How pandemic-impacted rental property owners can get help

To support property owners who have had their rental income affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Doug Ducey enacted the Rental Property Owner Preservation Fund with $5 million in funding.

The aid aims to minimize a property owner’s risk of foreclosure, but the property does not have to be at risk or in foreclosure to apply.

The application period opened Aug. 4, and applications continue to be accepted on a non-competitive rolling basis by the Economic Recovery Management Team. Aid will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

Prior to beginning your application, it’s important that you gather some necessary documentation. First, you will need to provide a copy of one of the following documents for each rental unit: a lease ledger and attestation form or lease agreement.

You also will need to provide backup documentation that proves the tenant or tenants were made aware of payment such as a notice of non-payment. Backup documentation also includes supporting papers that prove an outstanding unpaid balance either per unit or per tenant.

After gathering this documentation, you can begin the application’s step-bystep process at arizonatogether.org/ grants.

You will craft a narrative explaining the scope of work, how many units you own or are requesting aid for, your loss of income and your effort made to receive the payment from residents.

Next, you will need to layout a project timeline that attests to the months that payment was not received.

After these first two steps, you will need to provide the documentation previously mentioned in the following order: copy of lease ledger and attestation or copy of lease agreement, proof of payment notice to resident and lack of payment fulfilled, and, finally, documentation of the outstanding balance.

Your final step will be submitting your W9 and ACH payment forms in order to receive the payment as a direct deposit from the state.

View more information regarding the application requirements at arizonatogether.org/grants to ensure you send in a complete application. If you have missing information, you may be contacted to fix the error by a member of the Emergency Recovery Management Team.

The status of your application will be available through the eCivis grants management portal. You can check for updates on the program at arizonato gether.org/grants.

Take advantage of the opportunity to get your rental property back on track in these challenging times by starting your application today.