Property Management Laws And Regulations In Arkansas

Arkansas regulates third-party property management through several authorities at once, and the rules that matter most to a management company are the ones covering your license, your client trust accounts, and the money you hold on behalf of owners and tenants. This guide covers those rules for professional managers, with the statute or agency regulation behind each one.

Everything below is sourced to Arkansas's own statutes, agency rules, and court materials rather than to secondhand summaries. Specific dollar amounts and deadlines do change; the citations do not, so you can always open the authority and confirm the current text before you act on it.

Licensing Requirements For Property Managers

Arkansas requires a real estate license to manage rental property for others for compensation under the state's Real Estate License Law, administered by AREC. The Commission maintains dedicated Property Management Associate and Property Management Broker license categories with their own education tracks, alongside limited exemptions for certain salaried or hourly employees managing property solely for their own employer.

• AREC offers a Property Management Associate license, requiring 30 hours of property management education, and a Property Management Broker license, requiring 60 hours of education (including 30 hours on supervision practices) completed within 36 months before application. (A.C.A. § 17-42-303)
• Property management education must come from an accredited postsecondary school or a school or organization licensed by AREC, and post-licensure education must be completed within six months of initial licensure. (A.C.A. § 17-42-303)
• A person employed only at a salary or hourly rate to lease real property on behalf of a licensed principal broker, that broker's firm, or a property owner is exempt from licensure only if the person does not perform any activity beyond receiving a security deposit or a payment permitted by law. (Ark. Code Ann. § 17-42-104)

Client Trust Account Rules

AREC regulations require a principal broker who receives rental or security-deposit trust funds to deposit them promptly into a dedicated trust account or with an escrow agent, keep detailed records of all funds received and disbursed, reconcile the account monthly, and retain records for a set period. AREC audits and disciplinary action for commingling or shortages are based on these same recordkeeping and trust-account regulations.

• A principal broker who receives trust funds, including rental and security deposit funds, must either maintain a separate trust account or use an escrow agent, and must deposit such funds within three days of receipt. (AREC Regulation 10 (Records, Escrow Funds, Trust Accounts))
• Brokers must keep detailed records of all funds received into and disbursed from the trust account, and must reconcile the trust account bank statement in writing at least monthly, balancing it to the total of undisbursed trust funds. (AREC Regulation 10.8)
• Copies of trust account reconciliations and related records must be retained by the broker for at least three years. (AREC Regulation 10)
• AREC Regulations 8 and 10 govern recordkeeping and trust account handling for licensees, including property management brokers, and are the basis for AREC audits and disciplinary action for commingling or shortages. (AREC Regulations 8 and 10)

Trust account rules are where Arkansas management companies get into trouble fastest, because a shortage is a licensing problem and not just a bookkeeping problem. The habits that keep you clean are the boring ones: deposit on time, never let operating money and client money mix, reconcile every account every month, and keep a per, property record you could hand to an auditor without preparing it first. Our guide to preparing for a trust account audit walks through what examiners actually ask for.

Security Deposit Rules

Arkansas law generally requires a landlord to return a tenant's security deposit, or an itemized accounting of amounts withheld, within 60 days after the tenancy ends, though the 60-day requirement does not apply to landlords who own five or fewer dwelling units.

• Within sixty days of the termination of a tenancy, a landlord must return the security deposit, applying any portion needed to cover accrued unpaid rent or damages as itemized in a written notice delivered to the tenant, along with the remaining balance due. (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-305)
• A landlord is deemed to have complied with the deposit-return requirement by mailing the written notice and any refund due via first-class mail to the tenant's last known address; if that mail is returned and the tenant cannot be located after reasonable effort, the funds become the landlord's property 180 days after mailing. (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-305)

Rent, Late Fees, And Other Charges

Arkansas law preempts local rent control, and the legislature expanded that preemption in 2025 to also bar local regulation of rental application fees and deposit amounts.

• Arkansas law prohibits local governmental units, including counties and cities, from enacting or enforcing any ordinance that controls the amount of rent charged for private residential or commercial property. (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-16-601)
• Act 459 of 2025 (SB91) further prohibits local governmental units from regulating or capping the amount landlords may charge for rental application fees or rental deposits on private residential or commercial property. (Act 459 of 2025 (SB91))

Fee income is also taxable income, and how you record management fees, late fees, and pass, through charges affects both your compliance position and your books. See our guide to Arkansas property management taxes for the reporting side.

Fair Housing Obligations

Fair housing enforcement in Arkansas is handled by the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission, a state regulatory and enforcement agency that works alongside HUD.

• The Arkansas Fair Housing Act and the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission it created are codified in the Arkansas Code's civil rights title; the Commission is a quasi-judicial regulatory enforcement agency that works in conjunction with HUD to enforce fair housing rules. (Ark. Code Ann. § 16-123-201 et seq.)
• Housing discrimination complaints in Arkansas can be filed with the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission by phone or through an online complaint form. (Arkansas Fair Housing Commission complaint process)

Habitability And Safety Duties

Arkansas is a notable outlier on habitability: unlike most states, it has not adopted a full implied warranty of habitability. Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594) introduced minimum rental quality standards for leases entered on or after November 1, 2021, requiring a sound structure, a safe electrical system, potable running water, working plumbing, and heating and air conditioning available at the start of the lease term. If a landlord fails to provide or repair one of these items, the tenant's remedy under the Act is limited to terminating the lease and moving out, rather than the repair-and-deduct or damages remedies common under a full implied warranty of habitability. As of August 2026, Act 1052 remains the operative statute.

• Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594) amended the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 to establish statutory minimum quality standards for landlords, covering the structural, electrical, water, plumbing, and heating and cooling condition of the unit, applicable to leases entered into or renewed on or after November 1, 2021. (Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594))
• Under Act 1052 of 2021, if a landlord fails to provide or repair one of the enumerated quality-standard items, the tenant's remedy specified by the Act is to terminate the rental agreement and vacate, rather than the broader repair-and-deduct or damages remedies associated with a full implied warranty of habitability. (Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594))

Eviction Basics

Arkansas residential evictions proceed as a civil unlawful detainer and forcible entry and detainer action; Act 1052 of 2021 amended that civil cause of action as part of the same legislation that created the new habitability quality standards. Arkansas also has a long-standing criminal 'failure to vacate' statute allowing misdemeanor charges against a tenant who does not pay rent and does not leave after a landlord's written notice; this statute has been ruled unconstitutional by multiple Arkansas circuit courts and a 2021 bill to repeal it did not advance out of committee, leaving its present-day status unsettled. Property management companies should treat the criminal statute's current status as an open item requiring current legal counsel rather than something to rely on operationally.

• Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594) amended Arkansas's civil cause of action for unlawful detainer and forcible entry and detainer as part of the same legislation that created statutory habitability quality standards. (Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594))
• Arkansas's criminal failure-to-vacate statute makes it a misdemeanor for a tenant to willfully refuse to vacate after 10 days' written notice for nonpayment of rent, with additional daily fines and a requirement that a tenant contesting the charge deposit disputed rent into the court registry; multiple Arkansas circuit courts have ruled this statute unconstitutional, and a 2021 bill to repeal it (HB1798) did not advance out of committee; its precise current in-force status is unsettled, so confirm it with counsel before relying on it. (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-101)

Staying Compliant Without Guessing

Most Arkansas compliance failures are not decisions, they are drift: a deposit that sat too long, a reconciliation that got skipped in a busy month, a lease template that never got updated after a statute changed. Build the calendar first. Monthly trust reconciliations, an annual review of your lease and disclosure packet against current statutes, and a documented process for deposits and refunds cover the large majority of what an examiner will ask about.

This guide is a starting point for professional managers, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, a novel fact pattern, or anything with real money at stake, work with a Arkansas attorney, and confirm the current text of any statute cited above with the Arkansas Real Estate Commission (AREC) or the Arkansas legislature.

Sources

Every fact above is drawn from one of the official sources below.

• A.C.A. § 17-42-303, Arkansas Real Estate Commission
• Ark. Code Ann. § 17-42-104, Arkansas Real Estate Commission
• AREC Regulation 10 (Records, Escrow Funds, Trust Accounts), Arkansas Real Estate Commission
• AREC Regulations 8 and 10, Arkansas Real Estate Commission
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-16-601, Arkansas General Assembly
• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-123-201 et seq., Arkansas Department of Inspector General (Arkansas Fair Housing Commission)
• Arkansas Fair Housing Commission complaint process, Arkansas.gov / Arkansas Fair Housing Commission
• Act 1052 of 2021 (SB594), Arkansas General Assembly
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-101, Arkansas General Assembly