What can a Tenant Do? My Landlord is not Following the Lease.

1. You are a tenant living in a RV Park and have a lease for over 180 consecutive days. However, your landlord is not following the rental agreement.
2. According to the rental agreement and the Arizona Recreational Vehicle Long-Term Rental Space Act, you may have rights if your landlord is violating the lease.
3. It is important to continue paying the rent. Your landlord’s violation of the lease agreement does not give you the right to withhold rent.
4. Let us look at the top complaints against landlords and the remedies you may have.
5. The first complaint is that the landlord is not making needed repairs to common areas.
6. If you want your landlord to make repairs, you must deliver a written notice to your landlord requesting repairs.
7. The time frame you give your landlord to make the repairs depends upon the seriousness of the repairs.
8. You have different options depending on the type of problem you have.
9. If there is a failure to provide essential services, such as reasonable amounts of running water, gas, or electrical services to the space if required by the lease—
10. You must provide reasonable notice in writing to the landlord. You may be entitled to recover damages so keep the receipts of your costs if you obtained those services. Or you can terminate your lease.
11. If, there is a problem that affects health and safety issues, such as the failure to remove the trash from the receptacles, you must give the landlord a ten-day written notice to make the repairs.
12. Other types of repairs in the common areas such as pest control issues, or pool equipment malfunctions require a fourteen-day written notice to the landlord.
13. If those time frames expire and the landlord does not make repairs you can terminate the lease after 20 days for a health or safety issue and 30 days for all other repair issues.
14. In each of these situations, you can choose to end the rental agreement and move out if the landlord does not fix the problem within those specific time frames. You may recover damages so keep your receipts.
15. Another common complaint is abuse of access.
16. The landlord has no right to enter your recreational vehicle without your permission.
17. What can you do about an abuse of access issue?
18. You may file for an injunction or end the rental agreement.
19. Your landlord is not allowed to lock you out without a court order.
20. The landlord may not retaliate if you complained to your landlord or to a government agency about the health and safety of the premises in the last six months.
21. If this happens, you may be entitled to damages.
22. If you are unable to resolve the issues with your landlord, you may file a lawsuit, or you can raise them as a defense if you are being evicted.
23. Another common complaint is failure to return the security deposit.
24. For more detailed information about security deposits, see the Legal Info Video entitled “How do I get my security deposit back?”

Resources:

Eviction Legal Info Sheets

Eviction Videos