Served With a Three-Day Notice or an Unlawful Detainer on a Commercial Lease

Last updated: November 2026. Reviewed by Pavel Kolmogorov, California business litigation attorney (State Bar No. 321018).

A commercial landlord in California can go from a three-day notice to an eviction trial in a matter of weeks. The notice gives the tenant three court days to pay or leave. If the landlord then files an unlawful detainer, the tenant has 10 court days after service to respond, and trial generally follows within 20 days of a request. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1161, 1167, 1170.5.) Most defenses attack the notice itself. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. represents commercial tenants and landlords in these cases in Orange County and Los Angeles.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online to discuss a three-day notice or an unlawful detainer complaint on a commercial lease.

What the three-day notice is

The notice is the landlord's formal demand, and it is a required first step before an eviction lawsuit for nonpayment. It must be in writing and give the tenant three days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and court holidays, to pay the rent or surrender possession. It must state the amount due and the name, telephone number, and address of the person to be paid, along with the days and hours for payment in person or other permitted payment details. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1161, subd. 2.) A notice based on a different lease violation gives the same three days to cure, unless the violation cannot be cured. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1161, subd. 3.)

Commercial leases get one rule that residential leases do not. The landlord may demand an amount clearly identified as an estimate. If the estimate was reasonable, the landlord can still win possession even though the figure was off, and an estimate within 20 percent of the amount actually due is presumed reasonable. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1161.1, subds. (a), (e).)

A notice may be delivered to the tenant personally. If the tenant is absent, it may be left with a suitable person there and mailed. If no such person can be found with reasonable diligence, it may be posted and mailed. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1162, subd. (b).)

The deadlines after the notice expires

An unlawful detainer is a summary proceeding, and the calendar shows it.

Response: 10 days after the complaint is served, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1167, subd. (a).) Until 2025 the period was five court days, and older forms and articles still say so.
How to respond: an answer, a demurrer, or a motion to strike. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1170, subd. (a).)
Trial: once the tenant has responded, no later than the 20th day after a party asks the court to set it, absent an agreed or court-ordered extension. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1170.5, subds. (a), (b).)
Priority: these cases take precedence over most other civil matters. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1179a.)

Miss the response date and the landlord can take a default. Our page on default judgments explains how hard those are to undo. One more trap: outside small claims court, a corporation cannot appear in a California court of record through an owner or officer who is not a lawyer. (Merco Construction Engineers, Inc. v. Municipal Court (1978) 21 Cal.3d 724, 729-731.) An incorporated tenant, and in practice an LLC, needs counsel to file the response.

What not to do

Do not ignore the notice because the amount looks wrong. Do not send a partial payment without a written understanding of what it does. Do not rely on a property manager's oral promise that "we will work it out" while the three days run. And do not assume that moving out ends the matter. The landlord may still sue for unpaid rent under the lease.

If you are the tenant

Defenses that succeed are usually technical. The amount demanded was overstated and not identified as an estimate. The notice left out the payment information the statute requires. Service did not follow the statute. The complaint was filed before the notice period ended. A longer cure period or different notice procedure in the lease can matter too, because commercial parties may agree to notice terms that differ from the statute.

Defenses that feel strongest often fail. A commercial tenant generally cannot defend a nonpayment eviction by proving that the landlord broke its own repair obligations. The tenant's remedy is a separate damages action, unless the lease makes rent conditional on the landlord's performance. (Schulman v. Vera (1980) 108 Cal.App.3d 552, 558-559.) Disputes over CAM charges often follow the same pattern, with one statutory exception described on our page about qualified commercial tenants.

Protections written for housing do not carry over. California's just cause rule, for example, applies to residential real property. (Civ. Code, § 1946.2, subd. (a).)

Keeping the lease after you lose

Losing the case does not always mean losing the space. If the notice did not state that the landlord elects to forfeit the lease, the lease is not forfeited by the judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1174, subd. (a).) In that situation, if the lease term has not run out, the court may give the tenant five days after judgment to pay the rent, damages, and costs and be restored to the lease. It must do so for a written lease of more than one year with no forfeiture clause. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1174, subd. (c).)

Separately, a court may relieve a tenant from forfeiture in a case of hardship, on condition of full payment of the rent due. The application can be made any time before the premises are restored to the landlord. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1179.) I treat this as a last resort, not a plan.

If you are the landlord

The summary procedure rewards exact compliance and punishes shortcuts. Calculate the demand from the lease, label it an estimate if any component is uncertain, and include every item of payment information. Accepting partial rent after serving the notice does not have to end the case, but the statute sets conditions, including actual notice to the tenant that acceptance waives nothing once a complaint is on file. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1161.1, subds. (b), (c).)

Never change the locks instead. Our page on commercial lockouts explains the exposure. If the lease has a fee provision, remember that it runs both ways.

What to bring to the first meeting

The lease, all amendments, and any guaranty.
The three-day notice and the envelope or proof of how it arrived.
The summons and complaint, with the date and manner of service.
A rent ledger and proof of every payment for the last 12 months.
Letters, emails, and texts with the landlord or tenant about the default.

Frequently asked questions

My restaurant got a three-day notice to pay rent or quit. How fast can a commercial landlord evict in California?

Quickly. The notice period is three days, excluding weekends and court holidays. After it expires the landlord can file an unlawful detainer, and California gives the tenant 10 court days from service to respond. Trial is generally held within 20 days of a request to set it. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1167, 1170.5.) A contested case can be decided within several weeks of filing, depending on the court's calendar.

How many days do I have to respond to an unlawful detainer in California?

Ten days after the summons and complaint are served, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1167, subd. (a).) The period was five court days before January 1, 2025. The deadline applies to commercial and residential tenants alike. A corporation or LLC should retain counsel immediately, because an entity generally cannot file its own response.

Can I withhold rent from my commercial landlord because of repairs?

It is risky. California courts have generally held that a commercial tenant cannot raise the landlord's failure to repair as a defense to an eviction for nonpayment. The tenant may sue separately for damages, or leave and claim constructive eviction if conditions are severe. The answer can change if the lease expressly ties rent to the landlord's performance.

The amount on my three-day notice is higher than what I actually owe under the lease. Is the notice invalid?

It may be. A notice that overstates the rent can defeat the eviction case. In a California commercial tenancy, though, the landlord may state an amount clearly labeled as an estimate, and an estimate within 20 percent of the true figure is presumed reasonable. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1161.1, subd. (e).) A tenant who timely tenders its own reasonable estimate gains protection under the same statute.

Can a commercial tenant stop an eviction by paying after judgment?

Sometimes. If the three-day notice did not declare a forfeiture of the lease, a California court may, and for some written leases over one year must, allow the tenant five days after judgment to pay everything owed and keep the tenancy. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1174, subd. (c).) A court may also grant relief from forfeiture for hardship, conditioned on full payment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1179.) Hardship relief is discretionary.

Talk to a California commercial lease attorney

If you have been served, or you need to recover possession from a tenant in default, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is located at 327 Magnet, Irvine, CA 92618. We handle commercial unlawful detainer cases in the Orange County Superior Court and the Los Angeles Superior Court.

This page provides general information about California law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the lease, the notice, the facts, and the court.