How to Evict a Tenant in Arizona: Laws, Process, and Timeline
Arizona Eviction Timeline 2026: Inside the Special Detainer Process
Once notice runs out, an Arizona eviction becomes a special detainer action in justice court, and the statute moves it faster than almost anywhere else in this guide’s coverage — a hearing inside a week, a writ that can issue within days. The steps are below. Deposits, repair-and-deduct rights, and entry-notice rules live on our Arizona landlord-tenant law guide.
Arizona’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (A.R.S. Title 33, Chapter 10) applies statewide with no county-by-county variation in the grounds or notice periods — what does vary by county is docket speed, which is why this page doesn’t quote a single number for “how long it takes.”
Grounds and Notice Periods
| Ground | Notice Period | Statute | Curable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-payment of rent | 5-day pay-or-quit | § 33-1368(B) | Yes — pay in full within the window |
| Lease violation, first offense | 10 days’ notice | § 33-1368(A) | Yes — repair, pay damages, or otherwise fix it before the stated date |
| Violation materially affecting health or safety | 5 days’ notice | § 33-1368(A) | Yes — same cure standard, shorter window |
| Lease violation, repeat of the same or similar kind during the lease term | 10 days’ notice | § 33-1368(A) | No — no second chance on a repeat |
| Application fraud — false criminal record, prior eviction record, or current criminal activity | Not curable | § 33-1368(A) | No, even on a first offense |
| No-cause, month-to-month | 30 days’ written notice | § 33-1375(B) | N/A |
One correction against an older draft of this page: health-and-safety violations are not automatically uncurable. § 33-1368(A) gives the same cure right — fixed by repair, payment, or otherwise — before the notice date, same as any other first-offense violation; the difference is a shorter, 5-day window instead of 10. And there’s no statutory “immediate filing, no notice” track for drug offenses under § 33-1368 — the fast, no-cure paths in Arizona’s statute are the repeat-violation and application-fraud rows above, not a drug-specific exception.
The Court Process
- File the complaint. After the notice period runs out, the landlord files a special detainer action in the justice court for the precinct where the property sits.
- Summons and service. § 33-1377 issues the summons the same day the complaint is filed, commanding the tenant to appear “not more than six nor less than three days” from the date of the summons — so the hearing date itself is set 3 to 6 days out.
- Hearing. That 3-to-6-day window is the statute’s own hearing deadline for a special detainer action, not a practitioner estimate — one of the fastest hearing windows of any state in this guide’s coverage.
- Judgment. If the court rules for the landlord, judgment for possession is entered.
- Writ of restitution. § 12-1178 holds the writ for 5 calendar days after judgment before it can issue — a floor on when the court can act, not a grace period the tenant is guaranteed to use for packing. One exception, § 33-1377: if the complaint alleged a breach both material and irreparable under § 33-1368(A), the trial and return date are set within 3 days of filing instead of the normal 3-6, and a finding for the landlord orders restitution 12 to 24 hours later — not the standard 5-day floor.
- Lockout. A constable executes the writ if the tenant hasn’t left.
What This Costs
This page doesn’t quote a filing fee. Ask the clerk of the justice court for the precinct where the property sits for the current amount before filing, and budget separately for serving the summons.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
Locking a tenant out without a court order, removing belongings, or cutting off electricity, water, or heat to force a move-out is unlawful ouster under § 33-1367 — the tenant can sue for up to two months’ rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater, and recover possession or end the lease. Filing to punish a tenant for a code complaint is separately barred as retaliation under § 33-1381, and a complaint within the prior six months creates a presumption the filing was retaliatory.
Frequently Asked Questions
How fast can an eviction actually finish in Arizona? There’s no single verified statewide average — Arizona’s courts don’t publish one, and caseload varies by precinct. What’s fixed by statute: the notice period (5 or 10 days depending on the ground), a hearing set 3 to 6 days after the summons issues (§ 33-1377), then a 5-day floor between judgment and an enforceable writ (§ 12-1178) — or as little as 12–24 hours for a breach the court finds both material and irreparable. Everything else — how busy the docket is on a given week — moves with the local court.
Is a health-or-safety violation automatically non-curable in Arizona? No. It gets the same cure right as an ordinary lease violation, just on a shorter 5-day clock instead of 10. What actually skips the cure right: a repeat of the same kind of violation during the lease, or lying on the rental application about criminal or eviction history.
Can a landlord change the locks once a case is filed? No, not until the court issues a writ of restitution and a constable executes it. Locking a tenant out earlier is unlawful ouster under § 33-1367, regardless of how strong the landlord’s case is.