Legal answers: no, yes, and yes. Practical answers: yes, yes, and yes.
The Arizona Landlord/Tenant Act (Act) says the landlord and tenant can agree to any terms they desire (see A.R.S. Section 33-1314), except for the impermissible provisions listed in A.R.S. Section 33-1315. Of all the terms landlords and tenants discuss and negotiate, clearly the amount of monthly rent is at the top of the list of negotiated terms. The agreed upon rental amount is, therefore, binding upon the landlord and the tenant and a trial court judge does not have the power to raise or lower the monthly rent. If the trial judge does raise or lower the rent, the aggrieved party has the right to appeal and they should prevail on appeal. That is the “legal” answer. As a practical matter, however, an appeal takes time and money and, therefore, the right of appeal is illusory for most litigants. Furthermore, the trial court judge who makes decisions that are contrary to law suffers no consequence, other than to discover months or years later that one of his/her decisions was overturned on appeal.
As for late fees and attorney’s fees, the Act says late fees and attorney’s fees must be “reasonable.” (A.R.S. Section 33-1368). That becomes a “factual” finding by the trial judge and it is nearly impossible to overturn a trial judge’s decision to reduce (trial judges never raise) the amount of late fees and/or attorney’s fees.
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