For decades, Arizona has had Privacy Laws that include illegal eavesdropping.

Arizona implements a one-party consent law, which prohibits one party from listening in to another party without that party’s knowledge or consent. As a result, it would be considered a Class 6 felony to violate this law.

The Arizona Statutes covering this are A.R.S. § 13-3005, -3012(9).

What does this mean for you? 20+ years ago, most homes were not “smart”, meaning they had no wi-fi connected devices that watched, listened, or recorded motion, activity, or speech. But now, you probably will not find a listing that does not have some sort of “monitoring” device.

Thus, a seller that has any such devices should, at the very least, disclose in some fashion that these devices are on the property and might record anyone visiting the home. Listing agents should consider the disclosure in the MLS private remarks that home contains self-actuated listening devices. The most common are: (I only list names for the purposes of identifying items).

• Ring Doorbell Video Cameras
• Motion sensor devices (indoor or outdoor that sense and record activity)
• Security cams (indoor and out) that record video and sometimes audio
• Nanny cams and other indoor devices that monitor activity
• Alexa, Echo, Dot and other devices that provide music, timers, answers, etc., yet often can be programmed to listen and record.

In addition, a seller might have a flyer or page at the front lobby of the house that the home has listening devices. That could be a stack of handouts on a table, or a stand-up placard with some print or images that stand out and catch someone’s attention.

For the buyer’s agent, knowing this fact or not, should caution their buyer’s not to say anything outside or inside the home that they would prefer the seller not to hear. Some agents have reported some racist comments about the seller, or insults like “what blind idiot decorated this house” or comments about the condition that could insult the seller, or even some comments like “we love this house so much, we would pay well over list price”.

All of these types of comments could and do get recorded. Thus, the buyer’s agent should counsel the buyer, on their way to any listing, not to make any unsolicited comments. Even if the buyer’s agent asks “…so what do you think of this one?”, the answer could be insulting or damaging. A response such as “we can consider this one” is fine, but if the buyer says “nope, could not live in this S**T hole…” could be very insulting.

As a result, both agents have an obligation of disclosure, good counseling and protecting their client.