The Arizona Supreme Court recently passed the Rules of Procedure for Eviction Actions (RPEA), which became effective January 1, 2009. The purpose of the rules is to ensure uniformity in the handling of eviction actions through different courts. The Supreme Court put new requirements on all parties that are filing evictions. While most of the rules address the actual filing and prosecution of evictions, they will effect on property managers and owners as well. The purpose of this article is not to analyze all of the new rules under RPEA, only to raise some issues of which our clients must be aware.
First and foremost, our clients should have available and send with any eviction request the following documents:
1. Notice, indicating when and how it served (hand-delivered/certified mail);
2. Lease Agreement, and any addendums including Rental Concessions (rent concessions must specify the nature of the concession, such as $500 off 1st months rent ...);
3. Six month ledger or accounting listing the charges and payments.
4. Certification by the landlord that the Landlord has not accepted a partial payment in the current rental period, or has a written partial payment agreement (this must be attached).
The Rules require that the parties exchange certain documentation. Under RPEA Rule 10, upon request by the tenant, the landlord will be required to provide a copy of the lease, a list of witnesses and exhibits for trial, copies of any exhibits to be used at trial, and a copy of the tenant’s rental accounting for the six months prior to the filing. This means that on each case, in addition to the lease and the notice, our office will need the tenant ledger to handle your evictions.
Additionally, under Rule 10, the parties are now allowed to take depositions of witnesses and seek the production of additional documents. If the judge believes that good cause exists for the deposition or for the exchange of additional documents, it can order that a witness/party comply. These new procedures will greatly increase the costs of the eviction as it will require additional attorney time and it will require additional work on behalf of the property manager.
A second major change is the preference for completing trials on the initial hearing date. It has become common practice in evictions, that the initial hearing was used only to determine the tenant’s plea – whether the money was owed and whether a legal defense existed. If a legitimate defense existed, the matter was continued for trial. Under Rule 11, the Supreme Court has specified a preference for completing the trial on the initial date. If this practice is followed, clients will be required to attend the initial hearing or be available if a matter is set for trial.
We would also suggest that all notices sent to tenants specify on the notice the means of service. The form should specify whether it was hand-delivered or certified mailed and on what date. Additionally, if it was hand-delivered, it should name or generally describe the person served. Because the new rules will require the Court to take extra steps to ensure that the landlord is entitled to the relief requested, this will reduce the number of possible issues for trial and will ensure that defaults are handled on a relatively expedited basis.
As stated above, the purpose of this article is only to give managers and owners a brief view of the potential issues raised by the Rules of Procedure for Eviction Actions. Additionally, if you need any of the forms referenced above, please log-in to the site to view our forms. If you do not have a client log-in, feel free to contact our office to create one for you.