California Civil Code 1946.1 sets the minimum written notice to end a month-to-month residential tenancy: 60 days from the landlord if any resident has lived in the unit for a year or more, 30 days from the landlord if everyone has been there less than a year, and 30 days from the tenant regardless of how long they’ve stayed. Those are floors. A separate statute, the Tenant Protection Act, often requires a just-cause reason and relocation payment on top of the notice, and getting either piece wrong can void the notice entirely.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1
The 60-Day Rule for Landlords
Under subdivision (b) of Civil Code 1946.1, the baseline is 60 days’ written notice before the proposed termination date whenever the tenant or any other resident has occupied the unit for 12 months or more.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1 The year is measured from the date any current occupant first moved in to the date the landlord serves the notice.
The presence of a single long-term resident is enough to trigger the 60-day floor. If a roommate moved in six months ago but the original tenant has lived there for two years, the 60-day period applies to the whole household.
When 30 Days Is Enough
The statute gives landlords two paths to a shorter 30-day notice.
Nobody Has Lived There a Year
If no current tenant or resident has been in the unit for a full 12 months, 30 days is sufficient.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1
Sale to an Individual Owner-Occupant
A 30-day notice is also available when the landlord has contracted to sell the unit to someone who plans to live in it, but only if every one of the following is true:1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1
- The dwelling has a separate title and can be sold independently of any other unit, which typically covers single-family homes and condominiums.
- Escrow has been opened with a licensed title insurer, escrow agent, or real estate broker under a purchase contract.
- The buyer is a natural person, not a corporation or LLC.
- The notice is served no later than 120 days after escrow opened.
- The landlord has not previously served a 1946.1 termination notice on the same tenant.
- The buyer genuinely intends to occupy the property for at least one full year after the tenancy ends.
Miss any one condition and the landlord falls back to 60 days, assuming just cause rules don’t block the termination altogether.
How Much Notice the Tenant Has to Give
Tenants operate under a different rule. A tenant ending a periodic tenancy must give notice at least as long as the rental period, so 30 days for a month-to-month arrangement and 7 days for a week-to-week one, no matter how long they have lived there.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1 There is no 60-day tenant version.
Subdivision (e) also handles a common situation. Once a landlord has served a termination notice, the tenant can respond with their own notice to leave earlier.2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.1 The tenant’s chosen move-out date has to fall before the landlord’s proposed date, and the tenant’s notice still has to run at least as long as the rental period. So a tenant handed a 60-day notice doesn’t have to sit in the unit for the full 60 days.
What the Written Notice Has to Say
A valid 1946.1 notice is more than a letter announcing the end of the tenancy. The statute requires the notice to include specific language about the tenant’s right to reclaim personal property left behind: that former tenants may be able to retrieve their belongings, that costs can vary depending on how quickly they act, and that contacting the former landlord promptly tends to reduce those costs.3California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.1
The statute says the language must appear “in substantially the same form,” so word-for-word quotation isn’t required, but the meaning has to come through. Leaving this section out entirely is a routine ground for challenging a notice.
If the tenancy is covered by the Tenant Protection Act, the notice also has to state the specific just-cause reason for the termination. That requirement comes from Civil Code 1946.2, not 1946.1, but both apply at once.
Serving the Notice
Civil Code 1946.1(f) allows service either by one of the methods in Code of Civil Procedure 1162 or by certified or registered mail.2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.1
Under CCP 1162, the primary option is personal delivery, handing a copy directly to the other party.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1162 If the tenant isn’t present at home or work, substituted service allows leaving a copy with a competent adult at either location and mailing a second copy to the tenant’s residence. When no one suitable can be found, the fallback is posting a copy in a visible spot on the property and mailing another copy to the tenant at the property address.
Certified or registered mail stands on its own outside CCP 1162. It creates a dated record of when the notice was sent and, if signed for, when it arrived. Improper service can invalidate the notice and force the process to start over, so the paper trail matters.
Just Cause Can Override a Technically Correct Notice
Civil Code 1946.1 tells you how much warning to give. It does not, by itself, grant the right to terminate. Since January 1, 2020, the Tenant Protection Act at Civil Code 1946.2 has required landlords to have a legally recognized “just cause” before ending a covered tenancy once the tenant has lived in the unit for 12 months.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2
Just cause splits into two categories. At-fault causes involve tenant conduct such as nonpayment of rent, a material lease violation, criminal activity at the property, or refusing to sign a substantially similar lease renewal. No-fault causes are landlord-side reasons like owner move-in, withdrawing the unit from the rental market, or complying with a government order to vacate.
Some properties are exempt, including certain owner-occupied small properties, owner-occupied duplexes, housing that received its certificate of occupancy within the prior 15 years, and individually titled units owned by natural persons who have given the tenant specific written notice of the exemption.6California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.2 Local rent control or just-cause ordinances often go further than state law and are not preempted by the Tenant Protection Act.
Relocation Assistance for No-Fault Terminations
When a covered tenancy is ended for a no-fault reason, the landlord owes the tenant relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent at the rate in effect on the date the notice was served.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2 The landlord either pays the tenant directly within 15 calendar days of serving the notice or waives the tenant’s final month of rent in writing before it comes due. The termination notice itself has to inform the tenant of this right.
Strict compliance is required. If the landlord skips the relocation payment or the required disclosure, the notice is void from the start, not fixable after the fact. A properly worded 60-day notice under 1946.1 can still be dead on arrival for missing this piece.
Retaliation Voids an Otherwise Valid Notice
Civil Code 1942.5 bars terminating a tenancy in retaliation for a tenant exercising legal rights, such as complaining about habitability problems, reporting a suspected bed bug infestation, filing a complaint with a government agency about code violations, or participating in a tenant organization. A termination notice served within 180 days of a protected tenant action is presumed retaliatory, and the landlord has to prove otherwise.7California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1942.5 The statute also specifically bars reporting or threatening to report a tenant to immigration authorities as retaliation. A notice found retaliatory won’t be enforced even if it satisfied every technical requirement of 1946.1.
Small Commercial Tenants Added in 2025
Effective January 1, 2025, SB 1103 extended 1946.1’s notice framework to “qualified commercial tenants,” defined as a microenterprise, a restaurant with fewer than 10 employees, or a nonprofit with fewer than 20 employees.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.1 The tenant has to give the landlord written notice and a self-attestation of employee count within the prior 12 months. Once qualified, the same 60-day and 30-day rules apply. Commercial tenancies outside that definition still run on the lease terms and general contract law.
If the Tenant Stays After the Notice Expires
A 1946.1 notice is not an eviction. It’s notice of intent to end the tenancy. If the tenant remains in the unit after the period runs out, the landlord cannot change the locks, shut off utilities, or remove the tenant. The only lawful path is an unlawful detainer lawsuit in California Superior Court. Even a straightforward case typically takes several weeks from filing to a court order for possession.
A defective notice — wrong notice period, missing abandoned-property language, improper service, or no just-cause statement where one was required — will almost always result in the unlawful detainer case being dismissed, sending the landlord back to serving a new notice and waiting the full 30 or 60 days again.