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Arizona · AZ

Sell your land in Arizona.

Arizona has a disclosure requirement for rural land that most sellers have never heard of, a water supply question that has begun deciding what parcels are worth, and a checkerboard of state trust land that leaves ordinary private parcels with no legal way in.

Tax sale type
Tax lien
Redemption period
3 years before deed
Rate on redemption
16% maximum interest
Closings handled by
Title company

Figures describe Arizona generally. Counties administer their own sales and their own calendars — your county treasurer is the only source for a payoff figure or a sale date you can act on.

Local detail

What actually matters about land in Arizona

Rural sellers owe an Affidavit of Disclosure

Under A.R.S. § 33-422, a seller of five or fewer parcels of unsubdivided land in an unincorporated area of an Arizona county must give the buyer a completed Affidavit of Disclosure. It asks direct questions: whether there is legal access, whether the road is county-maintained, whether the parcel has water and sewer service or a permitted well, whether it is in a flood plain. This is the opposite of the usual pattern where vacant land carries no disclosure obligation, and it catches out-of-state owners regularly. It is also useful to you — a completed affidavit answers the questions a buyer would otherwise discount for.

Water supply has become a valuation question

Inside the Active Management Areas that cover most of the populated state, new subdivisions must demonstrate an Assured Water Supply, and in 2023 modelling in the Phoenix AMA found insufficient groundwater to support further approvals relying on it. Outside the AMAs the rules are looser but the question does not go away, and buyers now ask it early. For a parcel whose value assumed future subdivision, whether water can be demonstrated is no longer a footnote — it may be the whole valuation.

State trust land creates landlocked private parcels

Arizona holds roughly nine million acres of state trust land, much of it in a checkerboard with private ground. Trust land is not public land in the way a national forest is — crossing it requires a permit, and the Land Department is not obliged to grant access across it to reach your parcel. The result is private land that looks reachable on a map and is not reachable in law. If your parcel is bordered by state trust sections, whether a recorded easement exists is the first thing worth establishing.

Tax liens run at 16 percent and take three years

Arizona counties sell tax liens as certificates of purchase, bid down from a maximum 16 percent, and a holder may begin foreclosure after three years. Three years is comparatively generous, which means an Arizona owner who has fallen behind usually has room to act — but the interest compounds and the certificate holder has every incentive to see it through. Your county treasurer can give you a payoff good through a specific date.

Questions

Selling land in Arizona

Do I have to give an Affidavit of Disclosure when selling Arizona land?

Yes, if you are selling five or fewer parcels of unsubdivided land in an unincorporated area of a county. A.R.S. § 33-422 requires a completed Affidavit of Disclosure covering access, road maintenance, water and sewer, and flood plain status among other items. It is unusual — most states impose no disclosure duty on vacant land at all — and out-of-state owners frequently do not know it applies to them.

Does my Arizona parcel need proven water to sell?

Not to sell, but the answer increasingly drives the price. Inside an Active Management Area a new subdivision must demonstrate an Assured Water Supply, and 2023 modelling in the Phoenix AMA found groundwater insufficient to support further approvals relying on it. If your parcel was worth something because it could one day be subdivided, water is now the question that determines whether that value is real.

My land is surrounded by state trust land. Is it landlocked?

Possibly, in the legal sense that matters. State trust land is not public land you may freely cross — access requires a permit, and the Land Department is not required to grant an easement to reach a private inholding. A parcel that looks reachable on a map may have no recorded legal access, and that is what a title company and a buyer will look at. We buy landlocked Arizona parcels, priced for the constraint.

Sources for the figures above

These are secondary references, accurate enough to orient you and not a substitute for the statute or your county. Tax procedure changes; nothing here is legal advice.

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