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.

Proof of service

Keep a written record of how, when, and to whom the notice was delivered. For personal delivery, note the date, time, place, and any witness, and obtain the tenant’s signed acknowledgment where possible. For mailed service, retain the registered or certified mailing certificate and the signed return receipt showing the delivery date. If a forcible detainer is filed, this record establishes when the seven-day period began and ended.

Documentation retention

Retain the signed original notice, the proof of delivery, and any correspondence with the tenant. Kentucky landlords should keep these records with the property file. If the forcible detainer proceeds, the notice and proof of receipt become the evidentiary foundation for the court’s finding that a valid 7-day notice was served and expired without payment.

If the tenant does not pay the past-due rent within the seven days, the rental agreement terminates and the landlord may recover possession only through the courts. Kentucky calls the eviction action a forcible detainer, and it is heard in the District Court of the county where the property is located.

Filing the complaint. After the 7-day notice period expires without payment, the landlord files a forcible detainer complaint in District Court under KRS § 383.210. The complaint identifies the property, the parties, and the basis for possession — here, termination of the rental agreement for nonpayment following a 7-day notice.

Notice of the hearing. The court sets a hearing, and the tenant must receive at least three days notice of the time and place under KRS § 383.210. The tenant is not required to file a written answer in advance; the tenant appears at the hearing to contest possession. Either party may request a jury.

Warrant for possession. If the court finds for the landlord, it issues a warrant for possession under KRS § 383.240. The tenant typically has a short window to vacate or appeal; if the tenant does not, the warrant is directed to the sheriff, who may remove the tenant and restore possession to the landlord. Throughout, the landlord may not use self-help — only the sheriff, acting on the court’s warrant, may carry out the removal.

Landlords who operate across state lines should not carry another state’s pay-or-quit timeline into Kentucky. The differences are structural, not cosmetic, and each one can defeat a notice.

Seven days, not three. California, for example, uses a 3-day pay-or-quit notice under a business-day count that excludes weekends and judicial holidays. Kentucky uses a seven-day period under KRS § 383.660(2), counted in calendar days from receipt, with no weekend-or-holiday exclusion. A Kentucky notice that gives the tenant only three days, or that excludes weekends, misstates the period and can be defective. This is the one pedagogical contrast worth drawing; every operative rule on this page is Kentucky law.

Receipt-based, not service-date-based. Some states start the clock on the date of service or add a fixed number of mailing days. Kentucky ties the count to the tenant’s receipt of the notice under KRS § 383.560, so the landlord’s proof burden is about delivery, not merely mailing.

Adoption-gated, not statewide. Most states apply their landlord-tenant statute uniformly. Kentucky’s URLTA applies only in jurisdictions that adopted it, so the very existence of the 7-day statutory structure depends on the property’s location — a threshold most other states never present.

• Serving a URLTA notice where URLTA was not adopted. KRS § 383.660(2) supplies the 7-day structure only in adopting jurisdictions. Serving it in a non-URLTA county rests the eviction on a statute that does not govern there.
• Counting from the mailing date instead of receipt. The seven days run from the tenant’s receipt under KRS § 383.560. Filing based on the mailing date can make the forcible detainer premature.
• Using a 3-day or business-day count. Kentucky gives seven calendar days, with no weekend-or-holiday exclusion. Importing another state’s count misstates the deadline.
• Omitting the intent-to-terminate language. The notice must state both the nonpayment and the landlord’s intention to terminate if the rent is not paid within seven days. A bare demand for rent does not satisfy KRS § 383.660(2).
• Accepting partial payment after service. Accepting part of the amount owed generally waives the notice and requires a fresh 7-day notice for the balance.
• Using self-help. Changing locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities without a court warrant is unlawful in Kentucky and exposes the landlord to liability.
• Filing before the seven days expire. A forcible detainer filed before the notice period ends is premature and subject to dismissal; wait until the period has fully run.
• Inconsistent landlord/tenant identification. Name all tenants on the lease, and identify the landlord or agent consistently with the lease and the forcible detainer complaint.

Kentucky tenants in a URLTA jurisdiction served with a 7-day pay-or-quit notice have defined statutory rights. Understanding these helps landlords appreciate why procedural precision matters.

Right to cure by paying in full. The notice is curable. If the tenant pays the full past-due rent within seven days after receipt, the default is cured and the tenancy continues; the landlord cannot refuse a timely full payment and proceed to eviction on the same notice. Right to require a fresh notice after partial acceptance. If the landlord accepts a partial payment, the tenant can argue the pending notice was waived and that a new 7-day notice is required for the remaining balance.

Right to contest at the hearing. The tenant need not file a written answer in advance; the tenant appears at the forcible detainer hearing to contest possession and may raise defects in the notice or its service. Right to at least three days notice of the hearing under KRS § 383.210, and the right to demand a jury.

Right to be free from self-help eviction. Kentucky prohibits landlords from using self-help to recover possession. A landlord who changes the locks, removes belongings, or cuts off essential services without a court order faces statutory liability, and in URLTA jurisdictions KRS § 383.655 gives the tenant remedies for unlawful ouster or utility cutoff. Right to fair housing protection. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits eviction decisions based on protected characteristics; a pay-or-quit notice issued for a discriminatory or retaliatory reason gives the tenant a defense.

Because URLTA adoption and local practice vary by jurisdiction, always verify current requirements with the applicable city or county clerk and the District Court before relying solely on state-level statutes, and see our guide to Kentucky eviction procedure for the full process.

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