Free California 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit

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The 3-day notice to pay rent or quit is the notice a California landlord must serve before filing an unlawful detainer for nonpayment of rent. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2) gives the tenant 3 days, excluding weekends and judicial holidays, to pay in full or vacate. Following Eshagian v. Cepeda (June 2025) the notice must state the start date, the end date, the holiday exclusion, the consequence of not paying, and a clear address at which rent may be paid. Generate a compliant notice below.

3-Day Notice Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2) Eshagian-Compliant Free PDF

A California 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the statutorily-required written notice a landlord must serve before filing an unlawful detainer (eviction) for nonpayment of rent. It is governed by Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2), with service rules at § 1162 and the 5-day mail extension at § 1013. The June 2025 Court of Appeal decision in Eshagian v. Cepeda tightened the notice-content requirements: the court found a notice deficient because it did not state when the 3-day period began or ended or that weekends and judicial holidays are excluded, did not state that the landlord would repossess the premises if the rent went unpaid, and did not give a clear address at which rent could be paid. The form below produces an Eshagian-compliant notice; our California eviction notice laws guide covers the full process, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

The 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the statutorily-required written notice a California landlord must serve on a tenant who has failed to pay rent when due. It is the procedural prerequisite to filing an unlawful detainer (UD) action under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2). Without a properly-drafted, properly-served 3-day notice, no California court will entertain an eviction lawsuit for nonpayment of rent.

The notice does three things in one document. First, it demands the past-due rent. The amount must be precise to the cent. Late fees, utilities, repair charges, and other non-rent items cannot be included in the demand. A notice that overstates the amount owed – even by a small amount – is a defect that can void the entire unlawful detainer.

Second, it gives the tenant a 3-day cure period. The tenant has 3 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays) to either pay the full amount demanded or vacate the property. Mail service adds 5 days under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1013. The notice is the statutory cure opportunity; if the tenant pays in full within the period, the default is cured and the tenancy continues unless the lease provides otherwise.

Third, it provides the statements Eshagian found missing. Following the June 2025 published California Court of Appeal decision in Eshagian v. Cepeda, the notice should explicitly state when the 3-day period begins, when it ends, that weekends and judicial holidays are excluded from the count, that failure to pay means loss of possession and an unlawful detainer, and a clear address at which the rent may actually be paid. A notice missing any of these may be deemed defective. The form on this page handles those statements and the demand mechanics correctly.

The 3-day pay-or-quit notice is governed by a layered statutory framework. The core statute is Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2), which authorizes a landlord to terminate a tenancy for nonpayment of rent through service of a 3-day notice demanding payment or possession.

Service rules are at Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1162, which authorizes three statutory methods: personal delivery to the tenant, substituted service on a person of suitable age at the rental with a copy mailed, or post-and-mail (posting in a conspicuous place at the rental and mailing a copy). Email, text message, and social media are not statutory service methods.

The mail extension at Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1013 adds 5 days to any notice served by mail. A 3-day notice mailed to a California tenant effectively gives the tenant 8 calendar days (3 plus 5), with the weekend and holiday exclusion still applied to the 3-day portion.

Notice of default in lieu of forfeiture at Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161.1 governs the precise demand language and clarifies that the demand must be for past-due rent only. The just-cause overlay at Civil Code § 1946.2 (AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019) applies to most California rentals after the first 12 months of tenancy and requires just cause for any termination. Nonpayment of rent qualifies as just cause, but AB 1482 covered notices must include a specific just-cause notice provision.

Local rent control ordinances may layer additional requirements. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, and Santa Monica all have local rent boards with their own notice requirements, just-cause categories, and procedural overlays. Verify with the local rent board before relying solely on state law. One operational rule binds all of this together: the notice must precisely match the statute. Defects that might be excused in other contexts – minor mistakes in dates, slight overstatements in amounts, ambiguous service method – void the notice and restart the clock.

Eshagian v. Cepeda (2025) 112 Cal.App.5th 433 (Case No. B340941, Second Appellate District, Division Seven, filed 26 June 2025, certified for publication) sent a clear message to the California landlord community. The court held the landlord’s notice “deficient in three respects”, and any one of them can defeat an unlawful detainer.

The case background. The landlord served a 3-day notice demanding past-due rent. On its face the notice looked like a standard form – the amount was stated, the parties were identified, the property was identified. But the notice did not expressly state when the 3-day period started, when it ended, that weekends and judicial holidays were excluded from the count, or what would happen if the tenant did not pay. The Court of Appeal held that this lack of clarity rendered the notice defective: an ordinary tenant could not read the notice and know exactly what the deadline was.

The three Eshagian defects, and what a compliant California 3-day notice must therefore state:

1. The date the 3-day period begins. This is the day after service for personal service, or the date determined by the mail-extension rule for mailed notices.
2. The date the 3-day period ends. This is the date by which the tenant must have paid in full or vacated. Computing it requires excluding weekends and judicial holidays from the count.
3. That weekends and judicial holidays are excluded from the 3-day count. The tenant must be expressly told that the 3 days are business days, not calendar days.
4. The consequences of nonpayment. The notice must state that failure to pay or vacate by the deadline will result in loss of possession and the filing of an unlawful detainer action.

What this means in practice. Pre-Eshagian boilerplate notices that say “you have 3 days to pay or quit” without computing the actual dates and stating the holiday exclusion are now defective. Every California 3-day notice should be drafted as of the date of service with the actual dates computed and the exclusion language included. The form on this page does this automatically – enter the date of service, and the form computes the start date, end date, and includes the required Eshagian statements. Any pending or recently-served notice that leaves any of the three defects unanswered – including a notice that gives no clear address at which rent can actually be paid – should be reissued; the cost of reserving is minor compared to a dismissed unlawful detainer.

The 3-day period under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2) is computed in business days, not calendar days. Saturdays, Sundays, and California judicial holidays are excluded from the count, and the period starts the day after service.

California judicial holidays for 2026 (per California Rules of Court, rule 1.10) include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, Presidents’ Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. When a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the observation date determines the exclusion.

Worked example. A 3-day notice served by personal delivery on a Tuesday of a normal week (no holiday) starts the 3-day period on Wednesday and ends on Friday. The tenant must pay or vacate by end of Friday.

Worked example with weekend. A 3-day notice served by personal delivery on a Friday starts the 3-day period on Monday (Saturday and Sunday excluded) and ends on Wednesday. The tenant must pay or vacate by end of Wednesday.

Worked example with mail service. A 3-day notice served by mail adds 5 days under CCP § 1013. The notice is deemed served 5 days later, and the 3-day period then runs from the next day, excluding any weekends and holidays in between. Many California landlord-tenant attorneys recommend giving a few extra days of cushion beyond the statutory minimum – a 5-day notice served personally with the deadline computed correctly is enforceable as a 3-day notice (the extra days work in the tenant’s favor and create no procedural defect). The cushion also protects against any miscount or holiday-list error, which is the single most common reason a correctly-drafted notice is later thrown out.

Why the holiday list matters. When a California judicial holiday falls on a weekend, the observed date – typically the adjacent Friday or Monday – is the day excluded from the count, not the calendar date. A notice that counts an observed holiday as a business day is short, and a notice that excludes a non-holiday is merely conservative. Because the list shifts year to year, the generator on this page carries the 2026 and 2027 California court holidays so the computed start and end dates always reflect the current calendar. If you serve near a holiday cluster – the Thanksgiving Thursday-Friday pair, or the New Year window – recount by hand against the rule 1.10 list before you file.

Complete the form below to generate an Eshagian-compliant California 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. The form computes the start date, end date, and includes the required holiday-exclusion and consequences language. Serve in accordance with CCP § 1162. If served by mail, the 5-day extension under CCP § 1013 applies.

Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1162 authorizes three methods of service for a 3-day pay-or-quit notice. Email, text message, social media, and verbal notificat