
Christopher A. CombsQuestion: We are tenants in a Phoenix-area office building. During a week of 120-degree heat in July, the air conditioning system for the entire office building crashed, and our landlord said it would take at least two weeks to get the necessary parts to fix the air conditioning system. Most of us couldn’t work from home because we were in the middle of a major project. However, we could get office space in the office building next door for two weeks for $8,000. When we requested reimbursement of this $8,000 from our landlord, our landlord refused because our lease provided that the landlord only had to make “reasonable efforts” to repair the air conditioning system. Doesn’t Arizona law give us some protection if we can’t conduct our business for two weeks in record heat because there is no air conditioning?Answer: Probably not. Commercial tenants have few protections under Arizona law. On the other hand, residential tenants have numerous protections under the Uniform Landlord-Tenant Act, A.R.S. §§ 33-1301 — 33-1381. For example, a tenant can get substitute housing if an apartment is not habitable for two weeks because of no air conditioning in July. A tenant can basically be reimbursed by the landlord for the hotel room at up to 125% of the daily apartment rent. See the law at A.R.S. § 33-1364. For example, if the monthly apartment rent is $3,000, the daily rent is $100. Thus, the tenant would not have to pay the daily $100 apartment rent, and the tenant would also get $25 per day from the landlord to apply to the hotel room cost.Note: Here’s another difference in Arizona regarding protections for commercial and residential tenants. Even if there is nothing in a residential lease about eviction for nonpayment of rent, the tenant generally has a five-day grace period after written notice by the landlord of nonpayment before eviction proceedings and can never be “locked out.” A.R.S. § 33- …
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