Arkansas Eviction Notice
Arkansas eviction notice: the 3-day pay-or-quit and 14-day cure-or-quit rules under Arkansas Code Section 18-60-304. Free template. Attorney review available.
Introduction
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing an unlawful detainer lawsuit in court. In Arkansas, the notice depends on why you're evicting: nonpayment of rent gets a 3-day notice to quit after a 5-day grace period from the rent due date has already passed, and a fixable lease violation gets a 14-day notice to cure or quit. Habitability problems the tenant caused, or a nuisance on the property, can support an unlawful detainer action too, though the statute does not spell out a separate notice-day count for those two grounds the way it does for nonpayment. This page is built around the actual notice document, a compact, fillable template with the required content and deadline for each notice type below, not a broader walkthrough of how an Arkansas eviction case proceeds once it reaches court. Arkansas's unlawful detainer statute leaves a real gap worth knowing before you rely on it: Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304(4)-(5) makes failing to keep the premises safe, healthy, or habitable, and causing or permitting a common or public nuisance, grounds for unlawful detainer, but unlike its explicit three-day rule for nonpayment, the statute's text never states how many days' notice either of those two grounds requires. The same statute otherwise sets the 3-day notice requirement for nonpayment of rent. The Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 18-17-101 through 18-17-913, supplies the 5-day rent grace period and the 14-day cure notice for other lease violations. There's no single mandatory government form for the notice itself, the Arkansas Judiciary's court forms directory doesn't list one, but the notice must be in writing and must demand possession. Serve the wrong notice or the wrong day count, and the eviction case can be dismissed before it starts.
Key Things to Know
- 1
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing an unlawful detainer lawsuit in court.
- 2
Failing to keep the premises safe, healthy, or habitable, or causing or permitting a common or public nuisance, can support an unlawful detainer action. Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304(4)-(5) does not state a separate notice-day count for these two grounds, unlike the explicit 3-day rule for nonpayment, so treat the day count for this ground as unsettled and get it confirmed before relying on it.
- 3
Nonpayment of rent gets a 3-day notice to quit and written demand for possession. (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304(3)) This follows a separate 5-day grace period after the rent due date, during which the tenant can still pay before the landlord may treat rent as unpaid. (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-701(b))
- 4
A curable lease violation other than nonpayment, like an unauthorized pet or property damage, gets a 14-day notice to cure or quit. The tenant can fix the violation within those 14 days and keep the lease. (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-701(a)(1))
- 5
The governing law is Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304 (unlawful detainer) together with the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 18-17-101 to 18-17-913, which supplies the rent grace period and the general cure-notice rule.
- 6
Notice may be given to a tenant by hand delivery, or by registered or certified mail to the address the tenant has designated for receiving notices, or to the tenant's last known residence if no address was designated. Proof of mailing alone counts as notice, without proof the tenant received it. (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-303(b))
- 7
There's no state-mandated form for the notice itself, the Arkansas Judiciary's official court forms directory doesn't list one, but the notice must be in writing and must demand possession of the property.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Arkansas, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Arkansas Requirements for Eviction Notice
3-day written notice to quit and demand for possession, served after the tenant fails or refuses to pay rent when due. Confirmed independently by the Arkansas Attorney General's Office, which states unlawful detainer actions for nonpayment require a landlord to give 3 days' written notice to vacate before suing.
The statutory basis for the notice types on this page: Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304 defines unlawful detainer and sets the 3-day nonpayment notice, while the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 18-17-101 to 18-17-913, supplies the 5-day rent grace period and the 14-day general cure notice.
There is no government-mandated notice-to-quit form. The Arkansas Judiciary's official court forms directory does not list an eviction, unlawful detainer, or notice-to-quit form. The notice must be in writing and must demand possession of the property, but the statute does not itself prescribe specific required wording the way some other states do.
Failing to maintain the premises in a safe, healthy, or habitable condition, or causing or permitting the premises to become a common or public nuisance, can support an unlawful detainer action. Unlike the express 3-day notice for nonpayment, the statute's text does not state a separate written-notice day count for these two grounds; confirm the applicable notice with an attorney before relying on this ground.
The tenant has 5 days from the rent due date to pay before the landlord may terminate the rental agreement for nonpayment. This grace period runs separately from, and before, the 3-day notice-to-quit period: the landlord may not send the 3-day notice until the 5-day grace period has already lapsed with rent still unpaid.
14-day written notice specifying the acts or omissions constituting the violation. The rental agreement terminates on a date not less than 14 days after the tenant receives the notice, unless the tenant remedies the violation within those 14 days. This is the general cure notice under the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 for lease violations other than nonpayment.
Notice to a tenant is effective when delivered in hand to the tenant, or mailed by registered or certified mail to the address the tenant has designated for receiving notices, or to the tenant's last known place of residence if no address was designated. Proof of mailing alone constitutes notice, without proof the tenant actually received it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Arkansas requires 3 days' written notice to quit for nonpayment of rent, after a separate 5-day grace period from the rent due date has already passed. A curable lease violation other than nonpayment gets a 14-day notice to cure or quit. For habitability or nuisance grounds, the unlawful detainer statute does not state a separate notice-day count, so confirm the right notice with an attorney before relying on that ground.
No, not for the two most common grounds. Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304 requires written notice before filing an unlawful detainer action for nonpayment of rent (3 days) or for the tenant continuing to hold the property after a written demand for surrender. A separate criminal-nuisance eviction track for gambling, prostitution, or unlawful alcohol sales on the premises (Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 18-16-501 to 18-16-509) instead proceeds by a complaint and court summons rather than a landlord-served notice.
For nonpayment of rent, the notice must be in writing and must include a demand for possession, under Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304(3). For a curable lease violation, the notice must specify the acts or omissions that make up the violation, under the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-701(a)(1). Beyond those two statutory content requirements, the safe practice is to identify the landlord and tenant, the rental address, the amount due or the violation, and the deadline to comply, the fields this page's template already includes.
No. Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304 requires only that the pay-or-quit notice be in writing and demand possession, it does not prescribe specific required wording the way some states do. The Arkansas Judiciary's official court forms directory does not list an eviction, unlawful detainer, or notice-to-quit form, so a landlord writes their own notice, using the statutory content requirements above as the floor.
A lease violation other than nonpayment, like an unauthorized pet or property damage, is curable: the tenant can fix it within the 14-day notice period and keep the lease, under Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-701(a)(1). Nonpayment works differently, the tenant can still pay during the separate 5-day grace period before the 3-day notice is even triggered, though Section 18-60-304(3) itself doesn't frame that 3-day period as a cure window. For the unmaintained-premises and nuisance grounds under Section 18-60-304(4)-(5), the statute's text doesn't set a notice period at all, so whether or how that ground can be cured isn't spelled out.
For nonpayment, count 3 days from the date the notice is served, after the separate 5-day grace period from the rent due date has already passed. (Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 18-60-304(3), 18-17-701(b)) For a curable lease violation, count 14 days from the date the tenant receives the notice, not the date it's served. (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-17-701(a)(1)) For habitability or nuisance grounds, the statute doesn't set a day count to calculate from, so confirm the applicable period before relying on that ground.
The notice itself isn't an eviction, it's the step that has to happen first. If the tenant hasn't paid, cured, or vacated by the deadline, the landlord can file an unlawful detainer complaint in the district or circuit court for the county where the property is located. The tenant is then served with a summons and has a limited number of days to file a written objection; if none is filed and the court enters judgment for the landlord, the tenant is removed from the dwelling by the county sheriff, not by the landlord directly.
The statute's own requirement is that the pay-or-quit notice be in writing and demand possession, Arkansas Code Annotated Section 18-60-304(3), it doesn't separately spell out a signature requirement. As a matter of practice, the notice should show the date of notice, be signed by the landlord or their agent, and record the date and method it was actually served, since the 3-day and 14-day deadlines run from those service or receipt dates. This page's template includes each of those fields for that reason.