questions & answers

Question: My tenant who rents the back bedroom in my 2 bedroom mobile home has given me verbal notice of her intent to no longer honor our oral month to month rental agreement by ceasing to pay rent as of the 1st of the month; but when asked of her intended date to vacate the property she tells me I have to evict her with due process...even though she initiated the termination of our agreement and I accepted her termination. My main query here being...since she verbally informed me of her intent to cease paying rent and to vacate the property and I accepted her termination...do I have to evict her too?

Answer: It is impossible to say what either your or her specific rights and responsibilities are without knowing more about the nature of your rental agreement. However, ordinarily any party to a month-to-month rental agreement – whether verbal or written – is responsible for giving the other party 30 days’ written notice of their intention to terminate the agreement (A.R.S. 33-1375). Evictions are only required when a tenant has violated a rental agreement or a rental agreement has ended and the tenant refuses to leave.