Free Kentucky 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit

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In a URLTA jurisdiction, the 7-day notice to pay rent or quit is the notice a Kentucky landlord must serve before filing to recover possession for nonpayment of rent. KRS § 383.660(2) gives the tenant seven days from receipt to pay the past-due rent in full, or the rental agreement terminates. It applies only where the local government adopted URLTA (Louisville, Lexington, and roughly two dozen jurisdictions). Generate a compliant notice below.

7-Day Notice KRS § 383.660(2) URLTA Jurisdictions Free PDF

A Kentucky 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the written notice a landlord must serve before filing to recover possession for nonpayment of rent in a jurisdiction that has adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA). It is governed by KRS § 383.660(2), with the notice-and-receipt rules at § 383.560 and the forcible detainer procedure at KRS § 383.210 and following. The critical threshold question in Kentucky is jurisdictional: URLTA (KRS 383.500–383.715) applies only where the city, county, or urban-county government formally adopted it under KRS § 383.500 — not statewide. The form below produces a URLTA-compliant 7-day notice; our Kentucky 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 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the written notice a Kentucky landlord serves on a tenant who has failed to pay rent when due, in a jurisdiction governed by the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It is the procedural prerequisite to filing a forcible detainer action to recover possession under KRS § 383.210. Without a properly-drafted, properly-served 7-day notice, a Kentucky court in a URLTA jurisdiction will not grant possession for nonpayment of rent.

The notice does three things in one document. First, it demands the past-due rent. The amount should be stated clearly and represent the rent owed. Because the notice is built around the tenant’s right to cure by paying the rent, the amount that will cure the default should be unambiguous — bundling late fees, utilities, or repair charges into the demand invites a dispute over whether a timely rent payment cured the default.

Second, it gives the tenant a 7-day cure period. Under KRS § 383.660(2), the tenant has seven days after receiving the notice to pay the full amount demanded. If the tenant pays in full within the period, the default is cured and the tenancy continues. Only if the tenant fails to pay does the rental agreement terminate and the landlord gain the right to file for possession. This makes the Kentucky pay-or-quit a curable notice, distinct from an unconditional quit notice that offers no opportunity to cure.

Third, it states the landlord’s intention to terminate. KRS § 383.660(2) requires the notice to state not only that rent is unpaid but that the landlord intends to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within the seven days. A notice that merely recites that rent is overdue, without stating the seven-day period and the intent to terminate, does not satisfy the statute. The form on this page carries the required statement automatically.

Before any Kentucky landlord serves a 7-day pay-or-quit notice, the threshold question is whether the property sits in a jurisdiction that adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. This is the single most consequential fact in Kentucky landlord-tenant practice, and it has no counterpart in most other states.

URLTA is a local-option statute. KRS § 383.500 provides that the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (codified at KRS 383.500 through 383.715) takes effect in a city, county, or urban-county government only when that government formally adopts it. The Act must be adopted in its entirety and without amendment — a jurisdiction cannot pick and choose provisions. As a result, Kentucky has two parallel legal regimes: URLTA jurisdictions where KRS 383.660(2) supplies a codified 7-day pay-or-quit structure, and non-URLTA jurisdictions where the landlord-tenant relationship is governed by the lease, common-law principles, and any local ordinance.

Jurisdictions that adopted URLTA include Jefferson County (Louisville), Fayette County (Lexington), Oldham County, and Pulaski County, plus a group of cities that commonly includes Covington, Newport, Florence, Georgetown, Shelbyville, Barbourville, Bellevue, Bromley, Dayton, Ludlow, Melbourne, Silver Grove, Southgate, Taylor Mill, and Woodlawn. Because adoption happens at the local level and lists change over time, confirm the current status with the city or county clerk before relying on KRS 383.660(2). If the property is inside a URLTA jurisdiction, the 7-day pay-or-quit notice on this page is the correct instrument.

In a URLTA jurisdiction, the 7-day pay-or-quit notice sits within a defined statutory framework. The core statute is KRS § 383.660(2), which provides that if rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay within seven days after written notice by the landlord of nonpayment and the landlord’s intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement.

Notice and receipt rules are at KRS § 383.560, which defines when a person has notice of a fact: when they have actual knowledge of it, have received a notice of it, or from the facts known to them have reason to know it exists. A person gives notice to another by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform the other in the ordinary course. In practice this makes Kentucky notice receipt-based — the seven-day clock is tied to the tenant’s receipt of the notice, so the landlord should serve by a method that produces provable receipt.

The distinction from other breaches matters. KRS § 383.660(1) governs material noncompliance with the rental agreement other than nonpayment — there the landlord must give at least fourteen days written notice specifying the breach, and for a recurring breach may terminate on fourteen days notice. The 7-day rule in subsection (2) is specific to nonpayment of rent. Do not carry the 14-day noncompliance timeline into a nonpayment notice, and do not shorten a noncompliance notice to seven days; each subsection has its own count.

The forcible detainer procedure is at KRS § 383.200 through § 383.285. After the 7-day notice period expires without payment, the landlord files a forcible detainer complaint in the District Court of the county where the property is located. The court sets a hearing, the tenant must have at least three days notice of it under KRS § 383.210, and if the court finds for the landlord it issues a warrant for possession under KRS § 383.240. One operational rule binds all of this together: the process is exclusively judicial. A Kentucky landlord may never resort to self-help — changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or removing the tenant’s belongings without a court order is unlawful and exposes the landlord to liability.

The 7-day period under KRS § 383.660(2) runs in calendar days from the tenant’s receipt of the written notice. Kentucky counts these as calendar days, not business days — there is no weekend-and-holiday exclusion of the kind some states apply to short eviction notices. Because the count starts on receipt rather than on the date the notice was written or mailed, the method and timing of service directly affect when the period ends.

Worked example (personal delivery). A 7-day notice delivered in hand to the tenant on the 1st of the month starts the seven-day count on receipt that day. Counting seven calendar days, the tenant must pay in full by the 8th. If the tenant has not paid by the end of the 8th, the rental agreement terminates and the landlord may file a forcible detainer.

Worked example (certified mail). A 7-day notice mailed by certified mail is received when it comes to the tenant’s attention — typically the delivery date shown on the return receipt. If the notice is mailed on the 1st and the certified-mail receipt shows delivery on the 4th, the seven-day count runs from the 4th, and the tenant has until the 11th to pay. Counting from the mailing date rather than the delivery date would make the notice premature and can defeat a later forcible detainer.

Why receipt-based counting is unforgiving. Because the clock is tied to receipt, a landlord who cannot prove when the tenant received the notice cannot prove when the seven days ended — and a forcible detainer filed before the period expired is subject to dismissal. Preserve the certified-mail return receipt, a signed acknowledgment of hand delivery, or a witness to personal service. Many Kentucky landlord-tenant practitioners build in a short cushion beyond the bare seven days to absorb any dispute over the receipt date, which works in the tenant’s favor and creates no procedural defect.

Complete the form below to generate a URLTA-compliant Kentucky 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. The form computes the pay-by date from the receipt date you enter and carries the KRS § 383.660(2) seven-day language and the landlord’s stated intention to terminate. Serve so the tenant receives the notice under KRS § 383.560, and preserve proof of receipt.

Kentucky notice is receipt-based. Under KRS § 383.560, a person has notice of a fact when they receive it, and a landlord gives notice by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform the tenant in the ordinary course. Kentucky landlord-tenant practice treats written notice as effective when delivered in hand to the tenant or mailed by registered or certified mail to the place the tenant holds out for receipt of communication or, absent such a designation, the tenant’s last known place of residence. Because the seven-day clock runs from receipt, the method you choose should produce provable receipt.