To serve an eviction notice in California, California Code of Civil Procedure 1162 requires you to try three methods in order: hand the notice to the tenant personally; if that fails, leave it with a suitable adult at the tenant’s home or workplace and mail a copy; and only as a last resort, post the notice on the property and mail a copy. Skipping ahead to an easier method, or missing a step within one, can void service and get an unlawful detainer case dismissed.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1162
Personal Delivery Comes First
The cleanest way to serve the notice is to hand it directly to the tenant. CCP 1162(a)(1) allows service “by delivering a copy to the tenant personally,” and the statute puts no limit on where that happens. The server can approach the tenant at the rental, at work, or anywhere else they can be found. Once the papers change hands, service is complete and the notice period starts running that day.
Tenants sometimes refuse the papers. If the server has identified the tenant and the tenant declines to take the documents, the server can set them down within arm’s reach. Courts treat this as valid personal delivery because the tenant had the opportunity to pick the papers up. The server should note the refusal and the exact spot the papers were left, since that will matter when the landlord later proves service to the court.
Substituted Service Requires Two Steps
Substituted service is available only when the tenant cannot be found at either their home or their usual workplace. It has two steps, and cutting either one voids the service.
Step one: leave a copy of the notice with a person of “suitable age and discretion” at the tenant’s home or workplace. In practice that means a competent adult who seems capable of understanding what the papers are. Step two: mail another copy to the tenant at the tenant’s home address by first-class mail, postage prepaid. Handing papers to a roommate but forgetting the mailing means starting over. The duplicate through the mail exists because the third party might forget to pass the notice along or might not grasp its importance, and courts insist that both steps actually happened.
Post-and-Mail Is the Last Resort
Post-and-mail is available only after the tenant’s home and workplace cannot be located, or no suitable person can be found at either place. Judges scrutinize this method more than the others, and if the landlord cannot show that personal delivery and substituted service were genuinely attempted first, the court will likely rule service defective.
For a residential tenant, the process has three parts. The server attaches a copy of the notice to a conspicuous place on the property, usually the front door. The server also hands a copy to anyone residing at the property, if such a person can be found. And the server mails a copy by first-class mail to the tenant at the property address. Most servers tape or pin the notice so it cannot blow away, and they photograph the posting for their records. If nobody at all is present to accept a hand-delivered copy, the posting plus mailing still satisfies the statute, but the server should document that no resident could be found.
Commercial Tenants Follow Different Rules
Subdivision (b) of CCP 1162 covers commercial tenants, meaning anyone renting property that is not a dwelling or a mobilehome. Personal delivery works the same way. For substituted service on a commercial tenant, the server only needs to confirm the tenant is absent from the commercial property itself, with no separate check of a residence. The server leaves papers with a suitable person at the business and mails a copy to the property address. For post-and-mail on commercial property, the trigger is that no suitable person can be found there “through the exercise of reasonable diligence,” and the server posts a copy conspicuously and mails a copy to the property address. There is no requirement to deliver an additional copy to a resident, because commercial properties typically have none.
Mailing Adds Days to the Notice Period
Whenever service under CCP 1162 includes a mailing step, the tenant gets extra time before the notice period expires. Under CCP 1013, if both the mailing address and the location where the letter was mailed are within California, the notice period extends by five calendar days.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1013 If either location is outside California but within the United States, the extension is ten calendar days.
This catches many landlords out. A three-day notice to pay rent or quit, served by substituted service within California, effectively becomes an eight-day notice: three days plus five for mailing. Filing an unlawful detainer complaint on day four, thinking the notice has expired, is premature and will get the case dismissed. Landlords who use personal delivery avoid the extension entirely.
Every Named Tenant Must Be Served
The notice has to reach each tenant the landlord wants to evict. If a lease has two adults on it, both need their own service. The statute also allows service on subtenants using the same methods. Missing even one named occupant can prevent the landlord from obtaining a judgment against that person, which creates problems later when the landlord tries to enforce a writ of possession for the entire unit.
Document What You Did
A notice served perfectly but documented poorly can still sink the case. The server should prepare a written declaration describing what happened, when, and where. CCP 1162 does not mandate a particular form for the pre-lawsuit notice. Some attorneys use custom declarations, others adapt Judicial Council forms. Whatever form you use, the declaration should cover:
- The tenant’s full name, matching the name on the notice.
- The exact calendar date and approximate time the notice was delivered, posted, or left with a third party.
- The full street address, including any unit or apartment number.
- The method used: personal, substituted, or post-and-mail.
- If a third party received the papers, that person’s name, approximate age, and physical description, so the court can confirm they were of suitable age and discretion.
- The date and location of mailing, if substituted or post-and-mail service was used.
- A record of earlier attempts at personal delivery, especially for post-and-mail, where the court needs to see that easier methods were genuinely tried first.
Sloppy notes at the notice stage often become fatal at the lawsuit stage when the tenant’s attorney challenges whether the notice was properly served.
What Happens If Service Is Defective
Defective service under CCP 1162 is not a technicality the court will overlook. Proper service is a jurisdictional requirement for an unlawful detainer action. If the tenant’s attorney can show the notice was never properly served, the court must dismiss the case. The landlord then starts over: draft a new notice, serve it correctly, wait for the notice period to expire again, and file a new complaint, paying a new set of filing fees along the way.3Superior Court of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Beyond the money, the delay gives the tenant additional weeks or months of occupancy. Getting service right the first time is the fastest way to resolve the dispute.