A.R.S. 32-1133: The 2-Year Deadline to Sue for a Recovery Fund Claim

A recovery fund claim has a deadline, and missing it can sink an otherwise strong case. A.R.S. 32-1133 gives you two years to start the underlying lawsuit, and a separate 30-day window to tell the ROC about it. The two-year clock runs from the contractor's harmful act or from the date you moved in, whichever is the right marker for your situation. This page explains both deadlines and how they fit together, so you do not lose the fund on a technicality.

The two-year clock

The recovery fund pays out only after a court order in a lawsuit against the contractor. That lawsuit has to be filed in time. Here is the operative rule:

An action for a judgment that may subsequently result in an order for collection from the residential contractors' recovery fund may not be commenced later than two years after the date of the commission of the act by the contractor that is the cause of the injury or from the date of occupancy.

Read it carefully: the limit applies to commencing the action, the lawsuit itself, not the fund claim that follows. You measure the two years from the contractor's harmful act, or from the date of occupancy of the home. For new-home defects, occupancy is often the marker that matters, because that is when you took the house and the clock can start.

The 30-day ROC notice

Filing the lawsuit is not enough on its own. You also have to alert the Registrar of Contractors quickly:

...notify the registrar in writing to this effect within thirty calendar days after the commencement of the action.

So once you file suit, you have 30 calendar days to put the ROC on notice in writing. Skip that step and you can win your case yet still be blocked from the fund. Calendar this the day you file, not the day you remember.

What this means for you

Say you take occupancy of a custom home in Apache Junction, and within the first year the roof framing proves defective. To keep the recovery fund alive, you must start your lawsuit against the builder within two years of that occupancy date (or of the defective act), then notify the ROC within 30 days of filing. Wait three years to sue and the door is likely shut, even with clear proof of bad work.

Two practical moves. First, do not sit on a known defect. Two years passes faster than it sounds when you are getting repair bids and trying to work it out with the builder. Second, treat the 30-day ROC notice as a hard checklist item the moment you file. For the related construction-defect timelines that can run alongside this, see our new home builder warranty in Arizona page.

How this connects to the rest of the fund rules

This deadline only matters if you are an eligible claimant under A.R.S. 32-1132 , and what you can collect is capped by A.R.S. 32-1132.01 and A.R.S. 32-1139 . A separate, shorter deadline applies if you instead file a complaint with the ROC under A.R.S. 32-1162 . For the full path, see how to file an ROC complaint and recovery fund claim and the ROC glossary entry .

Full text and source

Read the current version on the legislature's site: View A.R.S. 32-1133 on azleg.gov .

How these deadlines apply to a specific claim depends on the facts, so confirm with the ROC or a qualified attorney before relying on it.