Walk It Through: The Three Day Notice
Rent three days late, a notice to quit taped to the door, a summons, a judgment, and two days for the sheriff.
Rent was due on the first. On the fifth, it still has not been paid.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
An eviction for unpaid rent in a residential rental. Defenses based on the landlord's own breach, and help paying rent, are outside these pages.
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.
- Forcible entry and detainerThe court case a landlord brings to get possession back, against a tenant holding over, behind on rent for three days after it is due, or breaking the renter's duties.
- Notice to quitThe written notice to leave a landlord serves at least three days before starting an eviction case.
- Rental agreementAny agreement, written or oral, setting or changing the terms of using and occupying a residential rental unit.
- Residential rental unitA renter's principal place of residence with its grounds, common areas and facilities, which the rental law covers.
- Writ of restitutionThe order an officer carries out after an eviction judgment, within two days of receiving it, Sundays excepted, putting the landlord back in possession.