Arizona REALTORS® Save You Time and Your Clients Money

 

Imagine you are a property manager and a client calls to tell you that they just received a bill from the city for a past tenants utility usage. Or you are representing a buyer in a transaction and the buyer is informed that he or she must pay the past homeowners private water and wastewater bill. Well, for many REALTORS® and homeowners alike, these scenarios were all too real.

In 2011, the Arizona REALTORS® championed legislation to prohibit municipalities from requiring payment from anyone other than the individual who is contracted for the municipal water and wastewater services, physically resides or resided at the location and receives or received the service. The legislation, additionally, allowed for a separate entity, such as a property owner or immediate family member who does not reside at the location, to contract for water and wastewater services with the municipality and provide payment for those services.

Unfortunately, after the provisions of that bill took effect, the Arizona REALTORS® continued to hear from our membership that homeowners and landlords were on the hook for past due garbage collection, utility user fees, private water and wastewater charges and sewer utility services rates and charges. As a result, this legislative session, Senator Gail Griffin sponsored legislation to prohibit certain fees for residential services to be charged to anyone other than a person who physically resides or resided at the property and who receives or received the services.

Though the legislation ran into a few hurdles along the way to becoming a law, the bill was approved by the Senate and the House and subsequently transmitted to the governor’s desk. On April 1, 2015, Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1342 into law. Since the bill does not have a specific effective date, the provisions of the bill will take effect 90-days after the legislature adjourned sine die, July 3, 2015.

Provisions of Senate Bill 1342

1. Prohibits cities, towns, garbage collection service providers, private water companies and sewer corporations from requiring payment for residential properties with four or fewer units from anyone other than the person with whom the service was contracted and who physically resides or resided at the property and who receives or received services for payment of:
   1. Garbage collection service rates and charges.
   2. Unpaid utility user fees.
   3. Unpaid water and wastewater service rates and charges.
   4. Unpaid sewer utility service rates and charges.
2. Prohibits cities and towns from requiring payment from a homeowner for an assessment imposed for the removal of rubbish, trash, filth or debris if the property has four units or less, was serving as a rental and had a tenant at the time of the assessment.
3. States that a property owner or immediate family member who does not reside at the property receiving service or any other entity at its own discretion may contract for, and shall provide payment for:
   1. Garbage collection service.
   2. Utilities service.
   3. Water, wastewater or sewer utility service.

Through the REALTORS® of Arizona Political Action Committee (RAPAC), the association is able to advance legislation that protects your business and the ownership and operation of real estate in Arizona. Each investment you make towards RAPAC is a small investment that pays large dividends.

About the author: Nicole LaSlavic is the Vice President of Government Affairs for the Arizona Association of REALTORS® representing the association at the Arizona state capitol. With over a decade of experience, she has worked to develop, advocate and implement policy and programs on a broad range of issues including real estate, health care, retirement, public safety and economic development.

Tags: Advocacy, Legislative Action, Political affairs, private property rights, property management, SB 1342, Voice at the Capitol