Arizona Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

A.R.S. § 33-1368(B) allows the landlord to terminate by filing a special detainer action if rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay within five days after written notice of the nonpayment and of the landlord's intention to terminate. These are calendar days and the clock starts the day after the tenant receives the notice. Service is governed by A.R.S. § 33-1313: hand delivery to the tenant, or registered or certified mail to the address the tenant designated, with mailed notice deemed received on actual receipt or five days after mailing, whichever comes first. Before you file, the tenant reinstates the lease by paying all past-due rent plus a reasonable late fee; after you file, they must also cover your attorney fees and court costs.

For material noncompliance with the rental agreement, including material falsification of the rental application, A.R.S. § 33-1368(A) requires written notice specifying the acts and omissions and stating that the agreement terminates not less than ten days after receipt if the breach is not remedied in ten days. Noncompliance materially affecting health and safety under A.R.S. § 33-1341 carries a shorter five-day cure period. A material and irreparable breach, such as discharging a weapon, homicide, prostitution, criminal street gang activity, controlled substance violations, threatening or assault, or conduct causing serious property damage, allows a written notice of immediate termination with no cure right at all.

A.R.S. § 33-1375 lets either party end a month-to-month tenancy with written notice given at least 30 days before the periodic rental date specified in the notice, and a week-to-week tenancy with at least ten days' notice. Arizona has no statewide just-cause eviction requirement and no longer notice period for long-term tenants. A.R.S. § 33-1329 preempts municipal rent control on private residential property, so Arizona cities and towns, including charter cities, cannot layer a rent cap or good-cause rule on top of the state standard.

Residential evictions are filed as special detainer actions in the justice court for the precinct where the property is located. Base fees are set by the state and each county adds its own surcharges, so amounts vary; Maricopa County charges $69 to file the eviction complaint, nothing for the tenant's answer, $125 for the writ of restitution that actually removes the tenant, and $99 for a notice of appeal.

Arizona does not give the tenant a separate written-answer deadline the way most states do. Under A.R.S. § 33-1377(B) the summons issues the day the complaint is filed and commands the tenant to appear and answer at a time and place not more than six nor less than three days from the date of the summons, and the tenant may answer orally on the record at that initial appearance or file a written answer beforehand, which Maricopa County Justice Courts accept at no charge.

Arizona is among the faster states: a five-day notice, then a summons that sets the initial appearance three to six days out, then the five-calendar-day wait A.R.S. § 12-1178 imposes before a writ of restitution may issue, can produce a lockout roughly two to four weeks after the notice. It runs longer if the tenant appears and contests, which pushes the matter to a later trial date, or if service is delayed, since the tenant must be served at least two days before the hearing.

Arizona bars self-help eviction. A landlord may not lock a tenant out, remove their belongings, or wilfully diminish services by interrupting electric, gas, water, or other essential service to force a tenant out. Under A.R.S. § 33-1367 a tenant who is unlawfully removed or excluded, or whose essential services are cut off, may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement and, in either case, recover the greater of two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained, and if the lease terminates the landlord must return all security recoverable under A.R.S. § 33-1321. Only a constable or sheriff executing a writ of restitution may remove a tenant.

Arizona enacted SB1726 in the 2025 regular session, signed by Governor Hobbs, creating an expedited process for a residential property owner to ask the county sheriff or local chief of police to immediately remove an unlawful occupant by affidavit, along with criminal penalties for unlawful occupancy causing property damage. It targets squatters and does not apply to current or former tenants, so ordinary residential evictions still run through the special detainer process under A.R.S. § 33-1377.

Two Arizona details trip up small landlords constantly. First, taping the five-day notice to the door is not valid service: A.R.S. § 33-1313 authorizes only hand delivery to the tenant or registered or certified mail, and a judge who finds the notice was improperly served will dismiss and make you start over. Second, the widely repeated claim that a tenant has five days to answer an Arizona eviction is wrong; the five calendar days in A.R.S. § 12-1178 is the waiting period after judgment before a writ of restitution may issue, while the tenant's response happens at the initial appearance set three to six days from the summons. Also remember the tenant can reinstate a nonpayment case by paying rent, late fees, attorney fees, and costs right up until judgment. An individual owner may self-represent in justice court and a corporation may appear through a specifically authorized officer under Supreme Court Rule 31, but a property manager cannot appear as a party's representative.

• A.R.S. § 33-1368
• A.R.S. § 33-1377
• A.R.S. § 33-1367