Arizona: your license, the purchase contract, and the rules of a deal
Arizona licenses real estate agents through the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE). This guide covers how to get the license, what you may do under your employing broker, ADRE's advertising rules, the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR) resale purchase contract and its deadlines, the disclosures a seller owes a buyer, the disclosures you owe the parties, and trust money. Every fact comes from an Arizona statute, an ADRE rule or policy statement, or a source such as the AAR forms, and links to its source.
Every fact links to its source. Checked Oct 9, 2026
Getting your Arizona license
You must be at least 18 years old to receive a license. The commissioner of the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) does not issue a license to a person convicted of a felony who is currently incarcerated for it, paroled or under community supervision and supervised by a parole or community supervision officer, or on probation because of it. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
The commissioner may deny you a license if it appears that you got or tried to get a license by fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit, or with a false or misleading application; were convicted of a felony or of a crime of forgery, theft, extortion, conspiracy to defraud, moral turpitude, or a like offense; made a substantial misrepresentation; or did anything that is fraud or dishonest dealing. The statute lists other grounds too. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
If you apply as a nonresident, your application and license irrevocably make the commissioner your agent to accept legal papers served in Arizona in an action against you that comes from your licensing or your transactions under the license, or that may lead to a payment from the real estate recovery fund. As a nonresident licensee, you take work or pay only as A.R.S. 32-2155 allows and only from a broker with an active Arizona license. If you do not live in Arizona, you must pass the part of the exam on Arizona's real estate practice and laws. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
You complete an ADRE-approved salesperson course of at least 90 classroom hours, or the equivalent, at a school ADRE certifies, and pass an exam on the course. You can take the course live or by distance learning, but you take the proctored course exam in person. The course must be no more than 10 years old when you apply, unless the commissioner decides at that time that your work experience in a real estate-related field and your education together equal the pre-license education requirement. Unless A.R.S. 32-4302 provides otherwise, the commissioner may waive all or part of the course, except the 27-hour Arizona-specific course, if you hold a current real estate license in another state. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
Before you receive a license, you get a valid fingerprint clearance card issued under A.R.S. 41-1758.03 and give it to ADRE. ADRE does not issue an original license until it receives a valid card. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
ADRE says you take your exam with its testing vendor, Pearson, before you apply, and that an application for an original license includes two exam score reports: one for the General exam and one for the State-Specific exam. ADRE also says your 90-hour course must have been completed within 10 years of the date you submit your application, and your 6-hour Contract Writing course within 2 years of that date. It asks for a fingerprint clearance card issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and proof of authorized legal presence in the United States. (Source: ADRE)
After you pass the state exam, you must become licensed within one year from the exam date. If you do not, you must take and pass the exam again. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
When you apply for your first salesperson license, after you finish the 90-hour course, you give ADRE proof that you completed 6 hours of instruction in real estate contract law and contract writing. The instruction includes drafting contracts to buy real property, listing agreements, and lease agreements. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
ADRE's rules call it unlawful license activity to do work that needs a license when you have no license or your license is not active, or to do that work for a broker other than your employing broker. It is also unlawful license activity for a broker to employ you as a salesperson or broker if you do not hold an active license issued to you under that broker. To make your license inactive, you first sever from your employing brokerage, and with an inactive license you may not do work that needs an active license until you reactivate it. (Source: ADRE)
ADRE's Fees page, which shows no effective date, lists for a salesperson an original license fee of $50 plus $10 for the Real Estate Recovery Fund ($60 total), $60 to renew on time, and $125 to renew late. For a broker, it lists $125 plus $20 ($145 total), $120 to renew on time, and $245 to renew late. (Source: ADRE)
Keeping your license
Your first license runs for two years, through the last day of the month in which it was granted. A renewed license takes effect on the date it is issued, but not before the day after the previous license expires, and it runs for two years from the day after the previous license expired. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
To renew on time, you file the renewal application, pay the renewal fee, and show that during your license period you completed ADRE-approved continuing education at an ADRE-certified school: 24 credit hours for a salesperson or associate broker, or 30 for a designated broker or an associate broker employed by a designated broker under A.R.S. 32-2151.01(G), or a lesser number the commissioner prescribes. The commissioner may waive all or part of it for good cause. You do not need continuing education while your license is inactive. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
As a salesperson or associate broker, you take your 24 hours in ADRE's continuing education categories, with at least three hours in each mandatory category. The categories are agency law, contract law, requirements for licensees, real estate legal issues, fair housing and the Americans with Disabilities Act, disclosure, business brokerage, and general real estate, and you fill the rest of the 24 hours with more mandatory-category courses or with business brokerage or general real estate courses. At your first renewal, you may include credit for the Contract Writing class if you took it within one year before your original license date. (Source: ADRE)
ADRE says that beginning January 1, 2025, your required renewal hours include one hour each of Firewise (fire safety and prevention in real estate), Deed Fraud (identifying and preventing fraudulent real estate transactions), and Arizona Water (Arizona water rights and related real estate considerations). (Source: ADRE)
Except as the law otherwise provides, an original broker license requires at least three years as an active licensed salesperson or broker in the five years before you apply. Except at renewal, equivalent active experience in the field in the last five years can count instead, if you show the commissioner that it would have been enough had you been licensed. You also complete an ADRE-approved broker course of at least 90 classroom hours, or the equivalent, at a school ADRE certifies, and pass an exam on the course. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
A broker management clinic is three courses of three hours each. As a new broker, you attend one before you activate your broker license. You attend one before you become a designated broker, unless you attended one in the past 23 months. Designated brokers, and associate brokers employed by a designated broker under A.R.S. 32-2151.01(G), attend one once in each 24 months of licensure after the first. A clinic counts as 9 credit hours of continuing education. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
Working under your employing broker
In Arizona, a real estate broker is a person, other than a salesperson, who does certain acts with real estate for another and for compensation. The acts include selling, buying, renting, or leasing, or offering to; negotiating a sale, purchase, rental, or lease; listing property for sale, lease, or exchange; collecting rent; advertising or holding out as being in the business of buying, selling, exchanging, renting, or leasing real estate; assisting or directing in procuring prospects calculated to result in a sale, exchange, lease, or rental; and charging an advance fee for these services. A real estate salesperson is a natural person, engaged by or for a licensed broker, who does any of these acts. Compensation is any fee, commission, salary, money, or other valuable consideration, and the promise of it, contingent or not. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
It is unlawful to act as a real estate broker or salesperson without first getting a license. Any act in the definition of a broker, done for compensation or the expectation of compensation, is acting as a broker or salesperson, whether the act is an incidental part of a transaction or the entire transaction. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
ADRE's rules call these acts unlawful license activity: doing acts that need a license without a license, or with a license that is not active; doing acts that need a license for a broker other than your employing broker; and a broker employing a salesperson or broker who does not hold an active license issued under that employing broker. A broker may not let a salesperson or associate broker licensed through the brokerage do licensed activity when the broker's only interest is a fee for the use of the license. (Source: ADRE)
A broker employs and pays only active licensees. You accept employment and compensation as a licensee only from the broker you are licensed to, or from another employer when all of these apply: the employer holds a license, you are its employee and receive a federal form W-2, it has the same employing broker as you, and it has the employing broker's written permission to pay you. No person, an escrow holder included, may pay compensation for a broker's acts to anyone who was not licensed when the service was rendered. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
ADRE's Substantive Policy Statement 2005.08, which is advisory only, says that a broker may pay you a commission that you rightfully earned while employed by that broker, as your agreement says, even after you leave that broker. After you leave, you may not be involved in the transaction. (Source: ADRE)
The employing broker and the designated broker exercise reasonable supervision and control over the licensed activities of licensees and others the broker employs. This includes written policies, procedures, and systems to review and manage the transactions of all licensees, the use of disclosure forms and contracts, the filing and storage of transaction documents, the handling of trust funds, licensees' use of unlicensed assistants, and advertising. (Source: ADRE)
The employing broker is responsible for the acts of all licensees and other employees within the scope of their employment. The designated broker may use employees to help, but keeps overall responsibility, and sets up a system to monitor compliance that includes a progressive disciplinary policy. A broker with one office that employs a designated broker, no more than one other licensed person, and no more than one unlicensed person does not have to keep the written policies. (Source: ADRE)
The designated broker reviews each listing agreement, purchase or nonresidential lease agreement, or similar instrument within 10 business days after it is signed, and puts the broker's initials and the review date on the same page as the parties' signatures. The designated broker may authorize an associate broker in writing to do this. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
The employing broker keeps records of all transactions handled by or through the broker, such as copies of earnest money receipts, closing statements, sales contracts, and employment agreements, for at least 5 years after the transaction ends. The broker keeps each rejected offer to buy real property for at least 1 year and, when a binding contract results, the earlier rejected offers for at least 5 years. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
ADRE's Substantive Policy Statement 2025.03, which is advisory only, says that "team" is not a defined term in Arizona law. ADRE uses it for an established business relationship of more than one Arizona real estate licensee, all licensed with the same Arizona brokerage. ADRE strongly encourages employing brokers to address teams in their policy and procedure manual: for example, the team leader's duty to manage the team under the broker's policies and to tell the designated broker of violations, and compensation and agreements with team members. (Source: ADRE)
ADRE's Substantive Policy Statement 2025.02, which is advisory only, says that, under the direct supervision and employment of an Arizona licensee, an unlicensed assistant may run personal errands for the licensee, do clerical and administrative tasks such as filing, copying, mailing, scanning, answering phones, and forwarding calls, and collect in-person rent and related fees with a receipt. The employing broker has written policies and procedures so that unlicensed assistants do not do acts that need a license and are not advertised as licensed. (Source: ADRE)
The same statement says that an unlicensed assistant may not originate documents, give a consumer advice, pricing, or opinions of value, give advice or negotiate about a property or transaction, or assist or direct in procuring prospects. An unlicensed assistant may not withdraw money from the broker's trust account, except as a signer on a property management trust account under A.R.S. 32-2174(C). (Source: ADRE)
Advertising your business
You make sure that every ad identifies, in a clear and prominent manner, your employing broker's legal name or the dba name on the employing broker's license certificate. The designated broker is responsible for the advertising of all real estate activity. Using an electronic medium, such as the internet, artificial intelligence, or website technology, that targets Arizona residents with an offer of a property interest or brokerage services is advertising, and an online ad meets all of the rule's requirements on the ad itself, without the need to scroll. (Source: ADRE)
ADRE's Substantive Policy Statement 2025.03, which is advisory only, says that it should be clear that a team is not an independent entity but works under the supervision of the employing broker. In any ad, the brokerage name or dba, as registered with ADRE, needs to be larger than the team name and must appear everywhere the team name appears. (Source: ADRE)
ADRE issues your license with your legal name and any additional nickname or dba name that the Commissioner finds is not detrimental to the public interest. You do not conduct or promote real estate business under any name other than the name under which you are licensed. Before an employing broker adds a dba or trade name, it gives evidence that the broker entity holds at least a 10% ownership of that name. (Source: ADRE)
Do not advertise a property in a way that implies that no salesperson or broker takes part in the offer for sale, lease, or exchange. When you advertise your own property for sale, lease, or exchange in Arizona, you disclose that you are licensed as a salesperson or broker and that you are the property owner, by putting the words "owner/agent" in the ad. Before you put up a sign, or publish to an electronic medium, that gives notice that a specific property is offered for sale, lease, rent, or exchange, you get the property owner's written consent, and you remove the sign or the publication promptly when the owner asks. (Source: ADRE)
Your ads have accurate claims and representations and fully state the facts. Do not misrepresent the facts or create misleading or ambiguous impressions. Use the word "acre", alone or modified, only for an area of land of at least 43,560 square feet. (Source: ADRE)
When you advertise property that is the subject of another person's real estate employment agreement, the ad itself discloses that the properties shown are not representative of your transaction history and include other licensees' transactions. (Source: ADRE)
Do not call a premium, offered free or at a reduced cost to promote sales or leasing, an "award" or a "prize", or use a similar term. Before a person takes part in an offer of a premium, you clearly disclose to the person in writing the offer's terms, costs, conditions, restrictions, and expiration date. (Source: ADRE)
The Commissioner may suspend or revoke a license, issue a letter of concern, or take other action the statute lists when, within the 5 years before, a licensee has: knowingly authorized, directed, or aided in publishing or circulating a material false or misleading statement about the licensee's business or about land offered for sale; knowingly used the term "real estate broker" without the legal right to do so; or put a sign on a property offering it for sale or rent without the written authority of the owner or the owner's authorized agent. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
Offering brokerage services for compensation, through a website, for real property in Arizona is activity that needs a broker's license issued by ADRE. An out-of-state broker who is not licensed in Arizona may not list, market, or advertise Arizona real property for sale, lease, or exchange, and may not put signs on real property in Arizona. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
A licensed Arizona broker may pay compensation to, and receive it from, a broker lawfully operating in another state. That does not let the out-of-state broker do activity in Arizona that needs an Arizona broker's license, unless the Arizona broker cooperates with it under the statute's conditions, which include a written cooperation agreement made before that activity and all negotiations in Arizona, or with owners of Arizona property, done through the Arizona broker. An out-of-state broker may not use a cooperation agreement as authority to sell, lease, rent, or exchange real property to an Arizona resident. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
The AAR purchase contract
The Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR) Residential Resale Transaction Forms page lists the Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract (RPC) as updated February 2026, the Residential Seller's Property Disclosure Statement (SPDS) as February 2023, the Residential Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response (BINSR) as October 2022, the Cure Period Notice as February 2019, and the HOA Condominium / Planned Community Addendum as September 2026. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
AAR says a member may not change the boilerplate language of an AAR form, but a change made by a notation in "Additional Terms & Conditions" is not prohibited. AAR forms are for member use only. Under AAR policy, new or revised forms are released on or about February 1, July 1, and November 1, unless a law or regulation requires an earlier release. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Article 26, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution gives a person with a valid Arizona real estate broker's or salesperson's license, when acting for the parties or as agent for one party to a sale, exchange, trade, or lease, the right to draft or fill out and complete, without charge, all instruments incident to it, including preliminary purchase agreements, earnest money receipts, deeds, leases, and bills of sale. (Source: Arizona Constitution)
On the RPC, the offer becomes a binding contract when the seller signs the acceptance and a signed copy is delivered to and received by the buyer's broker by the date and time written in Section 8o (Mountain Standard Time). The buyer may withdraw the offer until it receives the seller's signed acceptance. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Contract acceptance occurs on the date the signed contract, and any counter offer, is delivered to and received by the appropriate broker. Every day is a calendar day, from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. The day of the act or event that starts a period is not counted, and the last day is counted. Time is of the essence. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
On the RPC, the parties write in the earnest money amount and check its form: personal check, wire transfer, or other (Section 1c). On acceptance, it is deposited with the escrow company or the broker's trust account, as checked. The contract is used as escrow instructions, and Section 3a names the escrow and title company. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 7a, a party who does not comply with the contract gets a notice that specifies the non-compliance. If it is not cured within 3 days after delivery (the Cure Period), it becomes a breach. A party with a right to cancel delivers a notice that states the reason to the other party or to the escrow company, and the cancellation is effective immediately on delivery (Section 8l). Disputes go to mediation and then binding arbitration, but either party may opt out of arbitration within 30 days after the mediation conference ends (Section 7c). (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
In a dispute about earnest money held by the escrow company, the buyer and the seller authorize the escrow company to release it under the contract in its sole and absolute discretion (RPC Section 3f). On the buyer's breach, the seller may accept the earnest money as its sole right to damages, and must do so when the breach comes from the buyer's failure to deliver the Section 2b loan notice, or from the buyer's inability to get the loan because the buyer waived the appraisal contingency (Section 7b). An unfulfilled contingency is not a breach. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 3d, escrow company fees are split equally between the buyer and the seller unless the contract states otherwise. Close of escrow (COE) occurs when the deed is recorded at the county recorder's office (Section 1d). The brokers are paid under their separate written agreements, which may be delivered to the escrow company for payment at COE, and compensation the buyer owes is collected from the buyer as a condition of COE (Section 8f). (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
On the RPC, the seller conveys title by warranty deed, subject to existing taxes, assessments, CC&Rs, rights of way, easements, and other matters of record. The seller pays for an ALTA Homeowner's Title Insurance Policy or, if not available, a Standard Owner's Title Insurance Policy. The buyer pays for any extended coverage and, if applicable, the ALTA Lender Title Insurance Policy. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
The inspection period and other deadlines
RPC Section 6a sets the Inspection Period at 10 days after Contract acceptance, unless the parties write in another number. During it, at the buyer's expense, the buyer does all desired physical, environmental, and other inspections, consults government agencies, lenders, insurance agents, and others, investigates building, zoning, fire, health, and safety codes, and verifies material MLS information. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
The contract says that square footage, wood-destroying organisms or insects, homeowner's insurance, and a sewer connection must be investigated during the Inspection Period when they are material to the buyer, and that the buyer determines flood hazard designations and the cost of flood insurance during it. The buyer gives the seller and the brokers copies of all inspection reports at no cost. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Before the Inspection Period ends, the buyer delivers one signed notice of all items disapproved (AAR's BINSR form is available for this). In it, the buyer elects either to cancel immediately, with the earnest money released to the buyer, or to give the seller an opportunity to correct the items. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
The seller responds in writing within 5 days, or the days written in; no response is a refusal. If the seller does not agree to correct an item, the buyer may cancel within 5 days after the seller's response or after the response time ends, whichever occurs first, with the earnest money released to the buyer; if the buyer does not cancel, the buyer closes without those items. Verbal discussions do not extend these periods, and a buyer who gives no notice in time is deemed to proceed without correction. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
On the BINSR, the buyer confirms that all desired Inspection Period inspections are complete, lists every disapproved item in the one notice, and acknowledges that the buyer may not change the election after the notice is delivered. The form says A.R.S. § 32-1121 requires a licensed contractor for a correction or repair with an aggregate contract price, labor and materials included, of $1,000 or more, work that is not casual or minor, or work that needs a local building permit. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 3c, the escrow company delivers to the buyer and the seller a Commitment for Title Insurance with legible copies of all documents that will stay as exceptions to the buyer's policy, including CC&Rs, deed restrictions, and easements. The buyer has 5 days after receipt of the Title Commitment, and after notice of any later exception, to give notice of items disapproved. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Within 3 days after Contract acceptance, unless done before, the buyer gives the lender the buyer's name, income, Social Security number, the address of the Premises (the property), an estimate of its value, and the loan amount sought, and lets the lender access a tri-merged credit report (RPC Section 2f). Within 10 days after acceptance, the buyer delivers to the seller AAR's Loan Status Update (LSU) with at least lines 1-40 completed (Section 2e). Within 10 days after receiving the Loan Estimate, the buyer tells the lender that it intends to proceed, and gives the lender all requested signed disclosures and the documents listed at LSU lines 32-35 (Section 2g). (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 2b, the buyer's obligation to complete the sale depends on loan approval without Prior to Document (PTD) conditions no later than 3 days before the COE Date. By then, the buyer signs all loan documents, or delivers to the seller or the escrow company notice of loan approval without PTD conditions and the dates the buyer received the Closing Disclosure, or delivers notice that it cannot get loan approval without PTD conditions. An act due 3 days before the COE Date is due 3 full days before: for a Friday COE Date, by 11:59 p.m. on Monday (Section 8i). (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 2c, if the buyer, after diligent and good-faith effort, cannot get loan approval without PTD conditions and delivers notice of that no later than 3 days before the COE Date, the contract is cancelled and the buyer gets the earnest money back. If the buyer does not deliver the notice, the seller may send a cure notice: a buyer who delivers the notice before the Cure Period ends still gets the earnest money back, and otherwise the seller is entitled to it on the buyer's breach. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under RPC Section 2l, the sale depends on an appraisal acceptable to the lender for at least the purchase price. If the Premises do not appraise for the purchase price in any appraisal the lender requires, the buyer has 5 days after notice of the appraised value to cancel and get the earnest money back. If the buyer does not cancel, the appraisal contingency is waived, unless federal law prohibits that. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Seller disclosures, HOA documents, and your own disclosures
Under RPC Section 4a, the seller delivers a completed AAR Residential Seller's Property Disclosure Statement (SPDS) within 3 days after Contract acceptance. The buyer gives notice of any SPDS items disapproved within the Inspection Period or 5 days after receipt of the SPDS, whichever is later. (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
The seller also delivers a written 5-year insurance claims history within 5 days after acceptance, with the same disapproval timing as the SPDS (Section 4b). The seller tells the buyer immediately of any change in the Premises or the disclosures. That notice is an SPDS update, and the buyer has 5 days after its delivery to disapprove, unless the contract already obligates the seller to repair the item (Section 4f). (Source: Arizona REALTORS)
Under ADRE rule R4-28-1101, you owe a fiduciary duty to your client, protect and promote the client's interests, and deal fairly with all other parties to a transaction. You disclose in writing to all other parties any information you have that materially or adversely affects the consideration any party pays, including information that the seller or the buyer is or may be unable to perform, any known adverse material fact or material defect in the property, and any lien or encumbrance on it. (Source: ADRE)
Before the parties enter any binding agreement, you tell the other parties in writing of a present or prospective interest or conflict: for example, that you have a license and act as a principal, that the buyer or the seller is a member of your or your designated broker's immediate family, or that you or an immediate family member have a financial interest other than your compensation for the real estate services. (Source: ADRE)
You may not accept compensation from, or represent, more than one party to a transaction without the prior written consent of all parties (R4-28-1101). A broker discloses in writing to all parties, at least 3 calendar days before closing, the name of each employing broker who represents a party and will receive compensation from the transaction (R4-28-701). (Source: ADRE)
No criminal, civil, or administrative action may be brought against a seller, a landlord, or a licensee for not disclosing that the property is or has been: the site of a natural death, a suicide, a homicide, or any other felony; owned or occupied by a person exposed to HIV, or diagnosed with AIDS or any other disease not known to be transmitted through common occupancy of real estate; or located in the vicinity of a sex offender. Not disclosing such a fact or suspicion is not grounds to terminate or rescind a sale or a lease. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
Under the HOA law, as amended effective September 12, 2026: in a planned community with fewer than 50 properties, the seller gives the HOA information to the buyer or the buyer's designated agent within 10 days after accepting the buyer's offer. In one with 50 or more properties, the seller gives the association written notice of the accepted offer, with the name, email address, and mailing address of the buyer or the buyer's designated agent, and the association delivers the information within 10 days after it receives the notice. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
The information includes the bylaws, rules, declaration, and plat; the board-approved minutes of the last three open board meetings; a dated statement of the assessments, any transfer fee, and any unresolved violation cited against the property; the operating budget; the latest reserve study, if any; and pending lawsuits. The association may charge the seller no more than $400 in total for resale disclosure, lien estoppel, and other transfer services, plus a rush fee of no more than $100 for work within 72 hours, and no more than $50 to update a report that is 30 days old or older. The fees are collected no earlier than the close of escrow. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
For a condominium, the same 2026 act sets the same split, the same 10-day deadline, and the same fee limits: the seller delivers in a condominium with fewer than 50 units, and the association in one with 50 or more. The condominium statement also gives any known material deficiency or condition of the common elements or limited common elements for which the buyer will be liable for directly assessed repair costs within six months of the purchase, and whether any corporation or limited liability company owns and leases 35 percent or more of the units. The rule does not apply to timeshare plans. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
An owner of property that was subject to soil remediation under A.R.S. 49-104(B)(16) gives the buyer written notice of the remediation before transferring ownership, if the owner has actual knowledge that it occurred. No notice is required when the remediation reached the standards for residential uses. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
A seller of residential real estate gives the buyer a written disclosure before the transfer of title if the property is in territory in the vicinity of a military airport or ancillary military facility, as shown on the map the state land department prepares. A seller who already gave this disclosure in a public report does not have to give it again. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
A seller of five or fewer parcels of land, other than subdivided land, in an unincorporated area of a county, and any later seller of such a parcel, gives the buyer a written affidavit of disclosure at least 7 days before the transfer. The buyer may rescind the sale for 5 days after the affidavit is furnished, and the seller records the signed affidavit at the same time as the deed. The statutory form asks, among other items, about legal and physical access, a FEMA floodplain, the utilities, whether a private water company, a municipal water provider, or a private or shared well serves the property, and a septic or other on-site wastewater system. A trustee selling at a trustee's sale and an officer selling at an execution sale are not sellers under this rule. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
For most housing built before 1978, before the buyer signs the contract, the seller and the real estate agents give the buyer the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home", disclose known lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards, give all available records and reports, and give the Lead Warning Statement. The buyer gets a 10-day period for a lead inspection or risk assessment, which the parties may change in writing and the buyer may waive. Agents are responsible, with the seller, for compliance, unless the seller does not disclose to the agent all information on lead-based paint and its hazards. (Source: EPA)
Trust money
Unless all parties to a transaction agree otherwise in writing, a broker who does not immediately place all money entrusted to the broker in a neutral escrow depository in Arizona places it, on receipt, in a trust fund account in a federally insured or guaranteed account at a depository located in Arizona. The statute does not let a broker commingle entrusted money with the broker's own money unless ADRE rules allow it. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
You promptly place all cash, checks, and other items of value received as payment in a real estate transaction in the care of the designated broker. The broker states in the purchase contract, the lease, or the earnest money receipt the type of earnest money received: cash, a check, a promissory note, or another item of value. Except as A.R.S. 32-2174(C) allows for property management, the broker lets only a licensee under that broker's license withdraw money from the trust fund account. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
The broker uses trust money only for the purpose for which it was deposited. Each month, the broker completes a three-way reconciliation between the trust account bank statements, the client ledgers, and the trust account ledgers, and explains any variation. A broker's deposit of not more than $5,000 of personal money to keep the account open, or to avoid minimum balance charges, is not commingling. (Source: Arizona Revised Statutes)
Not in this guide
A license for a person licensed in another state (Out-of-State License Recognition), how to go inactive, reactivation, late renewal, and reinstatement: ADRE.
The passing score of the state exam, the exam fees, exam retakes, and fee waivers for first-time applicants: ADRE and Pearson.
A new home bought from a builder, vacant land, and the terms of an addendum, such as the short sale or HOA addendum: the builder's contract or the AAR form.
Buyer-broker employment agreements and the agency disclosure forms: your broker.
What the blanks of a given contract say, and whether a buyer may cancel in a given case: the contract itself, your broker, or an attorney.
Who is entitled to disputed earnest money, and commission disputes between licensees or with a broker: an attorney.
Leases, rental listings, security deposits, short-term rentals, and property management in Arizona.
Property taxes, the affidavit of property value, and valuation appeals.
FHA, VA, and USDA loan rules, and whether a lender condition is a PTD condition: the buyer's lender.
Federal income tax on a sale and FIRPTA withholding: a tax adviser or an attorney.
Ads for subdivisions and other developments: your broker.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) assured water supply program, and ADWR's well records for a property: ADWR.
Your city's ordinances and your MLS's rules: the Phoenix page below, and your broker.
Working in Phoenix?
Cities, counties, and MLSs add local rules on top of Arizona law. The local page shows what Reddy knows about the Phoenix market.
