Air conditioning in Arizona is not just a comfort; it can be the difference between life and death. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is issuing a reminder to landlords regarding their obligations under the Arizona Landlord Tenant Act as temperatures increase across the state.
“Extreme heat poses a serious health risk, and it’s unacceptable for tenants to be without proper air conditioning during summer months,” Mayes said in a press release. “In the case of an outage, landlords and management companies must take swift action to ensure residents have safe and habitable living conditions in accordance with the law. Landlords should be on notice that I will not hesitate to enforce these critical protections for Arizonans because adequate air conditioning is a matter of life and death in Arizona’s summer heat.”
Under Arizona law, landlords are required to ensure that rental units have fully operational cooling systems. In addition to state mandates, specific municipalities, including Phoenix and Tucson, impose additional standards. In those cities, rental units that rely on air conditioning cannot exceed 82° in all habitable rooms, including bathrooms. Units that use evaporative coolers are allowed a slightly higher threshold of 86°…