A.R.S. 33-1314.01: When an Arizona Landlord Can Bill You for Water

Subsection A gives the landlord the basic right to bill separately:

A landlord may charge separately for gas, water, wastewater, solid waste removal or electricity by installing a submetering system or by allocating the charges separately through a ratio utility billing system.

Subsection B is the part that limits the charge to real cost and requires disclosure:

If a landlord charges separately for a utility pursuant to subsection A, the landlord may recover the charges imposed on the landlord by the utility provider plus an administrative fee for the landlord for actual administrative costs only. The landlord shall not impose any additional charges. The rental agreement shall contain a disclosure that lists the utility services that are charged separately and shall specify the amount of any administrative fee that is associated with submetering or the use of a ratio utility billing system.

Subsection G adds the notice rule for tenants already living there when a landlord adopts or changes the billing method:

For any existing tenancies, the landlord shall provide at least ninety days' notice to the tenant before the landlord begins using a submetering system or allocating costs through a ratio utility billing system.

Put together: the landlord can pass through the actual utility cost plus a real administrative fee, nothing more, and the lease has to spell out the method and the fee before the charge starts.

This statute governs two very different billing setups, both allowed under the same section. For example:

• Submetering. A real meter on the line feeding one unit measures that unit's own water use. The bill reflects actual gallons used, the same way a city meter works for the whole property.
• RUBS (ratio utility billing). No individual meter exists. The landlord takes the one master-metered bill for the whole building and splits it by a formula: per tenant, by square footage, by unit type, by number of water fixtures, or another method described in the lease under subsection F.

Picture a tenant in a Phoenix apartment complex who gets a new charge on next month's statement labeled "water/RUBS $38." If the lease was signed with no mention of a separate water charge, subsection B says that charge should not exist yet. The landlord must first amend the lease terms and give 90 days' notice under subsection G before the RUBS charge can start. Now picture a different tenant whose submetered bill spikes even though their habits have not changed. That points to a leak, not a billing method problem. Our guide on a high water bill with no visible leak walks through how to check for one.

Check three things before you pay a new water charge. First, does your lease disclose the method (submeter or RUBS) and the exact administrative fee? Subsection B requires that disclosure up front. Second, is the charge tied to actual cost, meaning the real master bill plus a genuine administrative fee, not a padded number? Ask to see the underlying bill if the math looks off. Third, if the charge is new mid-lease, did you get the 90-day notice subsection G requires? A charge that skips any of these three tests is worth raising with your landlord in writing before you pay it.

For the full walkthrough on how submetering and RUBS actually work, how to read a RUBS-allocated bill, and how a leak on either system can spike your charge, see can my Arizona landlord bill me for water with a submeter or RUBS. Water billing is separate from the landlord's core duty to keep plumbing working and supply water.

Confirm current requirements before relying on specific figures. The 90-day notice period and fee rules above reflect the statute as published on the Arizona Legislature's site as of this writing. Landlord-tenant statutes are amended from time to time, so verify the current text before you act on a dispute.

The quoted subsections above are reproduced from the official Arizona Revised Statutes, a public-domain government work. Read the complete statute, including every subsection, on the Arizona Legislature's site: A.R.S. 33-1314.01 on azleg.gov. For the surrounding landlord-tenant law, see A.R.S. Title 33, Chapter 10. Submeter accuracy and utility oversight fall under the Arizona Corporation Commission's Utilities Division.

This page explains a general Arizona statute and is not legal advice. Whether a specific water charge complies with this statute depends on your lease terms and the facts of your billing dispute, so confirm your situation with a landlord-tenant attorney or a housing-counseling office before withholding payment or taking other action.