How to Fill Out the Arizona 5-Day Notice to Pay or Quit

Arizona’s 5-Day Notice to Pay or Quit is the written demand a landlord must deliver under A.R.S. § 33-1368(B) before filing an eviction for unpaid rent, telling the tenant that rent is past due and the lease will end if the balance is not paid within five days.¹ Fill it out wrong or serve it the wrong way and the court must dismiss the eviction case.² The form itself is short. The accuracy standard is unforgiving.

Where to Get the Form

The Arizona Judicial Branch publishes a standardized 5-Day Notice to Pay Rent form, AOCEAGN1F, that courts statewide accept.³ AZCourtHelp.org hosts the same document along with other landlord eviction forms.⁴ Some justice courts prefer their own versions, so check the website for the precinct where your property sits before you print. The form is a Word document you can complete on screen or by hand.

What to Put on the Notice

Every field has to be right. A judge can throw the notice out over a single error, so pull your payment ledger and the signed lease before you start typing.

Tenant names. List every adult named on the lease. Leaving a co-tenant off gives that person a reason to challenge the notice.
Property address. Full street address with unit or apartment number.
Amount of unpaid rent. The exact dollar figure owed through the day you issue the notice. If the number is even slightly higher than what the tenant actually owes, the judge can invalidate the notice.
Late fees, if any. You can include late fees only if they are written into the lease and are reasonable. A.R.S. § 33-1368(B) requires that late fees be “set forth in a written rental agreement” before a landlord can demand them as part of the reinstatement amount. An oral understanding or an unwritten policy will not do.¹
Date of the notice. The day you sign and issue it. The five-day clock starts the following day.

Overstating the amount owed, bundling in charges the lease does not authorize, or writing the wrong address are the three fastest ways to lose at the hearing. Verify every number against your ledger. Verify the address against the lease. If a late fee is on the notice, open the lease and confirm the exact clause that authorizes it.

How to Serve the Notice

Arizona law recognizes two delivery methods, and nothing else counts as valid service.⁵

Hand delivery. Give the notice directly to the tenant. Bring a neutral witness or complete a Proof of Service affidavit recording the time, date, and location. This is the paper trail you will need if the tenant later claims they never received anything.
Certified or registered mail. Mail it to the tenant’s designated address for receiving communications, or to the last known residence if none was designated. Keep the postal receipt. The statute does not require a return receipt, but requesting one gives you stronger proof of delivery.

Taping the notice to the door, dropping it in regular first-class mail, or texting a photo of it does not satisfy A.R.S. § 33-1313. Any method other than hand delivery or certified/registered mail means the notice never legally happened.

How to Count the Five Days

Arizona counts every calendar day. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays all count. The clock starts the day after the tenant receives the notice for hand delivery, or the day after the notice is deemed received for mail.¹

Mailed notices add a wrinkle. Under A.R.S. § 33-1313, a tenant is deemed to have received a certified or registered mailing on whichever date comes first: the day they actually sign for it, or five days after you drop it in the mail.⁵ The five-day cure period then runs from that deemed-receipt date. In practice, a mailed notice can give the tenant up to ten calendar days from the mailing date to pay, or fewer if they pick up the letter quickly. Hand delivery removes the ambiguity, which is why experienced landlords usually prefer it.

What Happens if the Tenant Offers Partial Payment

This is where landlords most often sabotage their own case. If you accept any portion of the unpaid rent after serving the notice without a written agreement in hand at the same time, you waive your right to terminate the lease for that default.⁶ You would have to restart the notice process from the beginning.

The safe approach is a contemporaneous written agreement signed when you accept the partial payment. It should spell out the amount you are accepting, the remaining balance, and a firm date by which the rest is due. If the tenant breaches that written agreement, you can file the special detainer action without sending a new 5-day notice.⁶ Without that agreement in writing, accepting a single dollar resets the clock.

Common Mistakes That Invalidate the Notice

Judges see the same errors over and over. Any one of them can force you to start the process from scratch.

Wrong dollar amount. Overstating what the tenant owes, including a fee the lease does not authorize, makes the notice defective.
Improper service. Leaving the notice under a doormat, sending it by regular mail, or emailing it does not satisfy A.R.S. § 33-1313. Only hand delivery or certified/registered mail counts.⁵
Missing tenants. Failing to name every adult tenant from the lease on the notice.
Accepting payment without a written agreement. Taking partial rent after serving the notice without a signed, contemporaneous agreement waives the default.⁶
Filing too early. Filing the special detainer before the full five calendar days have elapsed. Count every day starting the day after service.

If the court finds any defect in the notice or in how it was served, it must dismiss the eviction action.² You would then correct the problem, serve a new notice, wait another five days, and file again. Weeks lost.

If the Tenant Doesn’t Pay or Move

Once the full five calendar days have run and the tenant has neither paid the reinstatement amount nor vacated, you can file a special detainer complaint in the justice court for the precinct where the property is located.⁷ Filing fees vary by county. Maricopa County justice courts charge $69 for an eviction complaint; other counties set their own schedules, so call your local clerk.⁸ The court issues the summons the same day you file, and the hearing is set no fewer than three and no more than six days out. Bring the completed judgment form with the case caption filled in; the judge will sign it if you prevail.⁹

One point to keep in mind as you prepare the notice: even after you file, the tenant can still stop the eviction by paying everything owed before the judge enters judgment. Before you file, the reinstatement amount is past-due rent plus any reasonable lease-authorized late fees. After you file, it also includes your attorney fees and court costs.¹ If the tenant tenders the full amount in time, the lease continues as though the default never happened.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1368 – Noncompliance With Rental Agreement by Tenant; Failure to Pay Rent
2
Arizona Judicial Branch. Non-Payment of Rent
3
Arizona Judicial Branch. Eviction Forms and Notices
4
AZ Court Help. Eviction Forms for Landlords in Arizona
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1313 – Notice
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1371 – Acceptance of Partial Payments; Waiver of Right to Terminate
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1377 – Special Detainer Actions; Service; Trial Postponement
8
Maricopa County Justice Courts. Justice Court Fees
9
Arizona Judicial Branch. Eviction Actions