Three Day Notice to Pay or Quit

Three Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit

Landlords can serve a three day notice to pay rent or quit when a tenant falls behind in the payment of rent. These notices are the most common type of notice that a landlord will serve and will always qualify as just cause grounds for eviction. Although they may seem simple in nature, there are several important points to consider.

Statewide Requirements

All three day notices to pay rent or quit are governed by California Code of Civil Procedure 1161(2). Courts require strict compliance with this statute – if you’ve never read it before and you’re contemplating an eviction action, you should read it yourself.

             Rent

The statute provides that only RENT can be stated on the notice. This does not include any late fees, utilities, Pet Fees, Parking Fees, or any other fee other than the amount paid to rent the unit. Do NOT put anything else on the notice. If you place additional monetary figures that are not deemed to be rent, the Court can dismiss your case and you will have to start over.

Exclude Saturdays, Sundays and Judicial Holidays!

The statute provides that a three day notice must exclude “Saturdays and Sundays and other judicial holidays”. This exclusion must be in writing. Without this exclusion, the landlord’s notice will not likely stand up in court. This is a very simple mistake to avoid – there is nothing worse than bringing a case to trial and losing on one careless mistake!

Person to Pay

Additionally, the landlord’s notice must contain the “name, telephone number, and address of the person to whom the rent payment shall be made”. This should ideally be a natural person – not a legal entity like an LLC or a trust. Again, if the landlord wants the notice to hold up in court, they need to strictly comply with this code section. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Payment Types

There are several payment types a landlord can choose from, and they can choose to allow the tenant multiple options. They are: payment in person, payment by mail, payment into a bank account, or a previously established electronic funds transfer procedure.

The landlord must select at least one of those options.

Payment in person – if the landlord allows payment in person, they must give the tenant a valid address. We have seen landlords lose their cases because the address to pay “in person” was actually a commercial mail box, or a vacant building. If you are a landlord, and you aren’t comfortable giving out your address, you can select a different option, listed below.

If you do allow for payment in person, you’ll need to provide the “usual days and hours that person will be available to receive the payment”. You’ll want to make sure that the person to pay is actually at the address between those times during the notice period – we’ve seen landlords lose because no one was available to take the tenant’s payment.

Payment by mail – allowing payment by mail gives the tenant a larger opportunity to pay the rent. Ordinarily, the rent must be received by the landlord within three days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays). So if the tenant shows up a day late, the landlord may refuse the late rent and proceed with eviction. If personal payment is not allowed, then the payment is “deemed received by the owner on the date posted”, if the tenant can show proof of mailing to the name and address provided by the owner.

Payment into a bank account – in lieu of personal payment or payment by mail, landlords can require tenants to deposit the money into an account in a financial institution. However, the number of the account must be provided to the tenant, along with the name and street address of the institution. The institution must be within five miles of the rental property. You’ll want to use a branch address – don’t list an ATM by mistake!

Payment by previously established electronic funds transfer – finally, if the landlord has previously established an electronic funds transfer procedure (say by having the tenant pay rent through an electronic portal) that option can be required. We generally do not recommend having this be the only option selected.

It is important to follow through with all of these steps as California Courts impose strict compliance onto landlords for notice requirements. Your eviction case can be dismissed because you failed to strictly comply with any of these common mistakes listed above.

Contact Our Team

Our office is located in the heart of Los Angeles and proudly serves Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Orange County, and Ventura County.

info@capropertylawgroup.com

(323) 282-7969

930 S. La Brea Ave. Suite 204, 
Los Angeles, CA 90036