What is the 3 Day Notice?
At East Bay Property Management and Consulting, we have been successfully managing properties in the East Bay area for decades. Today, we would like to share information with you, an East Bay landlord, about this notice and its importance.
As a rental property owner in California, this can be very helpful!
The notice is called the 3 day notice to pay rent because you serve it to the tenant if they have not paid their rent. The three-day notice is an official document informing your tenant that they have three days to pay their rent or you will take legal action and begin the eviction process.
For more information about the eviction process and how to evict a tenant, read here.
When To Send the 3 Day Notice to Quit or Comply
As a California landlord, receiving your rent payment on time is important, but so is establishing a trusting relationship with your tenant. For this reason, you don’t want to serve your tenant a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit if they are only late by a few days. For example, let’s say your rent is due on the 1st, and is considered late after the 5th. If you haven’t received rent from your tenant by the 5th, then you should reach out to your tenant on the 6th or 7th with a phone call and inquire as to why they have not paid their rent.
Often, rent not being paid on time is simply due to a household miscommunication. For example, your tenant may think their spouse paid it and their spouse may think the same thing. In this case, a phone call or email to the tenant will solve the problem. Once the tenant realizes they are late on rent, they will quickly bring it in. Under special circumstances, we will waive the late fee, but not often.
If your tenant does not pay rent by the 6th or 7th of the month, then it is time for you to serve the 3 day notice to quit.
How to Fill Out the 3 Day Notice Form
The Notice Form can be downloaded from our website under ‘Helpful Owner Resources’. Once you download the form, you can begin to fill it out.
You begin by listing the name of the tenant that is on the lease. Then, you fill in the current amount of rent rightfully owed to you. You only want to list the total rent owed. No late fees, utilities, or other types of fees will be included, as they are not appropriate for this type of form.
Then, you include the period of time in which the rent is owed. For example, if your tenant hasn’t paid for the month of June, then you are going to state that the tenant is late on rent for the period of June 1st through June 30th.
Finally, you will sign and date the notice, as well as state the person to whom the payment should be paid to. You will also include the phone number of the person to whom the rent can be paid. If this is you, then you will simply put your own name and phone number.
You must also list the address where the tenant can deliver their payment. This is a legal requirement when serving the 3-day notice. They must have an address or a PO Box where they can drop it off or deliver it. Include the time and day in which the rent can be received. For example, Monday to Friday from 9 to 5.
How to Deliver the 3 Day Notice to Vacate or Pay in California
A landlord can deliver the notice in four different ways.
1. Send the notice to the tenant through First Class Mail. Do not bother with certified mail, as there is a chance they won’t accept it anyways.
2. Email the tenant with the notice.
3. Text the tenant with the notice.
4. Post the notice on the tenant’s front door. We like to do this in the evening. We tape it to the tenant’s front door, about five feet from the ground. Then, we take a photo of the door and the notice, ensuring that the notice is legible. After that, we back up and take a photo of the notice taped to the door with the address of the home fully visible.
If you follow these steps, you will have a much greater chance of successfully getting the rent payment from your tenant. On the rare occasion that your tenant still doesn’t pay the rent owed to you, then you can file an eviction notice and begin the eviction process to evict the tenant, following the California law. When evicting a tenant at this point, it’s important to note that you should not refund their security deposit.
If you have questions about serving the pay or quit notice in California, you can call me, Mike at my cell 510 996 -3238.
We serve areas in the East Bay, California including Milpitas, Union City, Newark, Castro Valley & More.
Good luck, landlord!
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Disclaimer: This information is only intended to be educational and not a substitute for professional legal help. If you require more help or information, seek legal advice from a qualified attorney who knows the law. An experienced property management company may also know the law.
