questions & answers

Question: The ac went out in our house rental at 1:30am, so I had to get myself and two small children to a hotel. We ended up staying for two nights before the AC was repaired. The landlords said they won't/don't reimburse for the hotel. I'm confused because it says in the Tenant/Landlord act that money can be withheld from rent if substitute house has to be found if the rental is uninhabitable. I have receipts for the hotel and I took the amount off the rent & now the landlords are looking to either late fee or evict me. Can they do that?! I really scared as I have two small kids & no where to go.

Answer: There are links to free and low-cost legal services on this website (at http://www.azlawhelp.org/accessToJustice). If you are being threatened with eviction, you may want to seek legal advice right away. What the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act says about this sort of situation is that if the tenant notifies the landlord in writing that the A/C or other “essential service” (such as heat or water) is not working, and despite having received this notice the landlord still fails to repair it within a “reasonable” period of time, then, if the landlord has acted either *deliberately or negligently* in failing to make the repair, then the tenant may do one of any of the following: Option One: The tenant may arrange to receive the essential service on their own and deduct the cost of that service from the tenant’s next monthly rent payment. Option Two: The tenant may file a claim in court to recover damages based on the decreased fair rental value of the dwelling. Option Three: The tenant may find “reasonable substitute housing” (an inexpensive motel, for example) until the landlord restores the service. What this means is that when the tenant pays their rent for the following month, the tenant may pay a “prorated” amount. (So, for example, if the monthly rent is $900 (or $30/day), and the tenant is forced to stay in a motel for 5 days, then the tenant may reduce the next month’s rent payment by $150.) If the cost of this substitute housing exceeds the amount of the tenant’s rent for the period, then the tenant also may recover up to 25% (but no more) of the additional expense from the landlord (A.R.S. 33-1364).