).
• Material and irreparable breach: immediate. The landlord may deliver a written notice of immediate termination and file at once (§ 33-1368(A)).
• Ending a periodic tenancy. Month-to-month: written notice at least 30 days before the periodic rental date. Week-to-week: at least ten days before the termination date (§ 33-1375).
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice to vacate; confirm with counsel before serving a shorter notice on a covered property.

How notices are served (§ 33-1313(B)). A tenant “receives” a notice when it is delivered in hand to the tenant or mailed by registered or certified mail to the place the tenant has designated or, failing that, to the tenant’s last known residence. A notice sent by registered or certified mail is deemed received on the date it is actually received or five days after mailing, whichever comes first. Taping the notice to the door is not one of the statutory methods. Posting with certified mail is a way to serve the summons, not the notice.

Counting. In § 33-1368 “days” means calendar days (§ 33-1368(G)). The notice period runs from receipt, so a mailed notice starts its clock on actual receipt or five days after mailing, whichever is first (§ 33-1313(B)); in practice, landlords who mail add five days. The Maricopa County Justice Courts’ filing packet tells landlords to wait until the business day after the notice expires before filing, which for a five-day notice means the sixth day after receipt at the earliest.

Partial payments (§ 33-1371). Accepting rent, or any part of it, with knowledge of the default waives the right to terminate for that breach, unless the tenant agrees in a contemporaneous writing to the terms on which the partial payment is accepted. That written agreement must state the date the balance is due.

3. Filing

File the special detainer complaint in the justice court (or superior court). Under the eviction rules the summons is a separate document from the complaint and, in a residential case, must be accompanied by the Residential Eviction Procedures Information Sheet (Rule 5 and Appendix A). Justice court form packets call for a copy of the notice that was served, the relevant lease provisions and, in a nonpayment case, an accounting of charges and payments for the preceding six months. Filing fees are set by schedule and change; the Maricopa County Justice Courts currently list $69 for the complaint and summons.

Entity landlords. Who may appear for a company is governed by Arizona Supreme Court Rule 31 and its exceptions in Rule 31.3, which allow limited non-lawyer representation of an entity in justice court. Arizona Supreme Court Rule 31.3 lets a full-time officer, partner, member, manager or employee represent a corporation, LLC or other entity in justice court only if the entity has specifically authorized that person for the case, the representation is secondary to the person’s other duties, and the person is not paid extra for it; confirm the current rule text. Maricopa County Justice Courts’ guidance states that a property manager or other agent may not appear for the plaintiff. Read the current rule or ask the court before sending a non-lawyer.

4. Summons, service and the hearing

The summons is issued the day the complaint is filed and commands the tenant to appear not more than six nor less than three days from the date of the summons (§ 33-1377(B)). It must be served at least two days before the return day (§ 33-1377(B)). Justice court instructions name a constable, sheriff or registered private process server. If personal service has been attempted, § 33-1377(B) also permits service by posting the summons conspicuously on the main entrance of the residence within one day of its issuance and, the same day, sending it by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the tenant’s last known address; the tenant is then deemed to have received it three days after mailing.

The tenant may file a written answer, for which the justice courts charge no fee, but the practical requirement is to appear. Courts must offer landlords, tenants, attorneys and witnesses the option of appearing at the initial appearance by telephone or video (Rule 11 of the eviction rules; repeated in the courts’ 2025 Residential Eviction Information Sheet). Where the complaint alleges a material and irreparable breach, the return and trial date is set no later than the third day after filing (§ 33-1377(E)).

5. Judgment, reinstatement and appeal

Right to pay and stay (§ 33-1368(B)). Before the special detainer is filed, the tenant reinstates the rental agreement by tendering all past due rent plus a reasonable late fee set out in a written rental agreement. After filing and before judgment, the tenant reinstates by paying all past due rent, those late fees, attorney fees and court costs. After a judgment for the landlord, reinstatement is solely in the landlord’s discretion.

The judgment. The court gives judgment for restitution of the premises, late charges stated in the rental agreement, costs and, at the landlord’s option, all rent found to be due (§ 33-1377(F)); § 12-1178 also provides for damages and attorney fees.

Sealing (§ 33-1379). The court seals the case file when it dismisses the eviction before judgment or enters judgment for the tenant, and also when landlord and tenant file a written stipulation to set aside the eviction order and seal the file.

Appeal (§ 12-1179). Either party may appeal from justice court to the superior court by filing a notice of appeal within five calendar days after the judgment, with a bond for the costs of appeal in an amount the justice of the peace sets. The appeal alone does not stop the eviction. To stay the possession judgment the tenant must post a supersedeas bond covering rent from the judgment to the next rental date plus costs and attorney fees, and then pay rent to the justice court clerk on or before each rental due date while the appeal is pending. If the tenant misses a payment, the landlord may move to lift the stay.

6. The writ of restitution and the lockout

No writ of restitution may issue until five calendar days after the judgment (§ 12-1178). The exception is a material and irreparable breach, where the court orders restitution not less than 12 nor more than 24 hours after the finding (§ 33-1377(E)). The landlord applies and pays for the writ; the Maricopa County Justice Courts currently list $125. The writ is executed by the sheriff or constable; in justice court cases, which is nearly all of them, that is the constable. A landlord may not carry out the lockout. A tenant who has been lawfully served with the writ and who remains in or returns to the unit commits criminal trespass in the third degree (§ 12-1178).

Utilities and property. The landlord may discontinue landlord-provided utilities on the day after the writ is executed, not before, and only through a person authorized by the utility (§ 33-1368(D)). From that same day the landlord must follow § 33-1370(D) through (I) for the tenant’s belongings (§ 33-1368(E)): hold the property for 14 calendar days after retaking possession, prepare an inventory and notify the tenant of where it is stored and what storage costs. To recover it the tenant must pay only the costs of removal and storage, and the tenant may collect clothing, tools and books of a trade or profession, and identification or financial documents. After the holding period the landlord may donate the property to a qualifying charity or sell it.

Self-help. If a landlord unlawfully removes or excludes the tenant or wilfully diminishes essential services, the tenant may recover possession or terminate and, either way, recover up to two months’ rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater (§ 33-1367).

Recent law changes landlords should know

• Squatter removal (effective September 12, 2026). Laws 2026, chapter 69 (SB 1426), signed May 29, 2026, amended §§ 12-1171 and 12-1173 to let an owner use forcible detainer against an unauthorized person occupying residential property, with the writ of restitution issued immediately after the judgment is signed. It expressly does not apply to or modify landlord and tenant rights under Title 33, chapter 10, so it is no shortcut for removing a tenant.
• No 2025 or 2026 amendments to the notice, special detainer, writ or appeal sections cited in this guide were found when it was checked in September 2026. Tenant-protection bills are introduced every session, so confirm the current statute text before relying on a deadline.

What actually goes wrong

• Posting the notice on the door instead of hand delivery or registered or certified mail.
• Mailing the notice and not adding the five days, or filing on day five instead of day six.
• Taking a partial payment without a contemporaneous signed non-waiver agreement that states when the balance is due.
• Using an irreparable-breach notice for ordinary lease violations. If the conduct is not on the statutory list the case fails, and the dismissal is sealed.
• Sending a property manager to court for an owner, or an entity representative who does not qualify under Supreme Court Rule 31.3.
• Shutting off utilities or changing locks before the constable has executed the writ.
• Clearing out the unit before the 14 calendar days have run, or without an inventory and notice.

When to bring in an attorney

Use counsel where the owner is an LLC, corporation or trust and no qualifying officer or employee can appear, for irreparable-breach and lease-violation cases, for subsidized or federally backed housing, when the tenant raises retaliation or habitability, when the tenant appeals, and for anything in superior court. The Arizona attorneys listed below represent landlords.

Sources

• A.R.S. §§ 33-1313, 33-1329, 33-1367, 33-1368, 33-1370, 33-1371, 33-1375, 33-1377, 33-1379 and 33-1381 (Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), azleg.gov.
• A.R.S. §§ 12-1178, 12-1179 and 12-1181 (forcible entry and detainer); Laws 2026, chapter 69 (SB 1426); Arizona Legislature general effective dates.
• Arizona Rules of Procedure for Eviction Actions, Rules 5 and 11 and Appendix A (Supreme Court order R-21-0039); Arizona Supreme Court Rules 31 and 31.3.
• Maricopa County Justice Courts, Evictions page, eviction filing packet, Residential Eviction Information Sheet (EA 8150-214, R 1/1/25), “What Happens” information sheet and fee schedule; Pinal County Justice Courts eviction action instructions and forms.

This guide is general information about Arizona eviction procedure and is not legal advice. Statutes, court rules, fees and local programs change; confirm the current text and your court’s requirements before relying on any deadline.