Landlord and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

questions & answers

Question: What are the policies of having access to water? The landlord continues to turn the water off sometimes with notice, sometimes with out. I have been here for almost a year and the water is shut off at least 3 to 4 times a month.

Answer: Under the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (A.R.S. Title 33 Chapter 10), a landlord is required (among other things) to “maintain in good and safe working order and condition” all plumbing and related systems and to “supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times” (A.R.S. 33-1324). An occasional shutdown for maintenance purposes is perfectly acceptable, so long as (1) the water is not being turned off so frequently as to mean that the landlord is failing to keep the premises “in a fit and habitable condition” (A.R.S. 33-1324) and (2) the landlord gives as much advance notice as is reasonably possible (A.R.S. 33-1313).