Under NFPA 96, the national fire standard for commercial kitchen exhaust, the equipment owner is responsible for hood cleaning unless a lease, written use agreement or management contract hands that responsibility to the restaurant operator. In a leased restaurant, the answer is in your lease. If the lease is silent, the default points back to whoever owns the hood system.
That settles who pays and who schedules. It does not settle who answers when something goes wrong. The fire inspector checks the certificate kept on the premises, the county health inspector holds the permit holder accountable for the kitchen, and after a fire the insurer asks for the records. In a leased restaurant, all three usually land on the tenant, no matter who wrote the check for hood and exhaust cleaning.
The Short Answer
- By default: the equipment owner, under NFPA 96 section 4.1.5.
- If the lease delegates it: the restaurant operator, management firm or managing individual named in the agreement.
- At the health inspection: the permit holder, which is the food business, normally the operator.
- At the fire inspection: whoever keeps the certificate and reports on the premises, usually the operator.
- The hood cleaning company: responsible for the quality of its work and its paperwork, not for the system.
What NFPA 96 Actually Says About Responsibility
Older editions of NFPA 96 put it this way: responsibility for inspection, maintenance and cleanliness of the system “shall ultimately be that of the owner of the system,” provided it “has not been transferred in written form to a management company, tenant, or other party.” Most answers online stop there.
The 2024 edition, which is current, rewrote the section in two parts. Section 4.1.5.1 makes the equipment owner responsible for inspection, testing, maintenance and cleanliness of the ventilation control, fire protection and cooking appliances. Section 4.1.5.2 lets an owner who does not run the kitchen delegate that responsibility to the commercial cooking operator, a management firm or a managing individual “through specific provisions in the lease, written use agreement, or management contract.”
Two things in that change matter. The word “specific” suggests a clause that names the hood, duct, fan and fire protection stands on firmer ground than a general promise to maintain the premises. And the committee that wrote it explained that responsibility goes to a party with control over the cooking operation, which is why it never passes to the company you hire to clean.
Why the Hood Cleaning Company Is Not the Responsible Party
Operators sometimes assume that once a vendor is on contract, compliance is the vendor’s problem. The NFPA committee addressed this directly when it revised section 4.1.5: service contractors, including exhaust cleaners and suppression installers, visit periodically and do not have the ongoing access or authority to carry that responsibility.
What the cleaning company owes you is the work and the paper. NFPA 96 requires a certificate kept on the premises showing the service company, the person who did the work and the date (section 12.6.13), and a written report to the owner of the system that specifies any area that was inaccessible or not cleaned (section 12.6.14). Notice who that report goes to. If you are a tenant and the lease makes you responsible, make sure the report comes to you and keep it.
Three Rulebooks, Three Different Questions
Most of the confusion comes from treating “responsible” as one thing. In a Phoenix restaurant, three sets of rules ask three different questions, and they do not all point at the same person.
The fire code asks, “Is the system maintained?”
The City of Phoenix enforces the 2024 International Fire Code, adopted February 17, 2026. A fire inspector looking at your hood will want the current certificate and cleaning records, and the person standing in the kitchen when they ask is the operator. See what a commercial kitchen fire inspection checks.
The health code asks, “Is the kitchen clean?”
Maricopa County Environmental Services still enforces the 2017 FDA Food Code, adopted with “no future editions or amendments” in the county health code revised August 19, 2026. Under it, the permit holder must be or designate a person in charge on site (section 2-101.11), and exhaust ducts must be cleaned so they are not a source of contamination by dust, dirt and other materials (section 6-501.14). The permit holder is the food business, not the building owner, so a grease-loaded hood becomes the operator’s finding even if the landlord owns the steel.
The insurance policy asks, “Can you prove it?”
After a kitchen fire, the question is whether cleaning happened on schedule, and the answer is in your records. Insurance professionals warn that when maintenance logs do not show cleaning in line with NFPA 96, a carrier may argue the loss was preventable. Your policy covers your business, so the records are your problem, whatever the lease says. More on what insurers expect from hood cleaning records.
Put simply: the lease decides who pays. The inspection decides who answers.
What Arizona Law Adds
Not much, and that is the point. Arizona’s landlord and tenant statute is written for residential rentals. Commercial leases in the state are governed mainly by the contract and by case law, and Arizona courts have held that without an agreement to the contrary, a landlord is not obligated to make repairs to leased premises. There is no Arizona statute that divides hood cleaning between a commercial landlord and tenant. The lease and the NFPA 96 default do that work.
This is general information, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review the lease before you sign or renew.
How It Usually Plays Out by Property Type
Freestanding or single-tenant restaurants
Triple-net leases generally put the maintenance of building systems on the tenant, and the hood system usually comes with it. Confirm the lease names the exhaust system specifically rather than relying on a general maintenance clause.
Inline space in a retail center
Retail restaurant leases commonly name the tenant for exhaust hood cleaning and maintenance, and some require the tenant to use a service company the landlord approves. The roof, though, is usually the landlord’s, so grease damage around the exhaust fan is where disputes start. Some lease forms make the tenant responsible for repairs outside the premises caused by the tenant’s use. Ask who pays for rooftop grease containment before grease reaches the membrane.
Food courts and shared exhaust
When several kitchens share a duct or a fan, no single tenant controls the whole system. Because NFPA 96 lets responsibility pass only to a party with control of the cooking operation, the shared sections logically point back to the owner or its management company unless the lease says otherwise. That is a reading of the standard, not a rule, so ask in writing who cleans the shared duct and how the cost is split.
Hotels and resorts
A hotel restaurant may be run by the hotel, by a management company, or by a tenant operator. Section 4.1.5.2 names management firms and management contracts specifically, so the management agreement is the document to read for hotel and resort kitchens.
Second-generation restaurant space
Taking over a space that was already a restaurant means inheriting its exhaust system and everything inside it. Before you open, ask for the last certificate and written report, and have the system inspected. The previous tenant’s grease becomes your fire load and your inspection finds the day you get the keys. If the space is being offered as a turnkey restaurant, ask whether the hood was cleaned after the last tenant left, and ask to see that report.
What to Check in Your Lease Before Your Next Inspection
- Does it name the hood, duct, exhaust fan and fire suppression system specifically, or only “HVAC” or “the premises”?
- Who schedules and pays for cleaning, and who chooses the vendor?
- Who is responsible for grease damage to the roof and for rooftop grease containment?
- Who receives the certificate and the written report, and who keeps them?
- How is a shared duct or fan handled, and how is the cost split?
- What condition must the exhaust system be in when you hand the space back?
- Who arranges roof access for the cleaning crew?
When the Lease Is Silent
Do not wait for an inspection to settle it. Put the question to the other party in writing, keep the system on its NFPA 96 inspection schedule in the meantime, and keep every certificate and report. Paying for a cleaning you may not strictly owe is usually a smaller problem than a failed inspection or a disputed claim.
If you are the landlord, the same logic runs the other way. A tenant who skips cleaning puts your building and your roof at risk, and under the 2024 wording you stay responsible until a specific written provision says otherwise. Asking for copies of the tenant’s certificates and reports is a reasonable condition to write into the next renewal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the landlord responsible for hood cleaning?
Only if the lease leaves it there. NFPA 96 makes the equipment owner responsible unless a lease, written use agreement or management contract delegates it to the operator. If the landlord owns the system and the lease is silent, the default points to the landlord.
Who is responsible for hood cleaning in a restaurant?
The equipment owner under NFPA 96, or the operator if the lease delegates it. At a health inspection, the permit holder, normally the operator, answers for a clean exhaust system either way.
Is the hood cleaning company responsible for NFPA 96 compliance?
No. The company is responsible for doing the work properly and leaving the certificate and written report. Responsibility for the system stays with the owner or the party the lease names.
Who pays for grease damage on the restaurant roof?
Check the lease. Some retail lease forms make the tenant responsible for repairs outside the premises caused by the tenant’s use, which can include roof damage from exhaust grease.
Do you work with landlords and property managers in the Phoenix area?
Yes. Hood Hero cleans restaurant, hotel and other commercial kitchen hood systems across Gilbert, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa, Phoenix and Tempe, plus Tucson, and we can send the certificate and report to the party whose lease names. See hood cleaning in Phoenix.
Get Clear on Your Hood Before the Inspector Asks
Hood Hero is local, family-owned and operated, $5M insured, and staffed by Phil Ackland-certified technicians who are background-checked and drug-screened.
Request a free compliance check. Whether you own the building or lease the space, we will tell you plainly what the system needs and leave the paperwork your next inspection will ask for.
