RENTAL REGISTRATION REQUIRED

By accident,I recently discovered that in the state of Arizona, ANY PROPERTY THAT IS RENTED MUST BE REGISTERED WITH THE ASSESSORS OFFICE!People I've talked to who had NO IDEA of this revised state statute, ARS33-1902.It does not matter how long the property is rented,nor does it matter if it is in an HOA or single family home.There are stiff fines and penalties.My HOA recently adopted a requirement that "A copy of rental registration" must be submitted in order for the rental application to be approved.Because of the horrid real estate conditions here,many homeowners who have "strategically" defaulted on mortgages are looking for nice rental communities.We do not want to be their "safe Haven" so to speak!We are on our 4th foreclosure & this is a community whose prices ranged from 800K-1.4mil in the peak.Were these inflated,somewhat but now we are down to 450000-below a million!Our homes are being purchased by investors who could care less about the community.We have also incorporated a rule that when escrow is closed,the home CANNOT be rented for one year.It is one's MORAL OBLIGATION to register a rental property.How's your moral compass these days?I am contacting the local HOA Manager group to alert them. Our state & many other could certainly use the extra revenue that is generated from the rental taxation that should be collected from every owner!

This stick it to the landlord approach is a pet peeve of mine. I currently own four rentals in Arizona HOA managed communities. I have owned as many as nine in the past.

When I buy a place, I repair, landscape and make capital improvements before I rent. When I find tenants, I do credit and background checks. In the lease I also make them responsible for any fines levies by the HOA- this way they have an incentive to follow the community rules.

When I buy a unit, initially the neighbors see me and give me the howdy-do thing! When they find out I plan to rent it, I become a second class owner.

People who rent are held to higher standard that owners, no doubt. We pay our dues on time and go out of our way to keep the HOA’s happy. We pay taxes (as Mary said, sometimes more than our share) and keep homes that might otherwise be vacant, lived in. It’s not our fault the economy is what it is. My experience is that for every lazy landlord in a given community, you have an equal amount of old timers who think the rules don’t apply to them.

What people may forget is that homes in age and rental restricted areas are much harder to sell. Also, what if your home has lost value and you want to wait a while to sell it? The idea of no rentals may sound good until the need to move arises, then it is a different story.

RZ,

The reason HOAs are requiring rental agreements is because not all landlords operate as you do. Many don't even bother to inform the HOA of their new mailing address when they decide to rent out their home. And most don't bother to inform their tenants of the rules they must abide by and the consequences if they don't.

With regard to paying higher property taxes, the only thing I can figure out is because renting your property is considered a business and businesses are always taxed higher than private citizens. But, double the rate has always seemed quite excessive to me.

RZ, my guess is that you haven't seen the thread that ChungYing started on this forum!

He is the Worst Nightmare landlord. It is for those types that the regulations exist.

It is only because we have a 24/7 manned gate that gives us a tip off as to anyone coming onto the property and the purpose for which they enter.Of course, where there is a will, there is a way.We passed a No Trespassing rule.Since we have seasonal owners,and in an attempt to snag unauthorized renters, we require that the owner be called at the home's location....not off site to give permission for the visitor to enter.We issue temporary hang tags once permission is granted.We even had the Scottsdale Police here and it was only because we had the new rule and signs posted that were were able to keep the unauthorized renter's cars off the property, but then the morons entered the property from the golf course side.The situation finally resolved when the renter realized that we might report her to the Az Board of Realtors.She did an under the table lease and we were not standing for it!