Arkansas property laws cover how you take title to a home, how deeds transfer and record, what taxes apply, how landlords and tenants deal with each other under the state’s 2007 landlord-tenant act, and what happens to real estate when the owner dies. Several of these rules run differently from what people expect from other states, and a few of them can cost you money or property if you don’t know them going in.
Ways to Hold Title
One person can own real estate outright, but most Arkansas titles involve two or more owners, and the form of co-ownership matters. The default when multiple people take title together is tenancy in common: each owner holds a separate share that can be sold or passed by will independently of the others.
Joint tenancy adds a right of survivorship. When one joint tenant dies, the surviving owner takes the whole property automatically, outside probate. Tenancy by the entirety is the married-couple version of that arrangement and carries an extra protection: a creditor with a claim against only one spouse generally cannot force a sale to collect.1Justia Law. Arkansas Code 23-76-125 – Rules Both spouses have to sign off to sell or mortgage the property, and if one spouse dies the survivor owns it all.
None of these ownership forms make property rights absolute. Restrictive covenants written into a deed can limit use. Easements can give someone else a right to cross your land. Zoning and environmental rules layer on top of everything.
Homestead Protection
Article 9 of the Arkansas Constitution protects a principal residence from most creditor claims. The acreage ceilings are 160 acres rural and one acre urban, but both ceilings sit under a $2,500 value cap that dates to 1874 and does almost no work today. What actually protects most homeowners are the floors: at least 80 acres of rural land, or one-quarter acre of urban land, is shielded regardless of value, as long as it is your principal residence.2Justia Law. Arkansas Constitution Article 9 – Section 3
The exemption stops general creditors. It does not stop mortgage foreclosure, tax liens, or the other claims the constitution specifically carves out. And it only covers the home you actually live in.
Deeds, Recording, and Transfer Taxes
Transferring Arkansas real estate takes a written deed, signed by the person giving up the property and notarized. Witnesses are not required. A warranty deed guarantees the seller holds clear title and will defend the buyer against later claims. A quitclaim deed hands over whatever interest the seller happens to have, with no promises about whether that interest is any good. Quitclaims are common between family members or to clean up title questions, but they leave the buyer with no recourse if a problem surfaces.
Record the deed with the county clerk in the county where the property sits.3Justia Law. Arkansas Code 18-12-209 – Recorded Deed or Written Instrument Affecting Real Estate Recording is not technically required for the transfer to work between the two parties, but skipping it is risky. Arkansas protects a later good-faith buyer who records first. If you buy property, don’t record, and the seller sells the same land again to someone who doesn’t know about your purchase, that second buyer can beat you if they record ahead of you.4Justia Law. Arkansas Code 14-15-404 – Effect of Recording Instruments Affecting Title to Property Record the same day you close.
On any transaction above $100, Arkansas charges a real property transfer tax of $3.30 per $1,000 of the sale price.5Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Real Property Transfer Tax A $200,000 sale generates $660 in transfer tax. County clerks also charge per-page recording fees that vary by county.
Before closing, buyers usually order a title search to confirm the property is free of liens, unpaid taxes, or competing claims, and title insurance covers problems the search misses. If ownership is genuinely disputed, a quiet title action asks a court to decide who owns what.
Property Taxes and the Homestead Credit
All real property in Arkansas is assessed annually and taxed based on value, with rates set by the county and by local taxing districts. Owners who live in their property as a principal residence can claim a homestead property tax credit. Starting with 2026 tax bills, the legislature has authorized that credit to rise up to $600 per year.6Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Property Tax Relief You have to apply through the county assessor to get it. Fall behind on property taxes long enough and the county can sell the delinquent debt at a tax lien sale, with the buyer eventually able to pursue title if you never pay.
Zoning and Land Use
Cities and counties divide land into residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural districts and set rules about what can be built or operated in each.7Justia Law. Arkansas Code 14-56-416 If what you want to do doesn’t fit the zone, you generally have two options. A variance is an exception granted when strict enforcement would cause genuine hardship, not just inconvenience. A conditional use permit lets you do something the zone doesn’t normally allow, like running a small business from a home, if you meet the conditions the local board sets. Both routes go through a public hearing where neighbors get to be heard.
Owners who think a restriction is unreasonable can challenge it in court, though courts uphold zoning that serves a legitimate public purpose such as safety or neighborhood character. If conditions in the area have changed substantially since the current zoning was adopted, you can also petition for rezoning.
Renting in Arkansas
The Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 governs most rentals in the state, and it does not read like landlord-tenant law elsewhere.8Justia Law. Arkansas Code Title 18, Subtitle 2, Chapter 17 – Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 Arkansas is one of very few states that does not impose an implied warranty of habitability. A landlord has no general statutory duty to keep the unit livable unless the lease itself creates one. Tenants who want repair obligations enforceable need them written into the lease before signing; verbal promises carry little weight.
Deposits and Ending a Tenancy
Arkansas does not cap security deposits. After a tenancy ends, the landlord has 60 days to return the deposit, less deductions for unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear, and must send an itemized written statement of anything withheld.9Justia Law. Arkansas Code 18-16-305 – Refund Required – Exceptions
For lease violations other than nonpayment, a landlord must give at least 14 days’ written notice to cure before terminating. For unpaid rent, the timeline is far shorter: rent more than five days late lets the landlord terminate the agreement outright.10Justia Law. Arkansas Code 18-17-701 – Noncompliance with Rental Agreement
Criminal Failure to Vacate
Arkansas Code 18-16-101 makes it a criminal offense to stay in a rental after receiving a proper notice to vacate for nonpayment. A tenant who refuses to leave can be charged with an unclassified misdemeanor carrying daily fines between $1 and $25.11Justia Law. Arkansas Code 18-16-101 The statute survived several constitutional challenges and was amended by the legislature in 2017 to its current form. Almost every other state treats eviction as purely civil.
Fair Housing
Whatever state law allows, every Arkansas landlord is bound by the federal Fair Housing Act. Discrimination is prohibited in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC Chapter 45 – Fair Housing Familial status covers households with children under 18 and pregnant individuals. Disability protections require landlords to allow reasonable modifications and accommodations.
Passing Property at Death
Arkansas is not a community property state. It has its own intestacy scheme for people who die without a will, and its own rules for wills and probate.
No Will
When someone dies intestate leaving both a spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives one-third of the real estate (as a life estate through dower or curtesy) and one-third of the personal property. The children split the remaining two-thirds.13Justia Law. Arkansas Code 28-9-214 – Tables of Descents With no children, the spouse’s share increases, typically to one-half of newly acquired real estate and one-half of personal property, with the remainder going to parents, siblings, or more distant relatives.
Wills, Witnesses, and Probate
A valid Arkansas will must be in writing, signed by the person making it, and witnessed by at least two people who sign at the testator’s request and in the testator’s presence.14Justia Law. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally A witness who also inherits under the will does not automatically void it, but that witness risks forfeiting any inheritance above what they would have taken under intestacy.15Justia Law. Arkansas Code 28-25-102 – Witnesses Use witnesses with no financial stake.
Arkansas also recognizes holographic wills, handwritten and signed by the testator, without witnesses if statutory requirements are met.
For smaller estates, there is a shortcut. When the total value of the deceased’s property, excluding the homestead and statutory family allowances, does not exceed $100,000, heirs can use an affidavit process to collect assets without full probate.16Justia Law. Arkansas Code 28-41-101 – Collection of Small Estates
Spousal Rights and Contests
A surviving spouse cannot be fully disinherited. Dower and curtesy generally guarantee at least a one-third life interest in the deceased spouse’s real property, and the surviving spouse may also claim a statutory elective share that overrides a will leaving them less than their legal entitlement.17Justia Law. Arkansas Code 28-39-401 – Rights of Surviving Spouse – Limitations Heirs who believe a will is invalid can file a contest alleging fraud, undue influence, or lack of capacity, but they must produce clear and convincing evidence. Trusts and beneficiary designations move assets outside probate entirely.
Easements, Adverse Possession, and Boundaries
Easements let someone use part of your property for a specific purpose. Express easements are created by written agreement. Easements by necessity arise when a parcel has no access to a public road except through a neighbor’s land. Implied easements come from long-accepted use patterns.
Prescriptive easements are where owners most often get burned. If someone uses part of your land openly, continuously, and without permission for at least seven years, they can win a legal right to keep using it. Arkansas courts apply the same seven-year period used for adverse possession. Letting a neighbor’s shortcut across your property go unchallenged for years can eventually cost you a permanent easement.
Adverse Possession
Adverse possession can transfer legal title to someone who occupies land they don’t own. Arkansas generally requires the claimant to hold color of title and pay property taxes on the parcel for at least seven years.18Justia Law. Arkansas Code 18-11-106 – Adverse Possession On unimproved and unenclosed land, paying taxes for seven years can establish color of title provided the actual owner has not also been paying. Wild and unimproved land requires fifteen years of tax payments. The possession has to be exclusive, open, and continuous; sneaking on or using the land now and then does not count.
Resolving Boundary Disputes
Boundary fights usually come from vague deed descriptions, conflicting surveys, or structures crossing property lines. When negotiation stalls, either party can file a quiet title action asking a court to fix the boundary. Encroachments such as fences or driveways may have to be removed, though a court will occasionally grant an easement or order compensation when tearing something out would cause disproportionate hardship. Mediation resolves many of these disputes faster than a lawsuit.
Federal Rules That Also Apply
Two federal rules routinely reach Arkansas property owners no matter what state law says.
Sellers and landlords of housing built before 1978 must disclose known lead-based paint hazards before completing a sale or lease, and buyers must be given a 10-day window to inspect for lead before becoming contractually bound.19US EPA. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (Section 1018 of Title X) Failing to disclose exposes the seller or landlord to federal penalties and civil liability.
When you sell your primary residence, federal tax law lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain from income, or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly, if you owned and lived in the home for at least two of the five years before the sale.20Internal Revenue Service. Sale of Your Home Gain above those thresholds is taxed as a capital gain. Arkansas does not offer a separate state-level exclusion, so any gain above the federal amount is also subject to state income tax.