CIV § 1946.1

30 or 60 Days Notice (Month-to-Month) | CIV § 1946.1

CIV § 1946.1 requires owners to give 60 days written notice to end residential or qualified commercial tenancies, or 30 days if less than one year.

Official text CIV § 1946.1 — California

(a) Notwithstanding Section 1946, a hiring of residential real property or commercial real property by a qualified commercial tenant for a term not specified by the parties, is deemed to be renewed as stated in Section 1945, at the end of the term implied by law unless one of the parties gives written notice to the other of the party’s intention to terminate the tenancy, as provided in this section.

(b) An owner of a residential dwelling or commercial real property hired by a qualified commercial tenant giving notice pursuant to this section shall give notice at least 60 days prior to the proposed date of termination. A tenant giving notice pursuant to this section shall give notice for a period at least as long as the term of the periodic tenancy prior to the proposed date of termination.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), an owner of a residential dwelling or commercial real property hired by a qualified commercial tenant giving notice pursuant to this section shall give notice at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of termination if a tenant or resident has resided in the dwelling or occupied the property for less than one year.

(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), an owner of a residential dwelling giving notice pursuant to this section shall give notice at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of termination if all of the following apply:

(1) The dwelling or unit is alienable separate from the title to any other dwelling unit.

(2) The owner has contracted to sell the dwelling or unit to a bona fide purchaser for value, and has established an escrow with a title insurer or an underwritten title company, as defined in Sections 12340.4 and 12340.5 of the Insurance Code, respectively, a licensed escrow agent, as defined in Sections 17004 and 17200 of the Financial Code, or a licensed real estate broker, as defined in Section 10131 of the Business and Professions Code.

(3) The purchaser is a natural person or persons.

(4) The notice is given no more than 120 days after the escrow has been established.

(5) Notice was not previously given to the tenant pursuant to this section.

(6) The purchaser in good faith intends to reside in the property for at least one full year after the termination of the tenancy.

(e) After an owner has given notice of the owner’s intention to terminate the tenancy pursuant to this section, a tenant may also give notice of the tenant’s intention to terminate the tenancy pursuant to this section, provided that the tenant’s notice is for a period at least as long as the term of the periodic tenancy and the proposed date of termination occurs before the owner’s proposed date of termination.

(f) The notices required by this section shall be given in the manner prescribed in Section 1162 of the Code of Civil Procedure or by sending a copy by certified or registered mail.

(g) This section may not be construed to affect the authority of a public entity that otherwise exists to regulate or monitor the basis for eviction.

(h) A notice given by an owner pursuant to this section shall contain, in substantially the same form, the following: “State law permits former tenants to reclaim abandoned personal property left at the former address of the tenant, subject to certain conditions. You may or may not be able to reclaim property without incurring additional costs, depending on the cost of storing the property and the length of time before it is reclaimed. In general, these costs will be lower the sooner you contact your former landlord after being notified that property belonging to you was left behind after you moved out.” (i) A landlord or its agent shall not charge a tenant a fee for serving, posting, or otherwise delivering any notice, as described in this section.

(j) A landlord of a commercial real property shall include in the notice required by this section information on the provisions of this section.

(k) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Commercial real property” means all real property in this state, except dwelling units subject to this chapter, mobilehomes as defined in Section 798.3, and recreational vehicles as defined in Section 799.29.

(2) “Microenterprise” has the same meaning as that term is defined in subdivision (a) of Section 18000 of the Business and Professions Code.

(3) “Nonprofit organization” means any private, nonprofit organization that qualifies under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

(4) “Qualified commercial tenant” means a tenant of commercial real property that meets both of the following requirements: (A) The tenant is a microenterprise, a restaurant with fewer than 10 employees, or a nonprofit organization with fewer than 20 employees. (B) (i) Subject to clause (ii), the tenant has provided the landlord, within the previous 12 months, a written notice that the tenant is a qualified commercial tenant and a self-attestation regarding the number of employees, at such time the protections under this section come into place.

(ii) Unless the tenancy is from week to week, month to month, or other period less than a month, the tenant provided the notice and self-attestation described in clause (i) before or upon execution of the lease, and annually thereafter, at such time the protections under this section come into place.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Section 1946.1 sets the length of written notice needed to end a residential periodic tenancy, and it is deliberately asymmetric. Subdivision (b) requires an owner to give at least 60 days before the proposed termination date. Subdivision (c) reduces that to 30 days where the tenant or resident has occupied the property for less than one year. Subdivision (d) gives a second 30-day route in a narrow situation: a separately alienable dwelling under contract to a natural-person buyer who in good faith intends to live there for a year, with escrow opened, notice given within 120 days of escrow and no earlier notice under the section. A tenant, by contrast, only has to give notice as long as the period of the tenancy — for a month-to-month tenancy, a month.

The section also controls the mechanics. Subdivision (f) requires the notice to be served in the manner set by § 1162 of the Code of Civil Procedure or sent by certified or registered mail; subdivision (h) requires the owner's notice to carry a prescribed paragraph about reclaiming personal property left behind; subdivision (i) forbids charging the tenant a fee for serving or delivering the notice. Subdivision (e) lets a tenant who has received the owner's notice give a shorter notice of their own and leave earlier.

What this section does not do is supply a reason. It answers "how long" and "how served", and subdivision (g) preserves the authority of public entities to regulate the basis for eviction. For most tenancies of 12 months or more the reason is now governed separately by § 1946.2, so a compliant 60-day notice can still fail because it states no just cause. Whether a particular notice was validly served, and whether it needed a cause, depends on the length of occupation, the type of property and the local ordinance — worth checking with a lawyer or a tenant service before relying on a date.

When it applies

A landlord hands you a notice giving two weeks to leave a month-to-month tenancy
You have lived somewhere ten months and are told you get 60 days
You want to give notice yourself and need to know whether a month is enough
The house is in escrow and the buyer wants to move in, and you receive a 30-day notice
The landlord adds a "notice service fee" to the rent ledger
The notice was slipped under the door and you are not sure that counts as service

What this section does not say

It does not say the landlord may end the tenancy. It sets the notice period; whether a reason is required is § 1946.2, and a 60-day notice with no stated just cause can be defective even though the timing is right.
It does not apply to a fixed-term lease that simply runs out. The section is about a hiring "for a term not specified by the parties" — a periodic tenancy — not the expiry of a one-year lease.
It is not the three-day notice. A notice to pay rent or quit for non-payment runs on § 1161 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is a different statute with a different clock.
Giving notice does not put the tenant out. If the tenant stays past the date, possession is recovered through an unlawful detainer action, not by the notice itself or by changing the locks.
The 30-day sale route is narrow. Subdivision (d) requires all six of its conditions — separately alienable unit, opened escrow, natural-person buyer, notice within 120 days, no previous notice, and a genuine one-year intent to occupy.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A tenant of three years on a month-to-month arrangement is handed a written notice giving 21 days to leave.

How the wording applies

Where the tenant has resided in the dwelling for a year or more, subdivision (b) requires 60 days of notice from the owner. The fact this turns on is length of residence, not the length of the rental period, and a notice that gets the timing wrong does not put the tenant out by itself, since possession is recovered through an unlawful detainer action.

How the parties settled it

The notice is re-served with the correct period, the parties agree a move-out date a fortnight beyond it to suit a school term, and the landlord provides a reference.

Illustrative example

A house goes into escrow and the buyer intends to move in. The tenant, in place for two years, is given 30 days.

How the wording applies

Subdivision (d) allows 30 days on a sale, but only if all of its conditions are met: a separately alienable unit, escrow opened with a natural-person buyer, notice given within 120 days of escrow opening, no previous termination notice, and a genuine intention to occupy for at least a year. It hinges on every one of them, and failing any single condition puts the notice back to 60 days.

How the parties settled it

The parties agree a departure date 60 days out, the landlord pays a moving allowance in exchange for the tenant leaving on that date, and viewings are limited to two agreed afternoons a week.

Related sections

CIV § 1946.2 Just Cause Required After 12 Months: CIV § 1946.2 CIV § 1947.12 California Civil Code § 1947.12 - The cap on rent increases (AB 1482) CIV § 1927 California Civil Code § 1927 - Quiet possession: what a landlord guarantees by letting

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of CIV § 1946.1 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in California.

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