If you are a landlord or in property management long enough, even with the best screening, you will likely eventually have an issue which requires you to provide a tenant with a notice for noncompliance with the lease agreement. What information needs to be in the notice? The Arizona Landlord Tenant Act answers this question for us.
ARS §33-1368 describes noncompliance with lease agreement and what information is needed in the notice regarding the tenant’s noncompliance.
“…[I]f there is a material noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement…, the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate on date not less than ten days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in ten days.” While the statute goes on to provide different time frames for health and safety violations, nonpayment of rent and of course criminal acts, the basic information needed in all notices is clearly outlined here.
- What is the breach? Is it nonpayment of rent, unauthorized occupants, discharge of a weapon, failing to clean up pet waste? (Be specific and where applicable give dates, times and number of occurrences and include photos if applicable.)
- The tenant has X number of days to correct the breach, or the lease will terminate.
The trick or the catch is in number 1, what is the breach. With all breaches you need to provide a detailed description. For nonpayment of rent this includes a ledger and a description of any accruing late fees; for health and safety violations a specific statement of what is causing the health and safety issue and is it ongoing or occurring sporadically; for noncompliance we need again a detailed description and dates of the noncompliance or if ongoing when did it start. Immediate notices of course require a date and time of the “crime.”