An Alaska 7-day notice to pay rent or quit is the first formal step a landlord takes when a tenant falls behind on rent. It is a written demand that does two things at once: it tells the tenant exactly how much rent is unpaid, and it warns that the tenancy will terminate if that rent is not paid in full within seven days. Alaska sets this remedy in AS § 34.03.220, the landlord-remedies section of the Alaska Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Subsection (b) is the nonpayment provision, and it is the notice a landlord must serve before an eviction for unpaid rent can move to court.

Unlike a no-cure notice, the seven-day pay-or-quit is curable: if the tenant pays the full amount within the seven-day window, the default is cured and the tenancy continues. The form on this page assembles that notice for you and writes the rent owed, the periods it covers, the total due, the pay-by deadline, and where and how to pay into a clean PDF. Before you serve, confirm you are using the right notice for the situation: for a curable lease violation other than rent, use the Alaska notice to cure or quit, for deliberate damage or illegal activity use the Alaska unconditional quit notice, and for the full statutory picture review our Alaska eviction notice laws guide. If you are filling a unit after a nonpayment problem, tighten the next tenancy at the front door with careful tenant screening.

What an Alaska 7-day pay-or-quit notice does

Alaska sorts eviction notices by the kind of problem behind them, and nonpayment of rent has its own dedicated notice. When a tenant falls behind, the landlord does not go straight to court — the law requires a written notice first, and that notice is the seven-day pay-or-quit. It performs two jobs in a single document. First, it states the amount of rent that is unpaid and past due. Second, it warns the tenant that the tenancy will terminate if that rent is not paid in full within seven days of the notice.

The word pay-or-quit captures the choice the notice puts to the tenant: pay the full amount due within the window and keep the tenancy, or fail to pay and lose the right to possession. The legal basis is AS § 34.03.220(b), which provides that if rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay in full within seven days after written notice of the nonpayment and the landlord’s intention to terminate, the tenancy terminates and the landlord may recover possession. Because the tenant can still cure by paying, this notice is fundamentally different from the no-cure notice used for deliberate damage or illegal activity — here, the door to keeping the tenancy stays open for the full seven days.

The seven-day period and what the tenant must do

The core of the notice is the seven-day window. Under AS § 34.03.220(b), the tenant has seven days after the written notice to pay the rent in full. Paying the whole amount stated in the notice within those seven days cures the default, and the tenancy continues as if the rent had been paid on time. Anything short of full payment, on the other hand, does not automatically cure the default — though, as discussed below, Alaska lets the landlord accept a partial payment and shift the eviction date rather than reject it outright.

Two features of the seven-day count deserve attention. First, Alaska does not tack extra days onto the period when the notice is mailed. Some states add days for mailed service; Alaska’s statute does not, so the seven days run from proper service under AS § 09.45.100. To keep the timeline clean, many landlords hand-deliver the notice so the service date is unmistakable, or send it by certified mail and count from delivery. Second, the notice must state the landlord’s intention to terminate if the rent is not paid within the period — a bare demand for money without that statement does not satisfy the statute. The form on this page includes the intention-to-terminate language automatically.

Demanding the right amount

A pay-or-quit notice is only as strong as the number on it. The demand should be for rent that is unpaid and past due, stated precisely and broken down by the period each amount covers. If the tenant owes for more than one month, list each month and its amount so the tenant — and later the court — can see exactly what is claimed and confirm the total.

Keep the demand focused on rent. Late fees, utility charges, damage claims, and other add-ons are a frequent source of disputes, and lumping them into a rent demand invites the tenant to argue the notice overstates what is owed. The safer practice is to demand the base rent that is past due, state that figure clearly, and pursue any separate charges on their own track. The form above lets you enter up to three lines of past-due rent by period, then computes the total for you so the amount on the notice matches your ledger to the cent. If you are unsure whether a particular charge counts as rent under your lease and Alaska law, leave it off the seven-day notice.

A worked example. Say the monthly rent is fourteen hundred fifty dollars and the tenant paid nothing for June and July. List “Rent for June 2026” and “Rent for July 2026,” each at the monthly figure, for a total of two months’ rent — and stop there. If the lease also carries a late fee and the tenant owes a utility balance, resist the urge to fold those into the seven-day notice. Demanding the clean two months of base rent keeps the notice defensible; the late fee and utility balance are pursued separately, not lumped into the pay-or-quit demand. A notice that states the true rent figure is far stronger than one padded with add-ons that a tenant can attack as overstated.

The one-notice rule and repeat nonpayment

Alaska builds two efficiency features into the nonpayment statute, and both work in the landlord’s favor. The first is the one-notice rule. AS § 34.03.220(b) states that only one written notice of default need be given the tenant as to any one default. A landlord who has served a proper seven-day notice does not have to keep sending reminders about the same unpaid rent; the single notice starts and runs the clock.

The second is the repeat-nonpayment provision. If, in the absence of due care by the tenant, substantially the same nonpayment that triggered a prior notice recurs within six months, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement on at least three days’ written notice specifying the breach and the date of termination — not the full seven. In practice, the first nonpayment in a six-month stretch gets the full seven-day notice; a qualifying repeat within that six-month window can be handled on three days’ notice. The form above lets you select the three-day repeat notice and confirm the qualifying facts, and it computes the pay-by deadline accordingly. Reserve the three-day repeat notice for a genuine recurrence of substantially the same default within six months — misapplying it is a common way a notice gets challenged.

Accepting a partial payment

Nonpayment cases often involve a tenant who can pay some but not all of what is owed, and Alaska addresses that head-on. Under AS § 34.03.220(b), a landlord who has given the seven-day notice may accept a partial payment of the rent due and extend the date for the eviction accordingly. This is a meaningful difference from states where accepting any money after a notice can waive it entirely: in Alaska, the statute expressly preserves the eviction path while allowing the landlord to take partial rent and adjust the timeline.

The practical key is documentation. If you accept a partial payment, put the new arrangement in writing: the amount received, the balance still owed, and the adjusted date by which the remaining rent must be paid or possession delivered. Keep that record with the original notice. An accepted partial payment with a clearly documented new eviction date protects the landlord; an undocumented one invites a later argument that the notice was waived or the deadline reset in the tenant’s favor.

Serving the notice under AS 09.45.100

A correct notice served the wrong way is still defective, so service deserves the same care as the content. Alaska sets its notice-to-quit service rule in the forcible entry and detainer chapter, AS § 09.45.100 — and that rule, not another state’s methods and not any add-days-for-mail convention, is what governs here. Under § 09.45.100, the notice is served by delivering it to the tenant or the person in possession, by leaving it at the premises if the tenant is absent, or by sending it by registered or certified mail.

Because the seven-day clock runs from proper service, how and when you serve determines when you can file. Many Alaska landlords hand-deliver the notice and, where a tenant may be avoiding contact, also send it by certified mail to create a clean record. Whatever method you use, document it: note who served the notice, the date and time, the address, and any witness or process-server details. That record is what you will show the court, and it is far easier to build at the moment of service than to reconstruct later. Remember that Alaska does not add days for mailing, so do not borrow a mail-extension rule from another state — count the seven days from the service date itself.

Filing a forcible entry and detainer eviction

If the tenant does not pay the full amount by the deadline, the tenancy terminates and the landlord can move to court. Alaska’s eviction is a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action under AS § 09.45, filed in the trial court for the area where the property sits. The FED is Alaska’s expedited possession proceeding, and the court will set the hearing quickly, typically within a couple of weeks of filing.

At the hearing, the judge decides whether the rent was in fact unpaid and past due, whether the notice stated the amount and the intention to terminate correctly, and whether service complied with AS § 09.45.100. This is where your documentation carries the case. Bring the notice, the proof of service, and your rent ledger showing the unpaid balance and the periods it covers. If the tenant made a partial payment, bring the written record of it and the adjusted date. If the landlord prevails, the court issues a judgment for possession and, ultimately, a writ that authorizes a peace officer to remove the tenant. Only that officer, acting under the writ, may carry out the removal.

How to complete the notice

The form above assembles the notice, but understanding the steps behind it makes the document far more defensible.

1. Confirm the rent is past due. Check the lease due date and your ledger, and demand rent only — keep late fees and other charges off the seven-day notice.
2. Name the parties and premises. List every tenant on the lease and give the full property address and the borough or judicial district for court venue.
3. State the unpaid rent precisely. Enter each past-due period and its amount; the form totals them so the demand matches your ledger to the cent.
4. Set the deadline and notice type. Enter the service date and choose the seven-day notice (or the three-day repeat notice if a qualifying recurrence applies); the form computes the pay-by date.
5. State where and how to pay. Give the name, address, accepted methods, and hours so the tenant can actually deliver payment within the window.
6. Set the service details, generate, sign, and serve. Choose the AS 09.45.100 service method, produce the PDF, sign it, serve the tenant, and keep a dated copy with your proof of service before filing the FED action.

Keep the signed notice, the proof of service, and your rent ledger together in one file. Because the FED moves quickly, that file is your case, and it is far easier to build at the moment of service than to reconstruct under a tight hearing deadline.

Common mistakes that get the case dismissed

Most failed nonpayment evictions trace back to a short list of avoidable errors.

Avoiding these errors is mostly a matter of discipline: confirm the balance, state the amount and the intention to terminate, count the days correctly, serve it properly, and keep the proof. A strong screening process at move-in also reduces how often you face nonpayment in the first place.

Alaska statutory reference

Authority	Subject	Key point
AS § 34.03.220(b)	Nonpayment of rent	Seven-day written notice to pay in full or the tenancy terminates; landlord may then recover possession
AS § 34.03.220(b)	One-notice rule	Only one written notice of default need be given as to any one default
AS § 34.03.220(b)	Repeat within six months	Substantially the same nonpayment recurring within six months (absent due care) may be terminated on at least three days’ notice
AS § 34.03.220(b)	Partial payment	Landlord may accept a partial payment of rent due and extend the eviction date accordingly
AS § 34.03.220(a)(2)	Ordinary noncompliance	For a curable lease violation other than rent, a cure notice applies instead
AS § 34.03.220(a)(1)	Deliberate damage / illegal activity	No-cure notice to quit terminating in 24 hours to five days for those grounds
AS § 09.45.100	Service of notice to quit	Delivery to the tenant, leaving it at the premises if absent, or registered/certified mail
AS § 34.03.210	Self-help prohibited	No lockouts or utility shutoffs; a court order is required to remove a tenant
AS § 09.45	Forcible entry and detainer	Expedited eviction action the landlord files after the deadline passes; hearing set promptly

Local rules and lease terms can add requirements, and statutes change. Confirm the current text in the Alaska Statutes at akleg.gov or with an Alaska landlord-tenant attorney before relying on this notice in a contested matter. For the wider eviction picture, our Alaska eviction notice laws guide walks through every Alaska notice type and how they fit together, and the Alaska landlord-tenant laws overview covers the rest of the Act.

Best practices for Alaska landlords

The landlords who use this notice successfully — and rarely have it thrown out — share a handful of habits.

• Demand rent only, to the cent. Pull the past-due balance from your ledger, list it by period, and leave late fees and other charges off the notice.
• State the intention to terminate. The notice must say the tenancy will end if the rent is not paid in full within the period, and cite AS 34.03.220(b).
• Count the days correctly. Seven days from proper service for a first nonpayment; three only for a qualifying repeat within six months. No mail-extension days.
• Serve it correctly. Follow AS 09.45.100 — deliver it, leave it at the premises if the tenant is absent, or use registered/certified mail — and document every detail.
• Document any partial payment. If you accept part of the rent, record the amount, the balance, and the adjusted eviction date in writing.
• Never self-help. Let the court and a peace officer carry out any removal under a writ.
• Screen carefully going forward. Thorough tenant screening reduces how often you face nonpayment at all.

These habits compound. A precise notice, a correct deadline, proper service, and a ready ledger turn Alaska’s fast FED process into an advantage rather than a trap.

Frequently Asked Questions