Quick Reference: What Makes Arkansas Different

An Arkansas property manager hands a new tenant the keys, the lease and a written form allowing the tenant to list defects in the six statutory quality standards: hot and cold running water, electricity, potable water, sewer and plumbing, roof and building envelope, HVAC.

The tenant glances at it, signs it, and moves in.

Under Section 18-17-502(c)(1)(A), the landlord is now deemed to be in compliance with Arkansas's implied quality standards. Not presumed. Deemed.

And if the tenant had taken the form away and never returned it, subsection (c)(1)(B) reaches the same result after two business days.

Section 18-17-502(c)(1) gives a landlord a statutory deemed-compliance route for the requirements of subsection (a), available where the form is supplied at the specified time and the statutory conditions are met. It is a short administrative step with a defined legal effect, and a manager who skips it forgoes that protection.

This guide covers what Arkansas actually requires, what it conspicuously does not, and the three places where the state's framework departs sharply from what a manager coming from another state would expect.

A scope note first. The Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 governs residential landlord-tenant relationships, but Section 18-17-202 excludes a list of arrangements from the chapter. Those exclusions include residence at a public or private institution incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar service; occupancy under a contract of sale of a dwelling unit; transient occupancy in a hotel, motel or other accommodation subject to a sales tax on lodging; occupancy by an employee whose right to occupy is conditional on employment in and about the premises; occupancy by a condominium owner or the holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative; premises used by the occupant primarily for agricultural purposes; and residence at a public or private charitable or emergency protective shelter.

Everything that follows applies to tenancies covered by the chapter. Confirm the property and the arrangement fall inside it before relying on Section 18-17-502.

Arkansas Has Quality Standards, Not a Warranty of Habitability

The distinction is not academic, and it drives everything that follows.

Arkansas does not impose a general statewide implied warranty of habitability. Instead, Act 1052 of 2021 established six specific implied residential quality standards at Section 18-17-502, which is a narrower mechanism than the implied warranty most states apply.

Six standards, and only six. For all leases entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021, there is implied a requirement that the dwelling unit or single-family residence have, both at the time possession is delivered and throughout the term:

1. An available source of hot and cold running water

2. An available source of electricity

3. A source of potable drinking water

4. A sanitary sewer system and plumbing that conform to applicable building and housing codes in existence at the time of installation

5. A functioning roof and building envelope

6. A functioning heating and air conditioning system, to the extent the system served the premises at the time the parties entered into the lease

Read what each one actually says. Standard 4 measures plumbing against the codes as they stood when the system was installed, not current codes. Standard 6 only reaches HVAC that was there at the outset, so a unit let without air conditioning does not acquire the obligation later.

Anything outside that list is not covered by the section. There is no general fitness or habitability duty sitting behind it.

The section supersedes contrary lease terms, with one exception. Under subsection (b), the standards override any contrary provision of an oral or written lease unless the tenant agrees in writing to accept responsibility to renovate, remodel, or complete the renovation, remodeling or construction of the unit.

And there is a force majeure carve-out. The standards do not apply where compliance is temporarily prevented by an act of God, the failure of public utility service, or other force majeure events, expressly including any epidemic or pandemic causing work stoppages, labor or material shortages, or required social distancing that impacts the ability to maintain or repair the premises.

That pandemic language is unusual in a landlord-tenant statute and was plainly a product of when the Act was drafted.

The Deemed Compliance Form

Subsection (c) is where a manager's operational effort actually pays off, and it works in two directions.

Route one, the move-in form. A landlord is deemed to be in compliance with subsection (a) if the landlord supplies the tenant, at the time possession is available to the tenant, a written form with which to list any defects in the six listed items, and the tenant either:

• (A) signs the form without noting a defect of any listed item and takes possession, or

• (B) fails to return the form to the landlord within two business days

Both limbs produce the same result. A tenant who signs the form without noting a defect triggers the statute's deemed-compliance provision. If the tenant fails to return the form within two business days, the landlord likewise falls within it.

Three operational points follow.

• Timing is fixed to possession. The form must be supplied at the time possession is available, not at lease signing and not later. A form handed over a week after move-in does not fit the subsection.

• The form is defect-listing, not acknowledgment. The statute describes a form "with which to list any defects." A generic move-in checklist covering paint and carpet does not do this job. It has to give the tenant a place to record problems with the six statutory items.

• Two business days is short. That is the window in which a manager should expect the form back, and it means the form needs to be logged on the day it is issued so the clock can be evidenced.

Route two, defects arising later. As to defects arising after the tenant takes possession, the landlord is also deemed compliant where the tenant delivers written notice but the noncompliance:

• could not be remedied because the tenant refused the landlord entry to correct the defect, or

• was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a member of the tenant's family, another occupant of or visitor on the premises, or any person other than the landlord or the landlord's agent

That last category is remarkably broad, but note the qualifier that governs the whole list. The noncompliance must have been caused by a deliberate or negligent act or omission. Where it was, the exclusion extends beyond the tenant, family members, occupants and visitors to "any person other than the landlord or the landlord's agent." A defect arising without anyone's deliberate or negligent conduct does not fall within it.

Under Section 18-17-502, the Statutory Remedy Is to Leave

This is the second place Arkansas departs from what most managers expect.

Under subsection (d)(1), a tenant whose unit does not comply must deliver written notice of the noncompliance to the landlord by certified mail or any other method provided by the lease, specifying the acts and omissions constituting noncompliance.

Note that the lease can widen the permitted methods. Certified mail is the statutory default, not the only route, if your lease says otherwise.

Then subsection (d)(2)(A). Where the payment of rent is current, the noncompliance is not excused under subsection (c), and the landlord does not remedy within thirty calendar days after receiving the notice, the tenant's sole remedy shall be to terminate the lease or rental agreement without penalty and receive a refund of any security deposit recoverable under Section 18-16-301 et seq.

The tenant must be current on rent, the noncompliance must not be excused under subsection (c), and the landlord must fail to remedy it within 30 calendar days after receiving the required notice. If those conditions are met, the statutory remedy is termination without penalty and recovery of any security deposit recoverable under the security deposit subchapter.

What the tenant cannot do. Under (d)(3)(A), nothing in the chapter excuses a tenant from paying rent. Under (d)(3)(B), a tenant shall not offset or withhold rent from the landlord for any alleged or actual violation of the implied quality standards.

Section 18-17-502 does not provide a repair-and-deduct remedy, a damages measure, injunctive relief, or an attorney-fee remedy. Under that section, the statutory remedy is termination once the notice and cure requirements are satisfied. Other statutes, the lease, local law or separate legal theories may operate independently of it.

And if the standards were met, the deposit still works normally. Under (d)(2)(B), where the implied quality standards were met as required by subsections (a) to (c), the landlord may apply the deposit to damage as provided in the deposit subchapter, in addition to any other remedy provided by applicable law.

Four Provisions Managers Miss

• Section 18-17-502(e) puts responsibility on the tenant for a detector the tenant installs.
  Nothing in the chapter or in a lease prohibits a tenant from correctly installing a battery-powered or plug-in smoke or carbon monoxide detector at their own expense. If they do, the tenant is solely responsible for determining whether it is operational, maintaining it in working order, and any damage or repairs to the premises caused by installing or removing it. The subsection addresses detectors the tenant installs. It does not speak to detectors the landlord provides, and it does not resolve obligations that may arise under fire, building, local or other applicable law.

• Tort liability is not expanded.
  Under subsection (f)(2), nothing in the chapter expands a landlord's tort liability beyond the limits set by Section 18-16-110. Act 1052 created contractual quality standards; it did not create a new negligence exposure.

• But nonwaiver runs both ways.
  Under subsection (g), except as otherwise provided by the chapter, a landlord or tenant shall not agree in a lease to waive or forego any of the rights, duties, or remedies available under the chapter. A lease clause disclaiming the six standards does not work.

• And local codes still bind.
  Under subsection (h), the section does not relieve the landlord from having to comply with any stricter applicable housing standard of a local government with jurisdiction. Where a city imposes more, the city wins. That makes local code position part of the compliance picture rather than an afterthought, particularly in Little Rock, Fayetteville and the larger municipalities.

The Criminal Statute, Handled Carefully

No article about Arkansas being different can omit Section 18-16-101, and none should treat it casually.

The section remains in the Arkansas Code. It provides that a person who rents a dwelling and refuses or fails to pay rent when due at once forfeits all right to longer occupy the premises, and, following a ten days' written notice to vacate, a willful refusal to leave is a misdemeanor, with each day of holding over treated as a separate offense and heard before a justice of the peace or other court of competent jurisdiction.

The picture on the ground is not uniform, and a manager should not treat this as a routine tool.

The statute's constitutionality has been challenged repeatedly, and in at least one instance a circuit court dismissed a charge on state and federal constitutional grounds, though there is no appellate ruling striking the section down. Historical reporting and legal scholarship documented that courts in a number of Arkansas counties declined to hear failure-to-vacate cases. A repeal bill was introduced in 2021 and did not pass.

The practical position for a property manager is therefore: the section exists, its availability varies in practice, its constitutional footing is contested, and using it is a decision to take with Arkansas counsel rather than as a matter of routine process. Arkansas also provides civil possession routes, which is where the great majority of Arkansas possession cases proceed.

What Else a Manager Coming From Another State Should Check

Three further features regularly catch managers out, and two of them are covered in detail elsewhere in this series.

• The deposit statute may not apply to your owner, until you are engaged. Arkansas's security deposit rules exempt an individual where that individual, together with a spouse, minor children and specified renting entities, collectively owns five or fewer dwelling units. But that exemption does not apply where management, including rent collection, is performed by third persons for a fee. Our guide to Arkansas security deposit laws covers the two-month cap, the 60-day return deadline and the double damages exposure.

• Property management is licensed activity. Act 392 of 2025 created separate Property Management Broker and Property Management Associate license categories within the Real Estate License Law. The 1 June 2026 rule-filing deadline has now passed, so the operative source is the Commission's current rules rather than the Act's implementation timetable. Check AREC's current licensee information, rules, application requirements and effective dates before operating under or describing the new license categories. Our guide to Arkansas property manager licensing under AREC covers the categories, the education and experience requirements, and the trust account obligations that come with them.

• Periodic tenancies have their own notice periods, separate from anything discussed above, with different periods for month-to-month and week-to-week arrangements.

Common Arkansas Compliance Mistakes

1. Not issuing the defect form at all
Section 18-17-502(c)(1) is the cheapest risk reduction available in Arkansas, and it only works if the form goes out when possession is available.

2. Issuing a generic move-in checklist instead
The statute describes a form with which to list defects in the six listed items. A decorative condition report is not that form.

3. Handing the form over at lease signing
The subsection ties it to the time possession is available to the tenant.

4. Not logging the issue date
The two business day window in (c)(1)(B) can only be relied on if you can evidence when the form was supplied.

5. Assuming the standards apply to every lease
They apply to leases entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021.

6. Reading the HVAC standard too broadly
It reaches the system only to the extent it served the premises when the lease was entered into.

7. Treating the plumbing standard as current-code
It measures against codes in existence at the time of installation.

8. Accepting a rent withholding as a repair dispute
Section 18-17-502(d)(3)(B) expressly prohibits offset or withholding.

9. Assuming certified mail is the only valid tenant notice
The lease may provide other methods under (d)(1).

10. Putting a waiver of the standards in the lease
Subsection (g) prohibits it for both parties.

11. Ignoring a stricter local housing standard
Subsection (h) preserves it.

12. Treating Section 18-16-101 as a routine collection tool
Availability varies by county and constitutionality has been challenged. Take advice first.

Why the Move-In File Carries So Much Weight Here

Arkansas concentrates a manager's exposure into a very short window at the start of the tenancy, and then closes most of the routes a tenant would otherwise have.

That produces an unusual risk profile. There is no general habitability standard to breach, no withholding to defend, and no repair-and-deduct to reconcile. One important compliance question is whether the statutory form was supplied at the right moment and handled in accordance with subsection (c)(1).

Three records can be especially important in an Arkansas quality-standards dispute.

• The defect form and its dates.
  When it was supplied, whether it came back, what it said, and whether two business days elapsed. That is central to subsection (c)(1), and it is a records question rather than a legal one.

• The condition of the six items at possession.
  Because the standards apply "at the time possession is delivered" as well as through the term, the baseline matters. A move-in and move-out condition record sitting alongside the statutory form is what makes the position evidenced rather than asserted.

• Cause, for anything arising later.
  Subsection (c)(2)(B) deems the landlord compliant where the defect was caused by the tenant, a family member, an occupant, a visitor, or any person other than the landlord or the landlord's agent. That is a very wide exclusion, and it rewards a repair trail that records what was reported, when, and what was found.

RIOO keeps the lease in Contracts & Renewals, the possession-date condition record in Move Ins & Move Outs, the repair and cause history in Service Request & Task Management, and the rent position that subsection (d)(2)(A) requires to be current in Collecting Rent & Payments.

Conclusion

Arkansas is different in three specific ways, and a manager arriving from almost any other state will get each of them wrong by default.

There is no general implied warranty of habitability. There are six implied quality standards, each drafted narrowly, applying only to leases entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021, and suspended by a force majeure clause that expressly names epidemics and pandemics.

Under Section 18-17-502, the tenant's statutory remedy is termination. Not repair and deduct, not damages, not withholding, which the statute prohibits by name. If the statutory conditions are satisfied and the landlord does not cure within 30 calendar days after receiving the required notice, the tenant's remedy under that section is termination without penalty and recovery of any recoverable security deposit.

And compliance can be locked in on day one. Supply the defect form when possession becomes available, and either a clean signature or two business days of silence deems you compliant under Section 18-17-502(c)(1).

Set against that, Section 18-16-101 remains on the books as the country's outlier criminal provision, but its availability varies by county and its constitutional footing is contested, which makes it a matter for counsel rather than for process.

For managers operating in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Fort Smith, the sequence is short. Build the six-item defect form. Issue it at the moment possession becomes available, and record that date. Chase it back inside two business days. Check whether a stricter local housing standard applies to the property. Audit the lease for any clause that waives the standards. And when a written notice of noncompliance arrives, diary thirty calendar days and check that rent is current, because both are conditions of the tenant's only remedy.

This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Section 18-17-502 was created by Act 1052 of 2021 and applies to leases entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021. The constitutionality and availability of Section 18-16-101 have been the subject of litigation and vary in practice, local housing standards may impose stricter requirements under Section 18-17-502(h), and individual circumstances differ. Confirm the current text against the official Arkansas Code, check applicable local housing and building standards, verify current AREC requirements where relevant, and consult a licensed Arkansas attorney on a specific matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Does Arkansas have an implied warranty of habitability?
No. Arkansas has implied residential quality standards under Section 18-17-502, created by Act 1052 of 2021. The section lists six specific requirements rather than a general habitability duty, and the tenant's remedy is narrower than under a typical implied warranty.

Q2. What are the six Arkansas quality standards?
An available source of hot and cold running water; an available source of electricity; a source of potable drinking water; a sanitary sewer system and plumbing conforming to codes in existence at the time of installation; a functioning roof and building envelope; and a functioning heating and air conditioning system to the extent it served the premises when the lease was entered into.

Q3. Which leases do the standards apply to?
Leases and rental agreements for residential purposes entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021, excluding a lease to purchase or a lease with a purchase right.

Q4. How can an Arkansas landlord be deemed compliant?
Under Section 18-17-502(c)(1), by supplying the tenant at the time possession is available with a written form on which to list defects in the six items, where the tenant either signs it without noting a defect and takes possession, or fails to return it within two business days.

Q5. What is the tenant's remedy if the standards are not met?
Under Section 18-17-502(d)(2)(A), where rent is current, the noncompliance is not excused under subsection (c), and the landlord does not remedy within 30 calendar days of written notice, the tenant's sole remedy under that section is to terminate the lease without penalty and receive a refund of any recoverable security deposit.

Q6. How long does an Arkansas landlord have to fix a problem?
Section 18-17-502 does not impose one universal repair deadline for every condition. For a tenant seeking the remedy under Section 18-17-502(d)(2)(A), the landlord generally has 30 calendar days after receiving the required written notice, provided rent is current and the noncompliance is not excused under subsection (c). The lease, a local code, another statute, or the seriousness of the condition may call for a different response.

Q7. Does the Act apply to every Arkansas rental arrangement?
No. Section 18-17-202 excludes a list of arrangements, including certain institutional residences, occupancy under a contract of sale, transient lodging subject to a sales tax, employment-conditional occupancy, condominium and cooperative arrangements, premises used primarily for agricultural purposes, and residence at a charitable or emergency protective shelter.

Q8. Can an Arkansas tenant withhold rent for repairs?
No. Section 18-17-502(d)(3)(B) provides that a tenant shall not offset or withhold rent for any alleged or actual violation of the implied quality standards, and (d)(3)(A) states that nothing in the chapter excuses a tenant from paying rent.

Q9. Does Arkansas have repair and deduct?
Section 18-17-502 does not provide one. The remedies it gives are limited to termination and refund of the deposit.

Q10. Who is responsible for smoke detectors in Arkansas?
Under Section 18-17-502(e), a tenant may install a battery-powered or plug-in smoke or carbon monoxide detector at their own expense, and if they do, the tenant is solely responsible for its operation, maintenance, and any damage or repairs caused by installation or removal. The subsection addresses detectors the tenant installs and does not resolve obligations that may arise under fire, building, local or other applicable law.

Q11. Can an Arkansas lease waive the quality standards?
No. Under Section 18-17-502(g), except as otherwise provided by the chapter, neither a landlord nor a tenant may agree in a lease to waive or forego rights, duties or remedies available under the chapter.

Q12. Do local housing codes still apply in Arkansas?
Yes. Section 18-17-502(h) provides that the section does not relieve the landlord from complying with any stricter applicable housing standard of a local government with jurisdiction.