A raw land due diligence checklist for Arizona covers eleven areas: title, legal access, zoning, water, flood zone, utilities, soils and septic, survey, environmental condition, recorded restrictions, and neighboring public land. Water and access decide what a parcel can be used for in Arizona, so check those early. Most of this work can be done before you spend money on a survey or an environmental report.
1. Title
Order a title commitment early. It lists the owner of record, liens, taxes owed and every exception to coverage: recorded easements, reservations, mineral rights, restrictions and agreements. Read the exception documents themselves, not only the list. Check that the seller who signs is the owner of record, and that an LLC, trust or estate has authority to sell. Ask the county treasurer about unpaid taxes.
2. Legal access
Driving to a parcel does not prove you have the right to. Legal access means the land touches a public road or has a recorded right to cross another owner's land. Confirm the road is public, or find the recorded easement and read its width, route and maintenance terms. Our guide to legal access to landlocked land in Arizona covers the options when there is none.
3. Zoning and land use
Confirm the zoning with the county or city planning department that has jurisdiction, in writing if you can. Ask what the zoning allows, the minimum lot size, setbacks, and whether a general plan amendment or rezoning would be needed for your plan. Rezoning, plats and site plans are the entitlement sequence. If the zoning does not fit the intended use, price the time and approvals into the deal.
4. Water
Water is the item most specific to Arizona. Start with one question: is the parcel inside an Active Management Area? ADWR lists eight AMAs: Prescott, Phoenix, Pinal, Tucson, Santa Cruz, Douglas, Willcox and Ranegras Plain.
- Inside an AMA, a subdivision needs an assured water supply: a certificate from ADWR, or a written commitment of service from a designated provider. See assured water supply in Arizona.
- Outside an AMA, A.R.S. 45-108 requires a water supply plan and an ADWR report on whether the supply is adequate. The Department of Real Estate's water guide says that outside an AMA, supplies are not assured and the law requires adequacy or inadequacy to be disclosed to the buyer.
- Wells. ADWR regulates all groundwater wells in Arizona and keeps a well registry with a searchable map. Look up registered wells near the parcel. Before drilling a new well, a person files a Notice of Intent to Drill with ADWR. Authority to drill is valid for one year, and a licensed well drilling contractor must do the work.
- No well, no provider. The ADRE water guide lists the ways owners get water to land without a service line: drilling a well, a holding tank or cistern, rain harvesting, commercial hauling, or a stream or water body if the legal right is confirmed. It also advises asking ADWR about grandfathered water rights tied to the land.
5. Flood zone
Check FEMA's flood maps. The Flood Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov lets you search by address and print a flood map or a smaller printable version called a FIRMette. FEMA calls the National Flood Hazard Layer the best starting point for official flood hazard determinations. Also walk the land and ask the county floodplain office whether it has local drainage mapping beyond FEMA's.
6. Utilities
Find out who serves the parcel and how far the nearest line is. Utilities give a limited free allowance and charge for the rest, and the numbers vary by company. Our guide to the cost to run power to land in Arizona walks through APS, TEP, UNS Electric, SRP and co-op tariffs. Ask the same questions for gas, sewer, telephone and internet where they matter to your use.
7. Soils and septic
If there is no sewer, the parcel needs a septic system, and the site must pass testing. Under A.A.C. R18-9-A310, a qualified investigator does a surface characterization and a subsurface characterization and identifies primary and reserve disposal areas. The rule names several limiting conditions, including slopes over 15 percent and a 100-year flood zone that could affect function. For percolation testing, it calls for at least two test locations in the primary area and one in the reserve area. Qualified investigators include Arizona-registered engineers, geologists and sanitarians.
Ask the county environmental or health office, and ADEQ, which of them handles septic approval for the parcel. Ask them before you pay for testing, and ask who may perform it.
8. Survey
A boundary or ALTA/NSPS survey shows the corners, acreage, easements in use, encroachments and whether the road sits inside its recorded easement. Match it to the legal description in the title commitment. Which survey you need depends on the deal.
9. Environmental condition
Ask how the land has been used. Look for old dump sites, fuel tanks, burned structures, former agricultural use and abandoned wells or mines. A Phase I environmental site assessment is a common first screening for this.
10. Recorded restrictions, HOA and disclosures
The title commitment will show recorded restrictions, covenants and any association. Read them for use limits, building rules, assessments and liens. If the land is part of a subdivision with six or more lots, A.R.S. 32-2181 requires the subdivider to disclose, among other items, use restrictions, annual fees for common facilities, livestock and open-range status, and proximity to military or public airports and high-noise zones. Ask for that disclosure if the land is in an existing subdivision.
11. State trust, BLM and other neighbors
Look at what borders the parcel. Land beside federal or state public land may have no public road, and public land may have its own rules for crossing it. The Bureau of Land Management says a right-of-way is required to build on public land or conduct any activity with appreciable disturbance, and that it grants these at its discretion in the public interest. For state trust land, ask the Arizona State Land Department what rights exist for the route you plan to use, and get the answer in writing.
How to sequence the work
Run the cheap, fast checks first: title commitment, zoning confirmation, flood map, well registry, utility service area. They cost little and can end a deal on day one. Spend on survey, soils testing and environmental work only after those checks hold up. Put each check into the purchase contract as a due diligence contingency with a deadline, so you can walk if one fails. Keep a written log of every answer, who gave it and the date, and file the source documents with the contract. A phone answer from a county clerk is a lead, not proof.
Rules change, and each county runs its own process. The county planning office, the title company and an Arizona real estate attorney have the final word.
Selling land that needs this work
Red Dirt Property buys and entitles land across all 15 Arizona counties. It underwrites parcels against its own statewide parcel data and buys as-is, then handles entitlement after closing, with no agent commission on its purchases. If you own land with open questions on this list, start at selling land to a developer.