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Landlord notices

Pay-or-Quit / Nonpayment Notice

Information for landlords dealing with unpaid rent: what a pay-or-quit notice must get right, how it differs from an eviction, a rent ledger check, and the official sources to read. Generation is not available.

Guidance only, generator not available Updated on October 16, 2026

Generator not available. Pay-or-quit notices depend on state and local rules about the notice period, how days are counted, which amounts may be demanded and how the notice is served. Those rules require professional review before this site can generate one. The page explains what to check and links official sources.

LetterForgeUSA provides document drafting tools and general information, not legal advice. Rules depend on your location and circumstances.

Availability

Generator not available

This page explains the notice, what to check and where the official sources are. It does not produce or download a document.

Review required before generation

Generation is disabled for this tool until a documented professional review exists for the exact state and scenario. The coverage table on this page lists the states with official sources on file, and the resources below lead to official guidance.

This page has no state selector. The table under Sources and coverage lists every state this site has checked for this notice and the status of each check.

Official resources and next steps

A pay-or-quit notice is not a court eviction order

A pay-or-quit or nonpayment notice is a written demand that the tenant pay the stated rent within a set time or move out. It removes no one and gives the landlord no right to take the home back. If the tenant neither pays nor leaves by the end of the period, the next step is a court case, and only a court order carried out by the proper officer can require the tenant to leave.

Never lock out a tenant, remove doors or shut off utilities

Do not change the locks, remove doors or windows, take belongings, or cut electricity, water, gas or heat to pressure a tenant to pay or leave. These self-help tactics are prohibited in most places and can expose the landlord to claims even when rent is genuinely owed. This site does not give self-help lockout instructions and nothing here should be read as one.

Counting methods differ and are jurisdiction specific

The notice period is counted differently from place to place. Some rules count calendar days; some skip weekends and court holidays (court days); some do not count the day of delivery; some add time when the notice is mailed; and a written lease can change the period in some states. This site does not apply one national counting method, and it does not calculate a deadline for a nonpayment notice until a professionally reviewed rule exists for the exact jurisdiction.

Only legally includable amounts belong in the notice

Which amounts may be demanded in a nonpayment notice differs by state. Some states limit the notice to rent and exclude late fees, utilities and damages; others treat the question differently. Demanding an amount that may not be included, or stating the wrong figure, can make the whole notice defective. Keep late fees and other charges in your own records and raise them separately unless a verified rule for your state allows them in the notice.

Keep a ledger

Keep a dated record of every rent period, the amount due, every payment received and how it was applied, and a copy of every notice and the proof of how and when it was delivered. If the matter reaches court, the ledger is usually the first thing you will be asked for.

Subsidized and federally connected housing may have extra requirements

Housing that receives rental assistance, is part of a federal program, or has a federally backed mortgage may carry notice requirements beyond state law. The California and Texas official pages both refer to a separate 30-day federal notice for covered properties. This site has not verified the federal rule from a federal source; federal notice rules may apply to covered properties, not verified. Confirm the status of the unit with the housing authority, program administrator or lender before serving anything.

What to check before you act

Good fit

When to use

  • You are a landlord or manager, rent is overdue, and you want to understand what a pay-or-quit or nonpayment notice must get right where the rental is located.
  • You want to know what to gather, including a reconciled rent ledger, and what facts a reviewed version of this notice would need.
  • You are deciding between a courteous late rent reminder and a formal notice, and want to know how they differ.
  • You want a checklist of facts to gather before asking an attorney or housing counselor to review a notice.

Choose another route

When not to use

  • You only want to remind the tenant that rent is late. Use the Late Rent Reminder tool, which is available now and includes no deadline or statutory language.
  • The tenant has broken the lease in some other way, or there is a health, safety or nuisance problem. Those notices have different periods and contents and are not covered here.
  • You want to end the tenancy for a reason other than unpaid rent. See the Landlord Notice to Vacate tool.
  • The notice period has already run and the tenant has neither paid nor left. The next step is a court process, not another notice.
  • You need a notice right now that will stand up in court. This page explains the questions; it cannot produce the notice.

Prepare first

What you need

  • The state, city and county where the rental is located, so you can check both state law and local ordinances.
  • Your name or company name and mailing address, the full names of every adult tenant, and the rental address.
  • A rent ledger: each unpaid or partly paid rent period, the date it was due, the rent due and every payment received toward it, reconciled against bank records.
  • Which amounts you want to demand (rent, late fees, utilities, other) and, separately, which of those your state allows in this notice.
  • How and where the tenant can pay: the person, the address, the accepted methods, and the days and hours payment is accepted.
  • How you plan to deliver the notice and on what date.
  • Whether the rent is subsidized, the building is in an assisted housing program, or the property has a federally backed mortgage.
  • A copy of the lease, especially any clause about notice for unpaid rent, grace periods, late fees and delivery methods, and whether the tenant paid the previous month on time.

Generation unavailable for this tool

This page does not produce a pay-or-quit or nonpayment notice, and there is no download. A nonpayment notice is the first formal step toward a possible court case, and a notice that states the wrong amount, gives the wrong number of days, counts them the wrong way or is delivered the wrong way usually has to be served again from the start. LetterForgeUSA will only generate one after a documented professional review of the rule for the exact state. Until then, this page explains what the notice has to get right, lists what to gather, including how to reconcile your rent ledger, and links the official sources this site has read.

Notice versus eviction

A pay-or-quit notice, also called a notice to pay rent or quit or a notice to pay or vacate, is the landlord’s written demand that the tenant pay the stated rent within a set period or move out. It is a demand, not an order. If the tenant pays, the tenancy usually continues. If the tenant moves out, the tenancy ends. If the tenant does neither, the landlord’s next step is a court case, and only a court order carried out by the proper officer can require the tenant to leave.

Nothing about the notice gives a landlord the right to change locks, remove doors or windows, take belongings, or cut electricity, water, gas or heat. Those self-help tactics are prohibited in most places and can expose a landlord to claims even when rent is genuinely owed. This site does not give lockout instructions.

This tool sits between two neighbors. The Late Rent Reminder is an ordinary factual letter with no deadline and no statutory language, and it is available now. The Landlord Notice to Vacate covers ending a tenancy for reasons other than unpaid rent. Both are linked from this page.

Why this generator is disabled

Five things would have to be certain before a nonpayment notice could be generated safely, and today none of them can be settled by software for an arbitrary address.

  1. The notice period and how it is counted. California’s court self-help guide gives 3 days that do not include Saturdays, Sundays and court holidays, and says not to count the day of delivery. The Texas State Law Library guide gives at least 3 days unless the lease says otherwise and does not say whether weekends count. Other states differ again. This site does not use one national add-days function as a compliance engine, and it will not calculate a nonpayment deadline until a reviewed rule for the exact jurisdiction says how.
  2. Which amounts may be demanded. The California guide says the notice must state the exact amount of rent owed and cannot ask for late fees, utilities or damages. The Texas guide does not address the point. A notice that demands an amount the law does not allow can be defective as a whole.
  3. The required contents. California lists them: the tenant’s full names, the rental address, the exact rent owed, the pay-or-move statement, and how and where to pay with days and hours. Texas’s guide does not list them. A reviewed template has to match the exact list for its jurisdiction.
  4. Service. The permitted methods, who may deliver, what proof to keep and whether mailing adds time all vary. The verified California delivery page does not distinguish 3-day from 30-day notices, and the Texas list includes methods California’s page does not mention.
  5. Coverage. Whether the tenant paid on time the month before (which the Texas guide says decides whether a pay-or-vacate option must be offered), whether the lease changes the period, whether a local ordinance adds requirements, and whether the housing is subsidized or federally connected can each change the right notice. None of these can be inferred from a street address.

Rather than guess, this page reports the coverage status of every state this site has checked, under Sources and coverage below, and links the official pages.

What to gather

  • The state, city and county of the rental.
  • The lease, with the clauses on rent due dates, grace periods, late fees, notice for unpaid rent and delivery methods marked.
  • A reconciled ledger: each rent period, its due date, the rent due, every payment received and the date it was received.
  • The payment history for the month before the one you are serving on.
  • Whether the rent is subsidized, the building is in an assisted housing program, or the property has a federally backed mortgage.
  • How and where the tenant can pay, including days and hours.
  • Who will deliver the notice, how, and on what date, and how you will record it.

Review status

Generation requires a documented professional review for the particular jurisdiction and scenario. Read the coverage status definitions for what each review stage means.

What a reviewed version would need

A professionally reviewed rule for one state would have to record, with citations to the current statute and any controlling local ordinance:

  • the notice period, the counting method (calendar days or court days), whether the day of delivery counts, what happens when the last day falls on a weekend or holiday, and any extra time for mailing;
  • whether and how a written lease can change the period;
  • exactly which amounts may be demanded and how far back claimed rent may go;
  • the required contents, including any required statements about how to pay or about the court process;
  • the permitted service methods, who may deliver, and the proof to keep;
  • what happens when the tenant pays in full or in part during the period;
  • exclusions: subsidized housing, federal programs, federally backed mortgages, local ordinances, mobile home lots and commercial tenancies;
  • a review-due date, because these rules change.

The list of what you need above already covers the facts such a rule would consume, so the questions will not have to change when a jurisdiction is enabled.

How to use this page in the meantime

Reconcile the ledger, read the lease, and read the official page for your state. If you are in California or Texas, the state notes above summarize what the official sources say and link directly to them. For other states, start with your state court’s self-help center or state law library and prefer .gov sources. Then have a local attorney or a housing counselor review the notice before you serve it, and do not start a court case before the full period has run.

LetterForgeUSA provides document drafting tools and general information, not legal advice. Rules depend on your location and circumstances.

State and local differences

Notes for states where an editor opened an official source. Each one is an editorial check, not attorney review, and city or county rules can add requirements.

California

California: 3 days, not counting weekends and court holidays, and rent only

The California Courts Self-Help Guide says a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit is used when the tenant is behind on rent and tells them they have 3 days to pay the rent or move out. The 3 days do not include Saturdays, Sundays and court holidays; the guide links the court holiday schedule. The notice must state the tenant's full name(s), the rental home address, the exact amount of rent owed, that rent must be paid within 3 days or the tenant must move out, and how and where to pay (in person or by mail, with address, days and hours). The guide says you cannot ask for other money such as late fees, utilities or damages in this notice, and warns that a notice with mistakes or missing information can cost you the case. The separate Deliver the notice page says the person delivering must be 18 or older; you can hand the notice to the tenant, or leave a copy with another adult at their home or work or post it on the home and then mail a copy; do not count the day you delivered or mailed it; write and keep a signed statement of how and when it was delivered; and filing too early can get the case dismissed. The pages do not say what happens when payment is offered on the last day, do not mention extra days for mailing, and show no last-updated date.

Read the California rental letter guide

Sources for this note

Texas

Texas: at least 3 days unless the lease says otherwise, and a pay-or-vacate option in some cases

The Texas State Law Library's Landlord/Tenant Law guide says that before filing an eviction suit the landlord must give the tenant at least 3 days' notice to vacate under Property Code section 24.005 unless the lease says otherwise; the lease may set a longer or shorter period. The notice must be in writing unless a written lease says it can be delivered electronically. Delivery methods listed are in person to the tenant or someone in the household who is 16 or older, in person to the inside of the premises in an obvious place, by mail (first class, registered, certified or a delivery service), or by email or other electronic means if the written lease allows it. For nonpayment, the guide says that if the tenant paid rent on time the month before the notice, the landlord must give a notice to pay rent or vacate; if the tenant was late or did not pay the month before, the landlord may give either a notice to pay rent or vacate or a notice to vacate. The guide says the federal CARES Act requires a 30-day notice if the property participates in certain federal programs or the owner has a federally backed mortgage, and that Texas law does not require the landlord to delay filing suit based on the federal requirement if the Texas notice requirements are followed; this site has not verified either statement from the statute. The guide does not say whether the 3 days are calendar days or whether the day of delivery counts, and it does not list the required contents of the notice. The library notes that it cannot tell you what the law means for your situation.

Read the Texas rental letter guide

Sources for this note

Delivery checklist

Read the delivery guide

How a letter is delivered and what you keep often matters as much as what it says.

The guide How to deliver a rental letter and keep a copy covers hand delivery, certified mail and email, and what a usable record looks like. The checklist below lists what to settle before anything is served.

  • Reconcile the ledger against bank records before you write any figure. Every amount in a notice should be one you can prove to the cent.
  • Confirm which amounts may be demanded in a nonpayment notice in your state. Do not include late fees, utilities or other charges unless a verified rule allows them.
  • Confirm the notice period for your state, how the days are counted (calendar days, court days, day of delivery, mailing), and whether the lease changes it.
  • Read the lease for any clause about notice for unpaid rent, grace periods, late fees and delivery methods, and keep a copy with the notice.
  • Check whether the city or county where the rental sits has a just-cause, eviction-control or rent-stabilization ordinance that adds requirements.
  • Confirm whether the unit or building is subsidized, part of a federal program, or financed with a federally backed mortgage. Federal notice rules may apply to covered properties; this site has not verified them.
  • Plan how you will prove delivery: who delivered the notice, when, how, and a copy of exactly what was delivered. Do not start a court case before the full period has run.
  • Have an attorney or a housing counselor in your area review the notice before you serve it. A defective nonpayment notice usually means starting over.

Questions about this notice

What is the difference between a pay-or-quit notice and an eviction?

A pay-or-quit notice is a written demand that the tenant pay the stated rent within a set time or move out. It removes no one. An eviction is a court case the landlord files if the tenant neither pays nor leaves by the end of the period, and only a court order carried out by the proper officer can require the tenant to leave. The Texas State Law Library guide, for example, says the landlord cannot file an eviction suit before giving the notice, and the California Courts guide says a written notice must come before an eviction case. Changing the locks or shutting off utilities to force someone out is prohibited in most places.

How are the days counted?

Differently from place to place, which is one reason this generator is disabled. The California Courts guide says the 3 days in a notice to pay rent or quit do not include Saturdays, Sundays and court holidays, and its delivery page says not to count the day the notice was delivered or mailed. The Texas State Law Library guide says at least 3 days unless the lease says otherwise and does not say whether weekends count. Other states use calendar days, add time for mailing, or set different periods. Read your state source, and when in doubt give more time rather than less.

Can I include late fees, utilities or other charges?

Not everywhere. The California Courts guide says the 3-day notice to pay rent or quit must state the exact amount of rent owed and cannot ask for other money such as late fees, utilities or damages. The Texas guide does not address the question. Demanding an amount that may not be included, or stating the wrong figure, can make the whole notice defective. Until a verified rule for your state says otherwise, keep late fees and other charges in your own records and raise them separately.

Does the lease change the notice period?

It can in some states. The Texas State Law Library guide says the lease may set a longer or shorter period than the 3 days in Property Code section 24.005. The California Courts pages this site checked do not describe a lease changing the 3-day period. Read the clause in your lease about notice for unpaid rent, copy it into your records, and check your state source before relying on either the lease or the default period.

The tenant paid part of the rent. What do I put in the notice?

Reconcile your ledger first: the rent due for each period, every payment received and how it was applied. The amount in a notice should be one you can prove to the cent, because the California Courts guide, for example, requires the exact amount of rent owed and warns that mistakes can cost you the case. Whether a partial payment during the notice period changes anything is a state-specific question this site has not verified.

How should I deliver the notice?

Allowed methods vary by state. The California Courts delivery page lists handing it to the tenant, leaving a copy with another adult at their home or work and then mailing, or posting it on the home and then mailing, with a signed statement of how and when it was delivered. The Texas State Law Library guide lists in-person delivery to the tenant or a household member age 16 or older, leaving it inside the premises in an obvious place, mail (first class, registered, certified or a delivery service), and electronic delivery only if the written lease allows it. Whatever you use, keep a copy of exactly what was delivered and a record of who delivered it, when and how.

The unit is subsidized or the building has a federally backed mortgage. Does that matter?

It may. Both the California and Texas official pages refer to a separate 30-day federal CARES Act notice for covered properties, and the California page describes separate rules for Section 8 housing. This site has not been able to verify the federal rule from a federal source, so it says only that federal notice rules may apply to covered properties, not verified. Confirm the status of the unit with the housing authority, program administrator or lender before serving anything.

When will this generator be available?

Only after a named, credentialed reviewer documents a review of the rule for a specific state, covering the notice period, counting method, which amounts may be demanded, required contents, service methods and exclusions, and a template for that jurisdiction is reviewed with it. No date is promised. The coverage status for each state is shown on the tool page and on the Sources and coverage page.

Sources and coverage

Site-wide sources and coverage

The official pages behind this page and the generator's notes, each with the date an editor last checked it, and the status of every rule the tool consults.

Primary references

Official sources

Coverage record

Rules this tool consults

Rules on file for Pay-or-Quit / Nonpayment Notice, with their status as of October 25, 2026. "Source-checked" means an editor opened the official source on the date shown; it is not attorney review. Draft and expired rules are never used in a letter.
Jurisdiction Scenario Status Checked on Review due
California Nonpayment Source-checked, not attorney review 2026-10-16 2027-04-16
Texas Nonpayment Source-checked, not attorney review 2026-10-16 2027-04-16

How a rule earns each status, who may change it and how often sources are rechecked is set out in the editorial policy. The Sources and coverage page lists every rule and source on the site. Template version 2026.10.1.

Related tools

  • Late Rent Reminder A courteous reminder that rent for a period has not been received in full: rent due, payments and credits received, the balance, how to pay and a date to reply by. Available
  • Landlord Notice to Vacate Information for landlords ending a tenancy: what a notice to vacate must get right, how it differs from an eviction, and the official sources to check. Generation is not available. Guidance only, generator not available
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