Alabama Code 35-9A-421: Seven-Day Notices and Cure Limits

Alabama Code Section 35-9A-421 is the part of the state’s landlord-tenant act that controls how a landlord ends a lease when a tenant breaks it. In most cases the landlord must deliver a written notice that spells out the violation and sets a termination date at least seven business days away, and the tenant can save the lease by curing the breach within that window. For a short list of serious acts, including illegal drug activity, unlawful firearm use, assault, and certain repeat offenses, the same seven-day notice applies but the tenant has no right to cure.

Seven-Day Notice When Rent Is Unpaid

If rent is overdue, the landlord may serve a written notice that states the exact amount of rent and late fees owed and sets a termination date at least seven business days after the tenant receives it. Pay the full amount within that period and the lease continues as though the breach never happened.¹

Partial payment does not satisfy the notice. The statute keys the cure to the full amount demanded, so a tenant who tenders only part of what is owed is in the same position as one who paid nothing.

Seven-Day Notice for Other Curable Breaches

For noncompliance other than unpaid rent, the landlord can deliver a written notice describing the specific breach and setting a termination date at least seven business days out. Three kinds of violations fall under this procedure: a material breach of the rental agreement, a breach of the tenant’s maintenance duties under Section 35-9A-301, and intentional misrepresentation of a material fact on the rental application.¹

If the problem is one the tenant can actually fix, through repair, payment of damages, or other action, and the tenant fixes it before the deadline, the lease survives. Minor property damage, unauthorized items in the unit, or a lapse in keeping the premises clean and safe are typical examples. Application fraud follows the same notice procedure, but by its nature it cannot be undone after the fact, so termination is the practical result.

The maintenance duties cross-referenced in the statute come from Section 35-9A-301 and include keeping the unit clean, disposing of waste properly, using appliances and fixtures reasonably, avoiding damage to the property, and not disturbing neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment.² A violation that materially affects health and safety is enough to trigger the seven-day notice.

Breaches With No Right to Cure

Some conduct is serious enough that the landlord can terminate on seven days’ notice with no opportunity for the tenant to fix the problem. The tenant has no cure right unless the landlord voluntarily grants one. The statute identifies four categories:¹

Manufacturing, growing, possessing, transporting, or using illegal drugs in the dwelling unit or common areas.
Illegally using, manufacturing, possessing, or discharging a firearm or ammunition on the rental property. Self-defense and defense of others are explicitly excluded.
Assaulting another tenant or guest on the property. Self-defense situations are again carved out.
Committing substantially the same breach that previously drew a termination notice and was cured, when the second breach occurs within six months of the first.

The statute says this list is not exhaustive. Other serious conduct can qualify as a noncurable default depending on the circumstances, and the landlord’s seven-day notice must clearly identify the act and the termination date.

The Two-Cure Ceiling in Any 12 Months

Even for curable breaches, tenants do not get unlimited chances. No breach of any lease term can be cured more than twice in any 12-month period unless the landlord gives express written consent allowing additional cures.¹ On a third breach of any kind within 12 months, the landlord can treat the violation as noncurable and terminate with a seven-day notice.

Note how this interacts with the repeat-breach rule above. The six-month repeat window applies to the same kind of breach already cured once. The 12-month, two-cure ceiling applies across different kinds of breaches, so a tenant who has cured two unrelated violations in a year loses the right to cure a third.

When Unpaid Rent and Another Violation Overlap

Tenants sometimes fall behind on rent and run afoul of a different lease term at the same time. The statute resolves this directly: when both occur, the seven-day notice for nonpayment of rent governs the process, and the landlord does not need to issue separate notices for each problem.¹ Paying the full rent demanded within the seven days cures the nonpayment, but it does not independently cure the other violation if that violation was called out on its own terms.

What the Notice Must Say and How Time Is Counted

Three elements run through every notice under this section. It must be in writing. It must identify the breach specifically enough that the tenant knows what to fix. And it must state a termination date no sooner than seven business days after the tenant receives it.

The seven-day count is in business days, not calendar days, so weekends and holidays extend the deadline. For nonpayment notices, the dollar figure demanded controls what the tenant must pay to cure; the tenant is not required to guess at late fees or other charges that the notice does not spell out.

What Section 35-9A-421 Does Not Cover

This section is about ending a lease for the tenant’s noncompliance. Several related situations sit in other parts of the act and are not controlled by the seven-day notice rules. Ending a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy without cause is handled under Section 35-9A-441 and uses different notice periods. Lockouts, utility shutoffs, and other self-help methods of recovering possession are separately prohibited, and a landlord who tries them faces damages regardless of how clear the tenant’s breach was. Terminations motivated by a tenant’s complaint to a code agency, complaint to the landlord about habitability, or participation in a tenants’ organization are barred as retaliation under Section 35-9A-501.

If the tenancy itself is excluded from the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which happens with institutional housing, hotel and motel stays, employee housing tied to a job on the premises, owner-occupied condominium units, farm rentals, and certain post-sale occupancies, then Section 35-9A-421 does not apply at all and the parties’ rights come from the contract and general law.³

1
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-421 – Noncompliance with Rental Agreement; Failure to Pay Rent
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-9A-301 – Tenant to Maintain Dwelling Unit
3
Macon County District Court. Alabama Code 35-9A-122 – Exclusions from Application of Chapter