By Jones Osborn II

In general, a subdivision is created under Arizona laws when a parcel of land is divided into six or more lots. This is true even if the parcels are separated by a roadway.

However, parcels separated by (1) a street created by the state or a political subdivision, (2) an interstate highway, or (3) a roadway that has been maintained by the state or a political subdivision and continuously used by the public for the last five years, are not considered "contiguous" and presumably would not be aggregated to determine whether a subdivision had been created. In other words, the property on one side of the street can be divided into five lots, and the property on the other side of the street can be divided into five lots, without creating a subdivision. The statutory language would seem to indicate, however, that even lots separated by streets could comprise a subdivision if marketed with a common theme, name, or promotional effort. Consequently, those seeking to take advantage of this exception are advised to proceed very carefully and avoid anything that might tie the two projects together.

The law also provides that parcels are not deemed contiguous when separated by physical barriers, such as a mountain, cliff, river, canyon, canal or lake not created by the owner within the preceding five years. This means that parcels separated by a qualifying physical barrier are treated the same as parcels separated by a street.

Another provision of Arizona law is that the sale of contiguous lots acquired from different persons are exempt from the subdivision laws if (1) they were not acquired for the purpose of development, (2) they are not located in a platted subdivision, (3) each lot has the same legal description as when acquired, and (4) the seller is in compliance with all other governmental requirements. Contiguous lots can be resold without complying with the subdivision laws if they were originally acquired from separate sellers and the other requirements set forth above have been satisfied. This means that if you buy six contiguous lots from six different sellers you can resell them to six different buyers without complying with the subdivison laws.

Municipalities. For some unexplained reason, a "subdivision" is defined differently when the land is located within the boundaries of a city or town. Ordinarily, state law defines a subdivision as the creation of six or more lots; however, in a city or town a subdivision is created by the division of property into (1) four or more lots, (2) two or more lots where a new street is created by the split, or (3) two or more lots, where the original lot was part of a recorded plat. This is a confusing exception to the general law governing subdivisions, but must be kept mind if your property is located in a municipality.