Nonpayment, lease violation, and ending a month-to-month tenancy run on three different clocks. See all three for your state, with the statute.
If the state's period is a plain number of days, the tool will count it out. Where the statute counts court days or business days, it says so instead of guessing a date.
How notice periods work
Nearly every eviction starts with a notice, and the notice period is set by statute — not by the lease. Getting it wrong is the single most common reason a case is dismissed and has to start over: serve a 3-day notice where the state requires 14, and the defect usually cannot be fixed retroactively.
The periods differ by why the tenancy is ending. Nonpayment, a curable lease violation, and ending a month-to-month tenancy are three separate clocks, and some states set no cure period at all for violations. This tool shows each one for your state with the statute citation, and counts out a date where the statute uses plain calendar days.
Where a statute counts court days or business days, this tool deliberately does not produce a date — weekends and court holidays vary, and a confidently wrong date is worse than none.
Common questions
Does the notice period start the day I serve it?
Usually the day after — most states exclude the day of service from the count. Service method also matters: several states add days when notice is mailed rather than delivered personally or posted. Check the statute cited for your state before relying on a date.
What if the lease says something different from the statute?
The statute generally wins. Notice periods are set as a floor for the tenant's protection, and a lease cannot shorten them. A lease can sometimes give the tenant more notice than the statute requires, and where it does, the longer period is the one to follow.
What is a just-cause requirement?
In some states and many cities, a landlord ending a tenancy needs a statutorily listed reason — not merely the correct notice period. Where our dataset records a just-cause rule for your state, it is shown alongside the notice period, because satisfying the notice clock does not by itself make the termination lawful.
Disclaimer: This tool provides general information about state landlord-tenant law and is not legal advice. Statutory rules are quoted from our state-variance dataset with the statute citation shown; laws change, and local ordinances may impose stricter rules than the statewide figures here. Verify the current statute before acting, and consult a licensed attorney for your situation. Dataset compiled 2026-07-08.