How to Properly Serve an Eviction Notice in California

To serve an eviction notice in California, you choose the notice type that matches your reason for ending the tenancy, draft it with every detail the statute requires, and deliver it using one of three methods the law authorizes: personal service first, substituted service if that fails, and posting-and-mailing only as a last resort. Get any of those three steps wrong and the notice is void, which means starting the clock over from zero.

Pick the Right Notice for Your Reason

California uses different notices for different situations, and using the wrong one is a defect a tenant’s attorney will spot immediately.

A 3-day notice to pay rent or quit is for unpaid rent. The tenant has three days (excluding weekends and court holidays) to pay the full amount or leave.¹ This is the most common eviction notice in the state, and it carries the strictest content rules.

A 3-day notice to perform covenants or quit covers curable lease violations like an unauthorized pet or minor property damage. The tenant has three days to fix the problem or vacate.¹

A 3-day notice to quit (unconditional) is for violations that cannot be cured: committing waste, maintaining a nuisance, or using the property for an illegal purpose. No opportunity to fix the problem, three days to leave.¹

For ending a month-to-month tenancy without an at-fault reason, the required notice depends on how long the tenant has lived there. A 30-day notice works if they’ve been in the unit less than a year. A 60-day notice is required at one year or more.²

Section 8 tenants are entitled to a 90-day notice, and federal rules govern the process. You need just cause to terminate.³

What the Notice Must Contain

Every notice needs the full legal name of each tenant on the lease, the complete property address including any unit number, the specific reason for eviction, the compliance or vacancy deadline, and your signature and date.

A 3-day notice to pay rent or quit has extra content requirements. It must state the exact amount of rent past due. It must also include the name, phone number, and address of the person who will accept payment, along with the days and hours that person is available in person. As an alternative, you can list a bank account number with the name and street address of the financial institution, but the bank must be within five miles of the rental. If electronic payment was already set up with the tenant, you can reference that arrangement.¹

The dollar amount can only include past-due rent. No late fees, no utility charges, no cleaning fees, no other amounts the tenant might owe you. Inflate the number by even a few dollars and the notice is defective. More eviction cases collapse here than almost anywhere else, because landlords tack on late charges out of habit and the tenant’s attorney moves to dismiss.

The Three Methods of Service

California authorizes three service methods, and they have to be attempted in order. You can’t jump to the easiest option because it’s convenient.⁴

Personal Service

Hand the notice directly to the tenant. This is the cleanest form of service and the hardest for a tenant to dispute later.⁴

Substituted Service

If the tenant isn’t at home or at their usual workplace, the server can leave the notice with another person at either location who appears to be of “suitable age and discretion.” The statute doesn’t set a specific age, but the recipient should be a responsible adult. After leaving that copy, the server must also mail a second copy to the tenant at their home address.⁴

Post and Mail

Post-and-mail is a last resort. It’s available only when neither the tenant’s home nor workplace can be determined, or when no suitable person can be found at either location. The server posts a copy in a visible spot on the property, hands a copy to anyone residing there if possible, and mails a copy to the tenant at the property address.⁴ Courts scrutinize this method more closely than the others. Document every failed attempt at personal and substituted service before you use it.

Who Can Do the Serving

The service statute describes the three methods but does not restrict who can deliver the notice.⁴ A landlord can legally hand-deliver their own 3-day, 30-day, or 60-day notice. Serving an eviction notice is different from serving a lawsuit, where the person delivering the summons must be at least 18 and cannot be a party.

Even so, having someone else serve the notice is usually the smarter play. If the tenant later claims they never got it, you need a witness. A professional process server creates a detailed record of the delivery and can testify if the case goes to court. Fees typically run between $50 and $225 depending on location and the number of attempts. A friend or relative who is at least 18 can also serve the notice, provided they’ll sign a declaration describing how and when they delivered it.

Counting the Notice Period

The day of service is not day one. The clock starts the next day.

For 3-day notices, Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays don’t count.¹ Serve on a Wednesday, and Thursday is day one, Friday is day two, and the following Monday is day three. If you used substituted service or post-and-mail, the mailing adds extra time because the law assumes mail takes days to arrive.

For 30-day and 60-day notices, calendar days apply, including weekends and holidays. The period runs from the service date to the proposed termination date, and the termination date must fall on the same day of the month rent is normally due.

Documenting Proof of Service

A properly served notice is worthless if you can’t prove it was served. The server should complete a proof of service declaration immediately after delivery, while the details are still exact. California Courts provides Form POS-040 for this purpose.⁵

The declaration records the date and time of service, the method used, the address where service occurred, and a description of any person who received the notice on the tenant’s behalf. The server signs under penalty of perjury and prints their name and address. Keep the form with your records. If you file an unlawful detainer lawsuit, you’ll need to attach the proof of service or present it in court.

Common Mistakes That Void a Notice

A defective notice is one of the strongest defenses a tenant can raise. If the tenant’s attorney catches the error, the court can dismiss and you’ll serve a fresh notice and restart the whole timeline.⁶ The recurring failures:

Overstating the amount owed by adding late fees, utilities, or damages to the rent figure on a 3-day notice.
Leaving out payment information, such as the name, phone number, and address of who will accept payment, or omitting the bank account option when no in-person location exists.
Choosing the wrong notice type: an unconditional quit notice for a curable violation, or a 30-day notice when the tenant has lived there over a year.
Skipping the required order of service and going straight to post-and-mail without first attempting personal and substituted service.
Accepting rent after the notice period expires. Any payment revives the tenancy, and you have to start over with a new notice.
Failing to state the required just cause in the written notice when the Tenant Protection Act applies.

Just Cause and Relocation Assistance

Before you serve anything, confirm whether California’s Tenant Protection Act applies to your property. Once a tenant has lived in a covered unit continuously for 12 months, you cannot end the tenancy without a legally recognized reason, and that reason must appear in the written notice. If you’re using a no-fault ground, you owe the tenant relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent within 15 calendar days of serving the notice, or you can waive the final month’s rent in writing. Skip the relocation payment and the entire eviction can be thrown out. Some rentals are exempt, including certain single-family homes and condos, owner-occupied duplexes, and housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the past 15 years, but the single-family exemption depends on giving the tenant a specific written notice using the statutory language.⁷ Many cities also layer their own rent and eviction protections on top of state law, so check local ordinances.

Active-Duty Military Tenants

Federal law adds a separate layer for servicemembers. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a landlord cannot evict an active-duty tenant or their dependents from a primary residence without a court order when the monthly rent falls below a threshold that adjusts annually for inflation (the base amount is $2,400, indexed to housing costs since 2003).⁸ If military duties have materially affected the tenant’s ability to pay, a court can stay the eviction for 90 days or longer and adjust the lease terms. Proceeding in violation of these protections is a federal misdemeanor.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1161
2
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1
3
California Courts Self Help Guide. Types of Eviction Notices Landlords
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1162
5
California Courts Self Help Guide. Proof of Service – Civil (POS-040)
6
California Courts Self Help Guide. Eviction Defenses
7
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress