Rental to Registered Sex Offender is Allowed

Question: Three months ago we rented a small rental home in Cave Creek to a nice young man. The monthly rent payments have been paid on time, and the rental home is in immaculate condition. We recently received an email from one of our former neighbors that this nice young man is a Level Two registered sex offender (RSO), and all of our former neighbors want us to evict him. Do we have to evict him because he is a Level Two RSO? Do we have any liability if he causes someone harm in the neighborhood?

Answer: A landlord is not required to rent to an RSO, but there is no prohibition against a landlord renting to an RSO. In other words, a landlord can choose to rent or not to rent to an RSO, and should have no liability if the RSO commits a sex crime.

Note: The Arizona Department of Public Safety has a sex-offender website with the addresses of all Level Two and Level Three RSOs. Level One RSOs are the least dangerous, and are not on this website.

(https://www.azdps.gov/services/public-services-center/sex-offender-compliance)