Renting in Mesa with a broken AC

This is general information, not legal advice. Statutes change; read the current text at azleg.gov or ask a lawyer or tenant help line about your situation.

What Arizona law requires

Under the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, A.R.S. 33-1324 requires the landlord to maintain in good and safe working order all heating, ventilating and air-conditioning facilities and appliances the landlord supplied. The same section requires reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when seasonal weather calls for it.

If the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to supply cooling that is installed and offered, A.R.S. 33-1364 lets the tenant give reasonable notice of the breach and then choose one remedy:

• Recover damages based on the drop in the fair rental value of the unit.
• Get reasonable substitute housing while the landlord is out of compliance, and be excused from rent for that period.
• Procure certain essential services and deduct their actual reasonable cost from rent, as the statute spells out.

These rights don't start until you have given notice, and they don't apply if you, your household or a guest caused the problem. A.R.S. 33-1361 separately lets a tenant give notice that the lease will end if a problem that materially affects health and safety isn't fixed within five days.

The 82 degree figure

In April 2026 the Arizona Attorney General said that in the cities of Phoenix and Tucson, rentals with air conditioning cannot exceed 82 degrees in habitable rooms. The same release said a landlord must act within five days of written notice when temperatures pose a health and safety risk, and suggested starting with a phone call and following up in writing, preferably by certified mail. If someone in the home has a medical condition the heat makes worse, the AG suggests saying so and asking for an accommodation.

The release doesn't name Mesa, and we couldn't find a Mesa city rule with a temperature limit. So in Mesa, rely on the state law above.

What to do

1. Call the landlord or manager, then put it in writing with the date, what is wrong and how hot the unit is getting. Keep a copy.
2. Take dated photos of a thermometer in the main rooms.
3. If anyone is at risk from the heat, move them somewhere cool now. Dial 2-1-1 for cooling locations. The City of Mesa also loans portable AC units to vulnerable residents without working AC (480-644-6454).
4. The City of Mesa's heat safety page links to Community Legal Services guidance for renters whose landlord won't supply AC.
5. You can file a consumer complaint with the Arizona Attorney General at azag.gov.

Arrange any repair through the landlord unless the statute or your lease says otherwise. A.R.S. 33-1364 says the tenant's rights under it don't include the right to repair.

How common this is

About 66% of occupied homes in Mesa's ZIP codes are owner occupied (Census ACS), so roughly a third are rented. In ZIP 85201 near downtown, most homes are rented.

If you own the home

None of this applies. If you own and your system is out, start here.