You own your house and live in it. Can you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer? This page answers that question for Arizona, from its state laws and a sample of its cities and counties. We call it a typical home share.
Arizonaat a glance
Should you worryabout zoning?
Answer four quick questions. We will show you what the rules we found say for a home like yours, and what to ask your city or county. It works for homeowners and for the family members helping them.
Cities and countiesin Arizona
Details for each location
This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.
What the law asksof a home share
Where a state's landlord and tenant law covers home sharing, it gives you and your home sharer a few ground rules. Knowing them up front makes for a better agreement and fewer surprises.
Sharing, boarding, renting, rooming:what the words mean
The laws and codes rarely say "home sharing." They use older words, and each city or county can define them differently. Here is what each word means in everyday terms, and how Arizona and the locations in our sample use it.
For the national picture, the history of these rules, and more resources, see The Rules Behind the Spare Room.
This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.
Citations, Definitions & SourcesOpen the fine printClose the fine printEvery rule on this page is quoted from a law, a code, or a court opinion, with the date we checked it. The sources for Arizona are available by clicking Open the Fine Print.
Definitions
A typical home share. You own your house and live in it, and you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer.
The six answers. Yes: the rules we found allow a typical home share with no extra step. Yes, with limits: they allow it but set a limit, such as a number of people or rooms. Yes, after a permit or sign-up: they allow it once a step is done. Not clear: the rules do not answer it either way, or we could not read them. No county zoning found: the county and state sources we read show no county zoning code, though none says so in words. No: the rules do not allow it.
State policy and zoning toward home sharing. The map groups states by what their laws and plans do for home sharing today. A state is Leading when two things are true. First, its law stops cities and counties from limiting who lives together based on family ties, in all cases or in some. Second, the state has committed to home sharing: it names home sharing in its State Plan on Aging, an aging strategy, or an affordable housing plan, funds an ongoing home sharing program, or has a law that allows such funding. A one-time pilot is a welcome first step, but it does not count as a statewide commitment. A state is Supportive when one of the two is true, Open when neither is but its landlord and tenant law clearly covers home sharing, and Getting started when none of these is true yet. A state is marked as an opportunity, in a lighter shade on the map, when it has committed to home sharing but its laws do not yet protect home sharing statewide or do not yet say clearly which ground rules apply. Every check traces to a cited source on the state's page. The groups describe state law and policy, not how welcoming any community is, and not what any particular home may do.
Single housekeeping unit. Many zoning codes say a family or household must live as a "single housekeeping unit." The phrase describes people who live together as one household, sharing the home, rather than as separate tenants under one roof. Most codes use it without saying more, and each city or county decides what it means. The codes in our sample that spell it out point to the same kinds of things: sharing the kitchen and living areas, sharing chores and expenses, and, as signs of separate households, locks on bedroom doors or separate leases. Where a city or county on this page defines the phrase, its entry quotes the definition under Read the code. If your city or county's code uses the phrase, ask the planning office how it applies to a home share, such as one where the person sharing your home pays rent and has their own room.
Checked. The date we last read the source itself. Codes change. Your planning office has the current version.
Sources for Arizona
| Source | Where it is used |
|---|---|
| A.R.S. 9-461.18, Accessory dwelling units (official Arizona Legislature site) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 11-810.01, county accessory dwelling units (official Arizona Legislature site) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Laws 2024, chapter 196 (HB 2720), approved by the Governor 21 May 2024 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Laws 2025, chapter 217 (HB 2928), approved by the Governor 23 May 2025 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1308, Exclusions from application of chapter (official Arizona Legislature site) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1310, General definitions (official Arizona Legislature site) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494 (1977) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 9-462.13 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1375 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1321 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1324 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1367 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1341 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 41-1491.02, Exempt sales and rentals | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| 42 U.S.C. 3603(b)(2) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| 42 U.S.C. 1982 | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968): section 1982 "contains none of the exemptions" in the Fair Housing Act | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com, LLC, 666 F.3d 1216 (9th Cir. 2012): "we interpret the FHA and FEHA as not applying to the sharing of living units" | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Arizona State Plan on Aging FFY 2027-2028 (DES/DAAS) | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| ADOH PY2024 HUD Annual Action Plan draft | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| ADOH Publications page | Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Phoenix Zoning Ordinance, Section 202, Definitions ("Family", "Boarding House", "Guestroom", "Dwelling Unit") | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Phoenix Zoning Ordinance, Section 608, Residential Zoning Districts (608.D Land Use Matrix; 608.E.3 Guestrooms; 608.E.9 Boarding house) | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Phoenix City Code, Sec. 10-193, Definitions (Short-Term Vacation Rental) | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Phoenix City Code, Sec. 10-195, Short-term rental; permits for vacation rentals required | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1902, residential rental property registration with the county assessor (official Arizona Legislature site) | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 33-1901, definition of "residential rental property" (official Arizona Legislature site) | Phoenix, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 11.4.7, Definitions - F ("Family") | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 11.4.9, Definitions - H ("Household") | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 11.3.7, Residential Use Group (Family Dwelling; Group Dwelling) | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 4.8.4, Table 4.8-2, Permitted Uses: Urban Residential Zones | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 4.9.7, Residential Use Group use-specific standards (B.9, D, E, G, H) | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| Tucson UDC 11.3.4, Commercial Services Use Group (Travelers' Accommodation, Lodging) | Tucson, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| La Paz County Zoning Regulations 2012 (whole book), Section 202.00 Definitions ("Family", "Boarding House", "Dwelling Unit", "Lodging - Bed and Breakfast Establishment"), Section 603.00 R-1, and Appendix A Residential Zone Use Tables | La Paz County, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| La Paz County, Zoning Regulations page | La Paz County, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| A.R.S. 11-269.17, county regulation of vacation rentals and short-term rentals | La Paz County, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
| La Paz County, Ordinances and Comprehensive Plan page (lists flood control and marijuana ordinances only) | La Paz County, Arizona. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source. |
Cite This Paper
HomeShare Oregon. (2026). The Rules Behind the Spare Room: Arizona. https://homeshareoregon.org/research/rules-behind-the-spare-room/arizona/
About HomeShare Oregon
HomeShare Oregon publishes this paper as students of aging, housing, and community infrastructure. We operate one of many possible interventions in the missing middle. We believe the most useful contribution we can make to the larger field is to add a frame and a research agenda, rather than to argue for our particular role within it.
If you are working on related questions, we would like to hear from you. Email the executive director at executivedirector@homeshareoregon.org.