Types of eviction notices
Updated 2026-09-04 · 8 min read
Four kinds
Pay or quit · cure or quit · unconditional quit · no-cause termination. The facts pick one; you do not.
Every eviction begins with a notice, and the notice has to match the breach. Serving a cure-or-quit where the statute wanted a pay-or-quit is not a technicality — it is a dismissal.
The four documents
| Notice | When it applies | What the tenant may do |
|---|---|---|
| Pay or quit | Rent is unpaid | Pay in full within the period and stay |
| Cure or quit | A curable breach of the lease | Fix it within the period and stay |
| Unconditional quit | A serious or repeated breach, where the statute allows | Leave; no cure offered |
| No-cause termination | No breach — the tenancy is simply ending | Leave at the end of the notice |
Which are available at all depends on the state, and just-cause jurisdictions remove the last row entirely.
What every notice must contain
- The tenant's name and the property address, exactly as on the lease.
- The amount owed, if it is a pay-or-quit — accurate to the cent, rent only, never late fees where the statute forbids it.
- The breach described specifically, if it is a cure-or-quit.
- The period, and the date it expires.
- Where and how to pay or cure — an address and a method.
- The date, and your signature.
An inflated pay-or-quit is a dead pay-or-quit
Demanding rent plus late fees plus a utility balance in a notice that may only demand rent invalidates it in many states. Demand the rent; pursue the rest separately.
Counting the period
Counting is state-specific and unforgiving: some states count calendar days, some business days, some exclude the day of service, and several extend the period when service was by post. Read your own rule and write the expiry date on the copy you keep.
Where there is no breach and the tenancy is periodic, you are not evicting at all — the period is the ordinary termination notice, 60 or 30 days in California (Civ. Code § 1946.1, checked 2026-09-04). Use the notice to vacate template.
Service is half the case
- 01Try personal service first; it is the cleanest.
- 02Where allowed, substituted service on a competent adult plus a mailed copy.
- 03Post-and-mail only where the statute permits it, and photograph the posting in place.
- 04Complete a proof of service and keep it with the notice.
Then follow the sequence in how to file an eviction notice — and never accept rent mid-period without checking the waiver rule first.