✓ Law Verified August 2026
An Arizona eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Arizona: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Arizona sources as of August 2026.
In This Arizona Guide:
How the Arizona Sealing Law Works
| The law | A.R.S. § 33-1379 (Eviction action; dismissal; sealed records), enacted by HB 2485, 55th Legislature 2nd Regular Session, signed 2022 and effective September 24, 2022 |
| Who qualifies | Three categories of eviction cases qualify. (1) Any eviction/forcible detainer action filed under A.R.S. § 33-1368 or § 33-1377 that the court DISMISSES before a judgment is entered. (2) Any eviction case in which the court enters JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF THE TENANT. (3) Any eviction case — including one the landlord won — where the landlord and tenant file a written STIPULATION agreeing to set aside the eviction order and seal the court file. There is no age-of-case limit and no requirement that the tenant have paid anything, but note the limit: a straight judgment for the landlord is NOT sealed unless the landlord agrees to stipulate. Arizona has no general “satisfied judgment” sealing right — if you paid the judgment off, you may still be able to ask the landlord to sign a stipulation, and many tenants use the payoff as the bargaining chip to get one. |
| Automatic or petition | BOTH, depending on the category. Sealing is AUTOMATIC for dismissals before judgment and for judgments in the tenant’s favor — A.R.S. § 33-1379(A) says the court “shall issue an order sealing all records related to the case,” and Maricopa County Justice Courts confirm that as of September 24, 2022 the court seals these cases without the tenant asking. For the third category, the tenant must act: the landlord and tenant sign a written stipulation and file a Motion to Set Aside/Vacate and Seal with the justice court, and § 33-1379(B) says the court “shall” order sealing once that stipulation is filed. If a default judgment was entered because you did not appear, you may first need a Motion to Vacate Judgment (Eviction Action) under Rule 15, Rules of Procedure for Eviction Actions — that motion generally must be filed within 60 days of the judgment for most grounds. |
| Waiting period | NONE — the statute imposes no waiting period. Automatic sealing happens at the time of the dismissal or tenant-favorable judgment, and stipulated sealing happens whenever the signed stipulation is filed. |
| Cost | 0 for automatic sealing after a dismissal or a tenant win — the court enters the order on its own and there is nothing to pay. For a stipulated Motion to Set Aside and Seal, Arizona justice courts charge a post-judgment motion filing fee set by A.R.S. § 22-281 plus county surcharges; the exact 2026 amount varies by county and is UNVERIFIED, so ask your justice court clerk for the current civil motion fee. Arizona tenants who cannot afford it may apply for a fee waiver or deferral under A.R.S. § 12-302 using the court’s Application for Deferral or Waiver of Court Fees. |
Step by Step: Sealing Your Arizona Eviction Record
If your case was dismissed or you won, you should not have to file anything — check the case status on the justice court’s public docket and, if the case still shows publicly, contact the clerk of the justice court where the case was filed and ask them to enter the sealing order required by A.R.S. § 33-1379(A).
If you want a landlord-won case sealed: (1) negotiate with the landlord or the landlord’s attorney — often in exchange for paying or settling the money judgment — and get a written stipulation to set aside the eviction order and seal the file, signed by both sides;
(2) get the Motion to Set Aside/Vacate a Judgment form from the justice court that heard your case (in Maricopa County the “Clear My Record” page and the Motion to Set Aside/Vacate Judgment packet, form 8150-134);
(3) complete the motion in full — if the judgment was a default because you failed to appear, explain in detail both why you missed the court date and what your legal defense would have been; (4) attach the signed stipulation and any supporting documents;
(5) file with the clerk in the same justice court precinct and pay any filing fee (ask about a fee waiver or deferral at the same time); (6) serve a copy of the motion and attachments on the other party;
(7) the judge may set a hearing, so watch your mail and appear if one is scheduled. Filing in the correct precinct matters — Arizona eviction cases live in the justice court precinct where the rental is located, not in Superior Court.
What sealing actually does: A sealed Arizona eviction file is removed from public view. Under A.R.S. § 33-1379(C) the records — all pleadings, findings, orders, evidence and testimony — may be released only to the person whose records were sealed and to any party or attorney who appeared in the case.
Critically for renters, the statute bars the court from selling or releasing a sealed eviction case as part of any bulk or individual records transfer to a third party, which is exactly how tenant screening companies harvest eviction data. So once sealing takes effect, screening companies should no longer be able to pull the case from the court.
Two honest limits: sealing does not erase data a screening company already bought before the seal, so you may still have to dispute stale entries directly with the bureaus, and sealing the court record does not by itself wipe out any money judgment you still owe.
Arizona’s statute also does not say in so many words that you may answer “no record” on a rental application, so do not assume that — check with your court or a legal aid attorney before answering an application question.
Why An Arizona Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long
An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how an Arizona eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.
Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.
That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Arizona eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your Arizona Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your Arizona eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.
Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.
Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.
Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Arizona.
📨 Get Free Tenant Rights Guides Alerts
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, so Arizona tenants have FCRA rights no matter what the state court does.
If you are denied a rental, charged a higher deposit, or given any other adverse decision based on a screening report, the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company, and you are entitled to a FREE copy of that report from the company within 60 days of the adverse action.
You are also entitled to one free file disclosure every 12 months. Dispute anything wrong or outdated — a case that was dismissed, a case you won, a sealed case, a case that is not yours, a judgment shown as unpaid that you satisfied — in writing to the screening company, and send copies of the court’s dismissal order, sealing order, satisfaction of judgment, or docket printout.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i the company must reinvestigate within 30 days (extended to 45 days if you send extra documents during the 30-day window), must forward your dispute to whoever furnished the data within 5 business days, must delete or correct information it cannot verify, and must send you written results within 5 business days of finishing.
Ask in writing that corrected reports be sent to anyone who pulled your file in the last 6 months.
Separately, the FCRA generally bars reporting civil judgments older than 7 years, and many screening companies voluntarily stopped reporting judgments at all — so an old eviction judgment on your report may be disputable on age alone. You can also file complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint and with the Arizona Attorney General’s consumer protection unit.
Keep copies of every letter and send disputes by a method that gives you proof of delivery.
Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Arizona court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Arizona eviction record.
Worth watching in Arizona: Arizona’s sealing law has been in force since September 24, 2022 and applies statewide in every justice court, but implementation is county-run — Maricopa County Justice Courts maintain a dedicated “Clear My Record” self-help page at https://justicecourts.maricopa.gov/i-want-to/clear-my-record explaining the automatic sealing triggers and the Motion to Set Aside and Seal, and Pima and Pinal County justice courts publish their own eviction self-help packets.
Legislatively, Arizona was one of nine states that introduced bills in 2024 to expand eviction sealing, and in the 2026 session the Legislature passed HB 2244 (“evictions;
satisfaction of judgments,” 57th Legislature 2nd Regular Session), transmitted to the Governor June 10, 2026 and signed June 19, 2026, which requires a prevailing party to file a satisfaction of judgment, allows a motion to compel satisfaction with a hearing, and waives satisfaction for tenants meeting certain conditions — whether HB 2244 also adds any new sealing trigger for satisfied eviction judgments is UNVERIFIED, so check the enrolled bill text
at https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/bills/HB2244S.pdf before relying on it.
No county pilot sealing program separate from the statewide statute has been verified.
Your landlord’s insurance won’t cover your stuff
Renters insurance protects your belongings for a few dollars a month.
You May Also Like
Official Arizona Sources & Resources
- Arizona Courts Self-Help: azcourthelp.org/browse-by-topic/eviction/tenant-information/…
- Arizona Statute: azleg.gov/ars/33/01379.htm
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your Arizona Eviction Record
An Arizona eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Arizona eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether Arizona offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Arizona eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.
This Arizona eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.
More Arizona Tenant Rights Guides
- Arizona Tenant Rights
- Arizona Eviction Process
- Arizona Security Deposit Law
- Arizona Rent Increase Laws
- Arizona Repairs & Habitability
- Breaking a Lease in Arizona
- Eviction Timeline Calculator
- All 50 States
Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.