My Tenant Stopped Paying Rent. What Can I Do in California?

When a tenant stops paying rent, every additional month can increase the landlord’s financial loss. But moving quickly does not mean skipping steps.

California unlawful-detainer procedure is designed to resolve possession disputes relatively quickly. That speed comes with strict procedural requirements.

Before serving anything, determine exactly what qualifying rent is unpaid. Review:

The amount stated in the notice can become a central issue in the eviction case.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1161(2) requires a nonpayment notice to state the rent due and specified information explaining where and how payment may be made. It also states that the notice may be served within one year after the rent becomes due.¹

That one-year rule deserves particular attention.

In the published 2026 decision Universal Shopping Plaza v. Hong, a commercial landlord sought to evict a restaurant tenant based on $65,989 in unpaid rent. The unpaid amount came from January and February 2023. The tenant then continued making monthly rent payments for approximately two years, and the landlord waited until February 2025 to serve its three-day notice.

The lease provided that payments would be applied to the oldest outstanding obligations. The landlord argued this effectively kept the tenant continuously behind on current rent. The Court of Appeal rejected that theory for purposes of section 1161(2).

The court held that the contractual payment-allocation provision did not change when the unpaid rent originally “became due.” Because the entire amount demanded in the notice had become due more than one year before service, the notice could not support the unlawful-detainer judgment.²

That holding is narrow. The opinion discusses prior California authority recognizing that a notice may contain older unpaid rent when it also identifies rent falling within the one-year statutory period. In that circumstance, the stale portion may need to be pursued separately rather than through the summary unlawful-detainer remedy.

The practical lesson is that a landlord should not allow an old rent default to sit indefinitely and assume the same stale default can later support a summary eviction. And losing the right to use stale rent as the basis for unlawful detainer does not necessarily erase the underlying debt. A separate remedy through commercial disputes and contract litigation may remain available.

For a nonpayment case, Code of Civil Procedure section 1161(2) generally requires a written notice demanding payment of the qualifying rent or possession. Among other statutory requirements, the notice must state:

If personal delivery of rent is permitted, the notice must provide the required availability information. The three-day cure period excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays.

For residential tenancies, current California Judicial Branch guidance explains that a three-day notice to pay rent or quit should demand past-due rent and should not include unrelated amounts such as late fees, utility charges, or damage claims.³

That residential guidance does not automatically carry over to commercial leases. Commercial rent can involve different statutory rules and lease definitions.

The three-day notice is not merely a reminder that money is owed. It is a statutory prerequisite to the summary possession remedy.

In Eshagian v. Cepeda (2025) 112 Cal.App.5th 433, the Court of Appeal held that a residential three-day notice was invalid where it failed to make sufficiently clear when and how rent had to be paid and that possession would be lost if the tenant failed to timely cure the default.⁴

Because the notice was defective, the landlord’s complaint did not state a valid unlawful-detainer claim. The broader lesson is simpler: a landlord may genuinely be owed rent and still lose the expedited possession remedy if the statutory notice is defective.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1162 establishes methods for serving notices required by section 1161. For residential tenants, the statute generally permits personal delivery; under specified circumstances, leaving the notice with a suitable person and mailing another copy; or, where the statutory requirements are satisfied, posting and mailing. Commercial tenants have a separate subsection governing service at commercial rental property.⁵

These methods are not interchangeable conveniences. Substituted service and posting are available only when the conditions in the statute are met.

Preserve evidence showing who served the notice, when, the method used, where delivery or posting occurred, and any required mailing. A legally sufficient notice served incorrectly can still create a problem.

For a standard nonpayment notice under section 1161(2), the tenant may pay the stipulated qualifying rent within the statutory cure period and preserve the tenancy. That makes the amount demanded especially important.

Partial payments require additional caution. For commercial property, Code of Civil Procedure section 1161.1 contains specific rules concerning reasonable estimates of rent, partial payments after notice, partial payments after the complaint is filed, and circumstances where accepting a partial payment does not necessarily waive the remaining possession claim.⁶

Section 1161.1 addresses commercial property; its rules should not be assumed to apply to residential tenancies. If a tenant offers less than the full demanded amount after notice, the consequences of accepting the payment should be evaluated before accepting it.

If a valid notice was used, it was properly served, the statutory deadline expired, and the tenant neither fully cured nor surrendered possession, the landlord may generally proceed with an unlawful-detainer action. That is the stage where landlord representation and unlawful detainer counsel typically becomes involved in court.

In a residential case, the general sequence is:

The California Courts eviction materials describe unlawful detainer as the legal process for evicting residential tenants and caution that premature filing or notice defects can require the landlord to start over.

For residential properties covered by Civil Code section 1946.2, California generally requires a qualifying “just cause” before termination after the applicable occupancy period. The statute expressly identifies default in payment of rent as an at-fault just cause.⁷

But not every residential tenancy is covered. Section 1946.2 contains exemptions and specific requirements, and certain California cities and counties impose additional eviction protections, notices, or procedural requirements.

Before serving a residential eviction notice, confirm both statewide law and any applicable city or county requirements.

Residential: the statewide Tenant Protection Act may apply; local eviction rules may apply; the residential three-day notice generally seeks qualifying past-due rent; and residential self-help lockout rules are especially strict.

Commercial: begin with the lease; additional rent definitions may matter; section 1161.1 provides special rules for estimated rent and partial payments; and section 1162 has a separate commercial-service subsection.

Commercial lease provisions may affect base rent, additional rent, common-area charges, taxes and insurance, default, payment allocation, attorney fees, and other remedies. Where a commercial dispute turns on an alleged oral rent modification or side agreement, the issues discussed in Can I Enforce a Verbal Business Agreement in California? may also matter.

But private lease language cannot override the statutory prerequisites to California’s summary unlawful-detainer remedy.

For residential property, a landlord generally cannot bypass the eviction process by intentionally locking the tenant out, shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, or removing the tenant’s belongings to force the tenant to leave.

California Civil Code section 789.3 prohibits specified residential self-help measures and provides statutory remedies for violations.⁸

The California Courts likewise directs residential landlords to use the lawful eviction process.

Gather and review:

For residential cases, also identify whether Civil Code § 1946.2 applies and whether local eviction rules apply.

For commercial cases, also review how the lease defines rent and additional rent, payment-allocation provisions, default provisions, and contractual notice requirements.