California notice to pay rent or quit

State form

• Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1161, the notice states the amount due and the name, telephone number and address of the person who takes the payment.¹
• If a California tenant may pay in person, Section 1161 also requires the usual days and hours when the person collecting rent is available.¹
• Instead of an in-person address, a California notice may give a bank account at a financial institution within five miles of the rental, or an electronic transfer procedure the parties already set up.¹
• The California courts’ self-help guide lists the tenant’s full names, the rental address, the exact rent owed, the deadline and the payment details, and says late fees, utilities and damages cannot be added.³
• The California courts’ self-help guide states that eviction notices are not court forms, so the state courts publish no official 3-day notice.³

Deadlines

• California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1161 gives a tenant who is behind on rent three days after a written notice to pay, leaving out Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays.¹
• The California courts’ self-help guide says the day the notice was handed over or mailed is not counted, and a deadline that lands on a weekend or court holiday moves to the next court day.⁴
• When a California notice is left with another adult or posted and then mailed, the courts’ guide starts the count on the day after the mailing.⁴
• California Code of Civil Procedure Section 135 makes every Saturday, the day after Thanksgiving and the state holidays listed in the Government Code judicial holidays, with a few named exceptions such as Columbus Day.⁵
• A California landlord may serve the notice for unpaid rent at any time within one year after that rent became due.¹

Delivering the notice

• California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1162 allows the notice to be handed to the tenant, or, when the tenant is away from home and work, left with a responsible person there and also mailed to the tenant’s home.⁶
• If no home or work address is known or no responsible person can be found, California Section 1162 allows posting the notice in a conspicuous place at the rental and mailing a copy there.⁶
• In California, a subtenant actually living in the unit must also be served with the notice to pay rent or quit.¹
• The California courts’ guide has an adult aged 18 or older deliver the notice and then sign a dated delivery statement under penalty of perjury.⁴

Where it is filed

• If a California tenant neither pays nor moves out by the deadline, the landlord files forms in court to start an eviction case, called an unlawful detainer.²

Taxes and fees

• California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1161 bars a landlord or agent from charging the tenant any fee for serving, posting or delivering the notice.¹

Law

• Under the California Tenant Protection Act, Civil Code Section 1946.2, not paying rent is an at-fault just cause for ending a tenancy.⁷
• In the City of Los Angeles, every notice ending a tenancy in a unit under the Rent Stabilization or Just Cause ordinance, including a 3-day notice to pay or quit, is filed with the Los Angeles Housing Department within three business days of service.⁸
• Since March 27, 2023, a City of Los Angeles landlord cannot evict for unpaid rent unless the tenant owes more than the Fair Market Rent for a unit of that size.⁹
• Since August 20, 2025, a City of Los Angeles landlord gives the tenant a Notice of Right to Counsel every time an eviction notice is served.⁹
• The San Francisco Rent Board requires a copy of its Form 1007 to be attached to every eviction notice, a category that includes a notice to pay rent or quit.¹⁰
• San Francisco’s rule that eviction notices be filed with the Rent Board within ten days does not apply to evictions for unpaid rent.¹⁰

• Property address, unit and county
• The exact rent past due and the rental periods it covers
• Who takes the rent, where, and the hours for paying in person
• Whether the property has a federally backed mortgage or a federal housing program

It does not evict anyone. Only a court can order a tenant out; this notice is the step that usually comes before filing.