Arizona Vacant Land Due Diligence Checklist

Most land problems are discoverable from public records before any money changes hands. The trick is to check the things that can kill a parcel outright (title, access, water) before you spend money on the things that only affect cost (surveys, perc tests, power estimates). This list is grouped and ordered that way. Each item says where the answer lives.

If you have an APN, our free parcel research tool pulls many of the public-record items below in one place. It is a starting point, not a substitute for a title commitment or a call to the county.

1. Identity and title

1. Confirm the parcel number (APN) and legal description. Look the parcel up on the county assessor's site and match the legal description to the recorded deed. Where: the county assessor (see our assessor directory for all 15 counties).
2. Confirm who owns it of record. Pull the most recent recorded deed from the county recorder and confirm it matches the owner shown by the assessor. If they differ, find out why before going further.
3. If the owner has died, confirm who can sign. Someone needs legal authority to convey. For smaller estates, Arizona's small estate affidavit can transfer real property when the value at death, less liens, is $300,000 or less and at least six months have passed (A.R.S. 14-3971). Larger or contested estates usually go through probate.
4. Look for recorded liens, judgments and encumbrances. Search the recorder's index by owner name and APN. The definitive answer comes from a title company's preliminary report or commitment, which offers to issue a policy "subject to the stated exceptions" listed in it (A.R.S. 20-1562). Read the exceptions.
5. Know who your neighbors are. About 18% of Arizona is privately owned; roughly 13% is State Trust land, 27–28% tribal and 39–41% federal. A parcel surrounded by State Trust or federal land may depend on those agencies for any route across their land. Confirm with the agency rather than assuming.

2. Access

1. Recorded legal access. Is the parcel on a public road, or does a recorded easement reach it? A dirt track that people use is not the same thing. See checking legal access.
2. Physical access. Can a vehicle actually reach the parcel? For county-reviewed minor land divisions, a surveyor must state that each lot has physical access "traversable by a two-wheel drive passenger motor vehicle" (A.R.S. 11-831). Many older parcels were never held to that standard.
3. Road maintenance. Who maintains the road: the county, an association, or nobody? Road maintenance is one of the items on Arizona's seller affidavit of disclosure (A.R.S. 33-422).
4. If there is no access. Arizona lets an owner whose land needs a way for its proper use condemn a private way of necessity across another's land through the courts, with compensation (A.R.S. 12-1201, 12-1202). It is a lawsuit, not a form.

3. Zoning and restrictions

1. Zoning district and permitted uses. Ask the county planning department (or the city or town, if the parcel is incorporated) what the zoning allows and the minimum lot size. See how to check zoning.
2. Applicable area plan. Counties adopt long-range plans that shape rezoning decisions. For example, Maricopa County's comprehensive plan, Framework 2040, was approved on 20 May 2026, and area plans include Tonopah/Arlington and Rainbow Valley.
3. Was the lot legally created? Dividing land for sale into six or more lots is a "subdivision" under A.R.S. 32-2101 unless every lot is 36 acres or more. Counties may review splits of five or fewer lots where any lot is 10 acres or smaller (A.R.S. 11-831). Parcels created outside these rules can be hard to permit. Ask the planning office whether the parcel is a legal lot.
4. Deed restrictions and CC&Rs. Search the recorder for restrictions on the subdivision or parcel. Some rural areas were sold as deed-restricted subdivisions decades ago; Apache County's Concho Community Plan notes several marketed to out-of-state buyers in the 1970s.
5. Unsubdivided lands rules. Offering six or more lots of 36 to 160 acres requires notice to, and written authorization from, the Real Estate Commissioner (A.R.S. 32-2195).

4. Water

1. AMA or INA status. Arizona has eight Active Management Areas (Douglas, Phoenix, Pinal, Prescott, Ranegras Plain, Santa Cruz, Tucson, Willcox) and three Irrigation Non-Expansion Areas (Harquahala, Hualapai Valley, Joseph City). Groundwater rules are stricter inside them. Where: ADWR, or the water check in our research tool.
2. Existing wells on or near the parcel. Search ADWR's well registry ("Wells55") by location. See how to look up a well.
3. Could you drill? A well pumping 35 gallons per minute or less is "exempt" from most groundwater regulation, but a notice of intent to drill and a completion report are still required, and inside an AMA generally only one exempt well may serve the same use at the same location (A.R.S. 45-454).
4. Water reports for larger lots. Marketing of unsubdivided lands must include ADWR's water report or state that "the availability of water is unknown" (A.R.S. 32-2195). Ask the seller for it.
5. Area-specific limits. Some basins are effectively closed to new groundwater-reliant subdivisions; ADWR has said it cannot approve them in the Hassayampa sub-basin. Water quality matters too: a Maricopa County case notes the Greater Tonopah water system must treat groundwater for arsenic.

5. Wastewater

1. Septic feasibility. Counties issue on-site wastewater (septic) permits under authority delegated by ADEQ. A permit starts with a site investigation of soils and limiting conditions. See Arizona septic requirements.
2. Setbacks that can eat a small lot. State rules set a 100-foot minimum setback between a septic system and a water supply well, and a 100-foot setback from perennial or intermittent streams (A.A.C. R18-9-A312). Check where neighbors' wells sit.

6. Power and utilities

1. Identify the serving electric utility and ask for a preliminary sketch and rough cost estimate, which APS and Navopache both prepare without charge on request. See how to find out whether power is near your land.
2. Easements for the line. Both utilities' policies make the applicant responsible for furnishing any easements needed across other land.

7. Flood and terrain

1. FEMA flood zone. Look up the parcel on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center. Special Flood Hazard Area zones begin with A or V; Zone X is minimal or moderate hazard.
2. Floodplain permit. In a delineated floodplain, no development may take place without written authorization from the county flood control district board (A.R.S. 48-3613).
3. Slope and washes. Slope over 15% is a limiting condition for septic siting (A.A.C. R18-9-A310), and washes carry their own setbacks. Walk the land or study county GIS contours.

8. Taxes and liens

1. Current and delinquent taxes. Check the county treasurer. Unpaid taxes are secured by a tax lien sale (A.R.S. 42-18101).
2. Redemption clock. The owner may redeem within three years of the lien sale, and after that until a treasurer's deed is delivered (A.R.S. 42-18152). The lien buyer may sue to foreclose between three and ten years after acquiring the lien (A.R.S. 42-18201).
3. Assessed values. Note the full cash value and limited property value, but don't treat either as a price.

9. Environmental and other

1. Open range and airports. The Real Estate Commissioner's notice for unsubdivided land covers open range and airport proximity (A.R.S. 32-2195). Both are worth checking for any rural parcel.
2. Bogus recorded documents. If you find a document on title you believe is groundless, Arizona law gives owners a special action to clear title and imposes liability on whoever recorded it knowingly (A.R.S. 33-420).

10. Disclosure (unincorporated land)

1. Affidavit of disclosure. A seller of five or fewer unsubdivided parcels in an unincorporated area must give the buyer an affidavit of disclosure at least seven days before transfer, and the buyer has five days to rescind after receiving it (A.R.S. 33-422). It covers about two dozen items, including legal and physical access, road maintenance, utilities, floodplain, septic, zoning compliance and title encumbrances. Liability waivers in it are void.
2. Use it as a checklist. Even as a buyer, the affidavit's questions are a good final pass over everything above.

Putting it together

Once the list is done, the question becomes whether the parcel can support the use you want. Our buildability guide turns these items into a yes, no or "costs extra" decision.

General information, not legal, tax or survey advice. First 48 Offers LLC is a real estate investment company that buys land. It is not a law firm, brokerage, surveyor or title company. Arizona statutes, county procedures and agency boundaries change, and every parcel turns on its own facts. Verify anything important with the county, the agency named, or an Arizona attorney before relying on it.