Arizona · A.R.S. 11-1133Arizona affidavit of property value: what it asks, who signs and the exemptions

In Arizona, a deed doesn't go to record alone. Under A.R.S. §11-1133, each deed transferring title and each contract for the sale of real property must have appended at recording an affidavit – the statute calls it the affidavit of legal value – of the seller and buyer, or the agent of either or both, on the Department of Revenue's form. Together they certify the buyer's and seller's names, mailing addresses and phone numbers; where to send the tax statement; the legal description and the property's address; the date of sale; the total consideration, the cash down payment and the type of financing (cash, a new third-party loan, a seller loan, an assumption or an exchange); whether personal property received is worth 5% or more of the price; the assessor's parcel number; the conditions of the sale, including any relationship between the parties; the use of the property and, for a home, whether it will be owner-occupied or rented; and a contact person. The county recorder must refuse a deed or contract without a complete affidavit – a field marked 'not applicable' counts as complete – unless the instrument notes an exemption. Exemptions (§11-1134) include deeds of gift, conveyances under a court order, transfers where a government is a party, transfers only to give or release security for a debt, corrective deeds, transfers of residential property for nominal consideration between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren or siblings, many entity and trust transfers for no or nominal consideration, transfers to create joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship, and transfers under a beneficiary deed for nominal consideration; the specific exemption must be written on the face of the instrument. The recorder sends the affidavit to the county assessor and the Department of Revenue (§11-1135), and knowingly failing to provide or falsifying the information is a class 2 misdemeanor (§11-1137).