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Tenants Guide Notice End Tenancy
To end a periodic rental agreement (for example, a month-to-month agreement), you must give your landlord proper written notice before you move.
You must give the landlord the same amount of notice as there are days between rent payments 193.This means that if you pay rent monthly, you must give the landlord written notice at least 30 days before you move. If you pay rent every week, you must give the landlord written notice at least seven days before you move.194 This is true even if the landlord has given you a 60-day notice to end the rental agreement and you want to leave sooner.195
If your rental agreement specifies a different amount of notice (for example 10 days), you must give the landlord written notice as required by the agreement.196
To avoid later disagreements, date the notice, state the date that you intend to move, and make a copy of the notice for yourself. It’s best to deliver the notice to the landlord or property manager in person, or mail it by certified mail with return receipt requested.197
You can give the landlord notice any time during the rental period, but you must pay full rent during the period covered by the notice. For example, say you have a month-to-month rental agreement, and pay rent on the first day of each month. You could give notice any time during the month (for example, on the tenth). Then, you could leave 30 days later (on the tenth of the following month, or earlier if you chose to). But you would have to pay rent for the first 10 days of the next month whether you stay for those 10 days or move earlier. (Exception: You would not have to pay rent for the entire 10 days if you left earlier, and the landlord rented the unit to another tenant during the 10 days, and the new tenant paid rent for all or part of the 10 days.)198
The rental agreement or lease must state the name and address of the person or entity to whom you must make rent payments (see page 19). If this address does not accept personal deliveries, you can mail your notice to the owner at the name and address stated in the lease or rental agreement. If you can show proof that you mailed the notice to the stated name and address (for example, a receipt for certified mail), the law assumes that the notice is receivable by the owner on the date of postmark.199
193 Civil Code Section 1946.
194 Civil Code Section 1946.
195 Civil Code Section 1946.1(e), effective January 1, 2007. This section shall remain in effect until January 1, 2010, when a later enacted statute deletes or extends that date.
196 Civil Code Section 1946.
197 Civil Code Section 1946.
198 See Brown, Warner and Portman, The California Landlord’s Law Book, Vol. I: Rights & Responsibilities, pages 357-358 (NOLO Press 2009).
199 Civil Code Section 1962(f).
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