Evicting a U of A student renter in Tucson: getting service right

Brick rental bungalow near the university in Tucson where a landlord needs eviction papers served

Renting to students around the University of Arizona is its own business. The houses in West University, Feldman's, Sam Hughes and Pie Allen are old, the leases are often signed by four people at once, and a good share of tenants leave town for three months every summer. Most of the time it works fine. When it does not, the eviction lands in the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court at 240 North Stone Avenue, and the service rules are tighter than many first-time landlords expect.

This is general information, not legal advice. If the lease is unusual or the tenant has raised a defence, talk to a landlord-tenant lawyer before you file.

The notice comes before the process server

The process server does not start the eviction. You do, with written notice. For unpaid rent, Arizona law (A.R.S. 33-1368) lets you terminate the rental agreement if the tenant has not paid within five calendar days after written notice of nonpayment. The Arizona courts' eviction guide says you wait until the business day after the notice period ends before filing.

How you deliver that notice is its own question, separate from serving the court summons. Some landlords use a process server for the notice as well, simply so there is a sworn record of who received it and when. That is a choice, not a requirement, but in a house with four tenants and a disputed lease it can save an argument later.

Who has to be served

Every adult named as a defendant has to be served. In student housing that is where things go sideways.

Say the lease was signed by three students. A fourth moved in during the spring semester and pays a share through one of the others. If you name all four, all four need service. If you name only the three signers, the fourth may still be living there when the writ is issued, and that is a conversation to have with your lawyer before filing, not after.

Parents who co-signed as guarantors are another wrinkle. Whether a guarantor in Phoenix or out of state belongs in the eviction case at all, or in a separate claim for money, is a question for your lawyer before you file. If they are named, they need service too, and an out-of-state address changes the timing.

The two-day rule and how papers get delivered

Once the court issues the summons, the eviction moves quickly. The summons, complaint and the residential eviction information sheet have to reach each defendant at least two days before the initial appearance. Service can only be made by a constable, a sheriff or a certified process server. It can be personal delivery, or posting in an obvious place on the premises plus a copy by certified mail.

Posting and mailing is the fallback near campus, and it is used often, because student schedules are unpredictable. A server who knocks at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday may find nobody home for the same reason a professor would: everyone is in class. Ask whoever you hire to try early morning and late evening first, and tell them if the house has alley access or a main door around back.

Summer is the hard season

Rent problems near campus tend to surface in May and June, right as tenants scatter. A house that looked occupied in April can be empty, with a couch on the porch and one roommate's car in the drive.

That creates two practical problems. First, personal service gets harder because the people named may be in another state. Second, posting at a house that looks abandoned raises its own question: do the tenants still have possession at all? A lawyer can tell you whether you need the court eviction or whether the law treats the unit differently.

What a process server can do is give you facts. A good return of service or a short note of what was seen on each attempt (mail piling up, utilities shut off, a neighbour saying everyone left after finals) helps you and your lawyer decide the next step.

Getting the order of events right

The justice court publishes its eviction forms on its website and at the Stone Avenue counter. In practice the sequence for most Tucson student rentals looks like this:

Serve the written notice and keep proof of how and when.
Wait out the notice period, then file the eviction summons and complaint with the justice court.
Hand the server the stamped papers, the hearing date, and a list of every named defendant with any phone numbers and class or work schedules you have.
Get the return of service filed before the hearing.

Step three is where time is lost. If the server has to call you back for the names on the lease, a day goes by, and with a two-day minimum you do not have many to spare.

Finding someone to serve

Our Tucson process servers page lists certified servers working the city, and every one appears on the Arizona Supreme Court's certified list. MAXO Investigation is one of the Tucson firms listed there. For background on what a server is and is not allowed to do, see our guide to Arizona process server rules.

If you also own property in other parts of the city, the Tucson town page links to everything we cover locally, including our piece on serving papers at gated apartment complexes.

One last thing for May: put the hearing date and all the defendants' names in your first message to the server. That is the information they need before the first attempt.

See the board: everyone in Tucson · process servers only.