Arizona Mobile Home Park Lease Law: What Operators Need to Include

What must a mobile home lot lease include in Arizona?

If you operate a mobile home or manufactured housing community in Arizona, your lot lease is not governed by the ordinary residential landlord-tenant law. It falls under the Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, A.R.S. Title 33, Chapter 11 (Section 33-1401 and following). That Act sets specific rules for what your rental agreement must contain, what you must disclose, how park rules work, and what terms you are forbidden from putting in the lease.

At a minimum, you need a signed written rental agreement that states the rent and any security deposit, has every blank filled in, and is delivered to the tenant within ten days of signing (A.R.S. Section 33-1413). You must attach the tenant's signed acknowledgment that they received the required disclosures, the current park rules, and the state's summary of the Act. Separately, you must disclose in writing who manages the park and who owns it (A.R.S. Section 33-1432).

Your park rules must meet the reasonableness and fairness tests in A.R.S. Section 33-1452, and your lease must avoid the terms prohibited by A.R.S. Section 33-1414. A practical note: some references cite Section 33-1421 for prohibited provisions, but in the mobile home park Act the correct section is Section 33-1414. Getting the citations right matters if a dispute ever reaches a court.

The written rental agreement and required disclosures (A.R.S. 33-1413 and 33-1432)

A.R.S. Section 33-1413 requires that, at the beginning of the tenancy, a signed written rental agreement be executed by you (or your designated agent) and the tenant. The agreement must state the amount of the rent and the amount of any security deposit. Every blank space must be completed, and you must furnish executed copies to all parties within ten days of execution. If you and the tenant do not agree on a term, the agreement defaults to twelve months. A tenant may also demand a long-term rental agreement for a term of four years, and in that case all rents and other fees due during the term must be clearly identified in the agreement; the tenant has ten days to accept or reject it.

Section 33-1413 also ties the lease to your disclosure duties: you must attach a statement signed by the prospective tenant acknowledging receipt of the disclosures required by A.R.S. Section 33-1432, a current copy of the rules and regulations adopted under Section 33-1452, and the summary of the Act. Keep those signed acknowledgments in the tenant file.

The core disclosures live in A.R.S. Section 33-1432. Before the rental agreement, you must disclose in writing the name and address of the person authorized to manage the premises and the name and address of the owner (or a person authorized to act for the owner) for service of process and for receiving notices and demands. You must keep that information current, make available at no cost the state-approved written summary of the Act, and give tenants at least ninety days' written notice of any rent increase.

Park rules and regulations (A.R.S. 33-1452)

A.R.S. Section 33-1452 lets you adopt written rules governing the tenant's use and occupancy of the premises, but a rule is only enforceable if it meets a five-part test. Its purpose must be to promote the convenience, safety or welfare of the tenants, preserve your property from abusive use, preserve or upgrade the quality of the park, or fairly distribute services and facilities. Beyond purpose, the rule must be reasonably related to that purpose, apply to all tenants in a fair manner, be sufficiently explicit to fairly inform the tenant of what must or must not be done, and not be a device for evading your own obligations as landlord.

Timing matters. The prospective tenant must have a copy of the current rules and regulations before entering into the rental agreement. If you later add, change, delete, or amend a rule, you must furnish written notice of the change to all mobile home tenants thirty days before it takes effect, by first class or certified mail.

Two limits are easy to trip over. Beginning May 31, 2016, a new rule adopted after the tenant's initial rental agreement that imposes a recurring financial obligation on the tenant is not enforceable against that tenant. And you may not require anyone, as a precondition to renting or occupying a space, to pay an entrance or exit fee of any kind unless it is for services actually rendered or is set out in a written agreement.

Terms you cannot put in the lease (A.R.S. 33-1414)

A.R.S. Section 33-1414 lists the provisions your rental agreement may not contain. The lease cannot make the tenant waive or forgo rights or remedies under the Act. It cannot make the tenant pay your attorney fees, except that a written agreement may provide that attorney fees be awarded to the prevailing party in a court action. It cannot exculpate or limit your liability arising under law, or require the tenant to indemnify you for that liability or its costs.

The statute also protects the tenant on fees and safety. You cannot charge a late fee unless the tenant is allowed at least five days beyond the due date to pay. You cannot charge a fee for a guest who does not stay more than a total of fourteen days in any calendar month. And you cannot waive or limit the tenant's, or anyone else's, right to summon a peace officer or other emergency assistance in response to an emergency.

The consequences are real. Under Section 33-1414, any prohibited provision is unenforceable, and if you deliberately use a lease containing provisions you know are prohibited, the tenant may recover actual damages and can treat the agreement as voidable. On late fees specifically, Section 33-1414(C) caps the penalty at five dollars per day from the due date, and only if the payment is not remitted by the sixth day after it was due. Build your lease template around these limits rather than trying to draft around them.

Lease requirements at a glance in Arizona

• Signed written agreement
  A.R.S. Section 33-1413 requires a signed written rental agreement stating rent and any security deposit, with all blanks completed.
• Copies within ten days
  Executed copies of the rental agreement must be furnished to all parties within ten days of execution (Section 33-1413).
• Default term
  If the parties do not agree on a term, the tenancy is for twelve months; a tenant may demand a four-year long-term agreement with all rents and fees identified (Section 33-1413).
• Manager and owner disclosure
  Disclose in writing the name and address of the authorized manager and of the owner (or the owner's agent) for service and notices (Section 33-1432).
• Summary of the Act
  Make the state-approved written summary of the Act available to tenants at no cost, and attach the tenant's signed acknowledgment of disclosures (Sections 33-1413, 33-1432).
• Ninety-day rent increase notice
  Give tenants at least ninety days' written notice of any rent increase (Section 33-1432).
• Reasonable, fair rules
  Park rules must be reasonable, fair to all tenants, explicit, and provided before signing (Section 33-1452).
• Thirty-day rule changes
  Notify all tenants in writing thirty days before a rule change takes effect, by first class or certified mail (Section 33-1452).
• No entrance or exit fees
  Do not charge entrance or exit fees unless for services actually rendered or under a written agreement (Section 33-1452).
• Prohibited lease terms
  No waiver of rights, no landlord attorney-fee shifting, no exculpation of landlord liability, no late fee without a five-day grace, no short-stay guest fees, and no waiving the right to summon a peace officer (Section 33-1414).
• Late-fee cap
  Late fees may not exceed five dollars per day, charged only if rent is not remitted by the sixth day after the due date (Section 33-1414).

Operator best practices in Arizona

• Use one standardized lease packet
  Bundle the Section 33-1413 rental agreement, the Section 33-1432 disclosures, the current Section 33-1452 rules, and the state summary of the Act into a single signed packet so nothing is missed at move-in.
• Capture signed acknowledgments
  Have every tenant sign the acknowledgment that they received the disclosures and current rules, and keep it in the file, because Section 33-1413 makes that acknowledgment part of the agreement.
• Audit your lease for prohibited terms
  Remove any waiver, exculpation, indemnity, tenant-pays-landlord-attorney-fee, or right-to-summon-help clauses; under Section 33-1414 they are unenforceable and can expose you to damages if used deliberately.
• Set compliant fee and late-fee logic
  Configure late fees to a five-day grace and a cap of five dollars per day, and never charge entrance, exit, or short-stay guest fees that Sections 33-1452 and 33-1414 prohibit.
• Follow the notice clocks
  Give ninety days' written notice for rent increases and thirty days' written notice for rule changes by first class or certified mail, and keep proof of mailing.
• Version and date your park rules
  Because a post-signing rule that adds a recurring financial obligation is unenforceable, track each rule's adoption date and give new rules only prospectively with proper notice.
• Keep manager and owner info current
  Update the Section 33-1432 disclosure whenever management or ownership changes, since that is the address of record for service of process and legal notices.
• Build a relationship with an Arizona MHP attorney
  The Mobile Home Parks Act differs from ordinary residential law; have counsel who knows Chapter 11 review your lease template, rules, and disclosure packet before you deploy them park-wide.