questions & answers

Question: The garage door in the house I'm renting has been broken since September of last year 2017 and a vast my landlord multiple times to fix it. Every time I bring it up and I am adamant about it he will call me and threaten me. When I tell him that I will fix the garage door and take it off of rent per the Arizona law of Self Help remedy he tells me that unless I live in the garage I have no case. Is this true, does he nit have to fix the garage in a reasonable time frame?

Answer: The answer to this sort of question usually depends on what, if anything, the rental agreement between the landlord and the tenant says about who should make and pay for repairs and under what circumstances. Under the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – at A.R.S. 33-1324 – a landlord has a general duty to “make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition” and also is required to “maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances ... supplied or required to be supplied by him.” The right of a tenant to engage in a “self-help” repair (at a cost of no more than one-half of the monthly rent) only applies to repairs required by A.R.S. 33-1324 – so the issue is whether or not the garage door qualifies.