Arizona Security Deposit: 14 Business Days, Not 14 Days

Almost every article about Arizona security deposits says the landlord has fourteen days. The statute says something meaningfully different, and the difference is worth about a week.

A.R.S. § 33-1321(D) requires the itemised list and the money “within fourteen days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays or other legal holidays.”

Those are business days. Fourteen business days in an ordinary stretch is roughly twenty calendar days, and more when a public holiday lands inside the window. A tenant counting fourteen calendar days will conclude their landlord is late when the landlord still has most of a week in hand — and a premature demand is an easy thing for a management company to bat away.

There is a second detail in the same sentence that matters even more, and hardly anyone mentions it.

The clock does not start until you demand it

Read the statutory trigger carefully. The period runs from “termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession and demand by the tenant.”

Three conditions, and the third is on you.

In Arizona, a tenant who moves out on time, hands back the keys, and then waits patiently for their money may discover that the fourteen-business-day period never began. There is no deadline running, because no demand was ever made.

So make the demand, in writing, and date it. It does not need to be elaborate — a few lines stating that the tenancy has ended, that possession has been delivered on a given date, and that you are demanding the return of your security deposit. Send it in a way you can prove, and ideally send it at the moment you hand back the keys rather than weeks later when you start wondering where the money is.

This single step is the difference between a claim with a deadline and a claim with none.

The cap: one and a half months, whatever it is called

A landlord “shall not demand or receive security, however denominated, including prepaid rent in an amount or value of more than one and one-half month’s rent.”

The phrase “however denominated” does real work. A landlord cannot take one and a half months as a “security deposit” and then add a cleaning fee, a pet deposit and a redecorating fee on top, treating each as a separate allowance. Everything held as security counts toward the same ceiling, and so does prepaid rent.

On $1,400 rent, the total ceiling is $2,100 — for everything combined.

If you were charged more than that, the overcharge is a separate issue from whatever was deducted at the end of the tenancy, and it is worth raising alongside it.

The inspection you are entitled to attend

On request by the tenant, the landlord must notify the tenant when the move-out inspection will occur, and the tenant may be present.

This is free leverage and very few tenants use it. Being in the room means you see what is being written down, you can photograph the same items from the same angles, and you can say “that was there when I moved in” while everyone is standing in front of it — rather than asserting it in a letter three weeks later against a landlord’s contemporaneous notes.

Ask for it in the same message as your demand.

Twice the amount wrongfully withheld

Where the landlord fails to comply, the tenant “may recover the property and money due the tenant together with damages in an amount equal to twice the amount wrongfully withheld.”

Two points on how that works in practice.

The multiplier attaches to the wrongfully withheld sum, not to the deposit as a whole. If $1,550 was deducted and $1,250 of it was improper, the doubling is calculated on the $1,250.

And it has to be claimed. Arizona justice courts will not award a multiplier that nobody asked for. Say it in the filing, and say it in your demand letter first.

How the list has to reach you

The itemised list must be sent by first class mail to your last known address, unless other arrangements are made in writing.

That is a quiet trap for anyone who has already moved. Your “last known address” may well be the unit you just vacated. If you want the list emailed, or sent to your new address, agree it in writing before you leave — otherwise a landlord who posts it to the old unit has done exactly what the statute requires, and the fact that you never saw it is your problem rather than theirs.

What may actually be deducted

Damage, unpaid rent, and the other charges the lease and the statute permit — but not ordinary wear and tear.

Carpet that has reached the end of its useful life, paint dulled by normal occupation, small nail holes, loosening hardware and general aging all sit on the wear-and-tear side. A burn, a pet stain through to the underlay, a cracked pane or a hole in plasterboard sits on the damage side.

And the list must be itemised. A lump sum with no breakdown is not an itemised list of all deductions, and a line reading “cleaning — $300” with no description of what was cleaned or what it cost is the entry that performs worst in front of a justice court judge.

Repairs are a separate remedy worth knowing

If the reason you left involved a condition the landlord would not fix, Arizona gives a repair-and-deduct remedy under § 33-1363. After written notice, if the landlord fails to comply within ten days — or more promptly where an emergency requires it — the tenant may have the work done by a licensed contractor and deduct the cost, limited to $300 or one-half of the monthly rent, whichever is greater.

The greater-of construction matters at both ends of the market: on $1,400 rent the ceiling is $700, while on a $400 room it is $300 rather than $200.

Filing in justice court

Arizona justice courts handle small claims without lawyers and with modest filing fees.

Bring the lease, your written demand and proof of delivery, move-in and move-out photographs, the itemised list, and your business-day count written out as a calendar so the judge can follow it in ten seconds.

And claim the doubling expressly.

Going deeper

Related reading: a 5-day notice to pay in Phoenix if an eviction is also in play, and how much can a landlord raise rent — Arizona sets no cap on increases, so the limits there are your lease term and notice.

This page quotes A.R.S. § 33-1321 as it stands in August 2026 and links to the official text at the Arizona Legislature. It is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Verify the current statute before relying on it.