Hello world!
Welcome to the Arizona Tenants Advocates blog.
First, a bit of introduction. I, Ken Volk, started working for Arizona tenants’ rights in 1993, with the defeat of landlord-proposed legislation. Then came the formation of a non-profit tenants’ group, since dissolved, which I ran for seven years. Beginning in 2001 I have been operating Arizona Tenants Advocates, which grew from a home based business to our office in downtown Tempe. Every year the business has expanded, including legislative lobbying efforts for two years. We have a free telephone hotline service, and have helped thousands of tenants terminate their leases.
The website has grown, too. We have an apartment and managment ranking system. New articles on specific subjects have been added. Success stories periodically updated. Expanded links & resources section. Now, this blog.
In this venue I will periodically address specific subject matter that has come to our attention through the phone hotline or our member client cases. An attempt will be made to cover varying topical issues, and your related comments and experiences will be welcomed.
Please understand that our resources are limited, as we do not receive government or private funding. (We are solely dependent on income from tenants who use our Break Lease services.) On top of all of this, our operational expenses are significant and consistent; plus there are always numerous challenges that drain us — it’s the nature of the beasts. So do not expect for Arizona Tenants Advocates to take on your personal situation or crusade, although it is my hope you will find guidance and other assistance through the postings.
Finally, to set this show on the road, I would suggest people review the HB 2733 information linked from our home page. Check out the proposals on:
* foreclosures
* landlords being compelled to provide receipts to tenants
* landlords being compelled to accept rent payments
* landlords conning tenants to pay off judgements with rents and then evicting anyway, and
* prohibitions on landlords marring tenant credit reports without first securing court judgment.
These are important landlord-tenant abuses, and we need to expand renters rights in these regards. Feel free to post your experiences.
It is an honor to offer this blog service to the community, and I hope many useful ideas will be aired to help the tenant community.
Ken
August 13th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Is it legal to retroactively and unilaterally change an existing rental contract that does not provide a provision to increase the rental amount in order to add on the new 3% TPT tax?
August 15th, 2008 at 9:19 am
The statute that applies is A.R.S. ยง 33-1314(E), which requires that any increase or addition of privilege taxes (i.e. sales taxes) must have such authority disclosed in the lease, and that a 30-day notice of the increase must be first provided, and that no increase can be assessed until the new tax is effective. We have a link to the landlord-tenant act in our links section, so you should check out the exact language yourself.
As to being retroactive, that is not specifically covered in the law, but it seems that would conflict with the 30-day notice requirement.
Take heed, this statute does not address other types of taxes other than municipal privilege taxes. So it does not cover, for example, property taxes. To my knowledge, there is no other landlord-tenant provision that specifically addresses other types of taxes.
I hope this has clarified.
Ken
December 20th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Is PROPER notice given if a landlord changes the effective date of a notice?
1 Oct 2008—- 60 notice given to tenants advising of monthly”utility fee” to be added to rent, effective 1 Dec.2008
I objected & sent a certified letter advising the landlord he was required to give us 90 Days advance notice
15. Dec 2008—-landlord gave us another notice saying the effective date for the “utility fee” will be effective on 1 Jan 2009; to comply with the 90 day advance notice requirement.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
If a month-to-month lease is broken without providing 30 days notice, is it legal for the landlord to keep the deposit if it is less than one months rent and not stated as non refundable?
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
There is a new rule regarding that a corporation that is in a evicitin action must be represented by an attorney, i heard the judge say so but cannot find the new rule ar eyou awareof this rule and where to find it