Walk It Through: The Five Day Notice
Pay or vacate, a second default, and the stay for emergency assistance.
Rent is short this month on a one year lease, and a written notice is taped to the door.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One lease of a year or less and two defaults. Month to month tenancies, breaches other than rent, criminal activity notices, and what happens after a judgment are not set out here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Pay or vacateA written notice for unpaid rent giving at least 5 days to pay or leave. Rent here includes past due rent and late fees on it.
- Periodic tenancyA month to month or other periodic tenancy, which ends on written notice from either side of at least 28 days, and only at the end of a rental period.