Indiana Eviction Notice
Indiana eviction notice: the 10-day pay-or-quit rule under Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6. Free template, statute cites included. Attorney review available.
Introduction
Before a landlord in Indiana can ask a court for possession, state law requires a document first: written notice to the tenant, the trigger that starts a tenancy moving toward its end for cause. The compact template below is that document itself, ready to fill in, sign, and serve, not a general explainer of Indiana eviction law. Nonpayment of rent is the most common cause, and it draws a 10-day notice under Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6; the tenant defeats it simply by paying every dollar owed before the 10 days run out. A voluntary form of that notice appears in Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-7, though nothing forces a landlord to copy its exact wording. Ask how many days a tenant gets to fix a lease or rental-obligation violation here, and the statute never names a number. Indiana Code Section 32-31-7-7 requires only notice of the problem and then "a reasonable amount of time" before suing, no printed day count attached, leaving cleanliness violations, building-system misuse, and property-damage claims governed by judgment rather than a calendar. Six narrower situations skip notice altogether under Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8: a lease reaching its stated end date, a tenancy's determination date fixed directly in the contract, a tenant at will who commits waste, a tenant at sufferance who overstays without permission, unpaid advance rent the contract requires, and cases with no landlord-tenant relationship at all. Ending a tenancy without any of those causes runs on a separate clock: 1 month's notice for a month-to-month or at-will tenancy, 3 months for a year-to-year lease. Get the notice type wrong, or skip a required step, and the possession case risks delay or dismissal.
Key Things to Know
- 1
A written notice from landlord to tenant, served before any possession case reaches court, is what Indiana law requires whenever a tenancy is ending for cause; that notice is the starting point behind every situation described below.
- 2
No number appears anywhere in Indiana Code Section 32-31-7-7 for how long a tenant gets to fix a lease or rental-obligation violation, only the phrase "a reasonable amount of time" after notice of the problem is given, a deliberate departure from the fixed 3-day, 5-day, 10-day, or 14-day cure windows written directly into many other states' statutes.
- 3
10 days, running from the tenant's receipt of the notice: that is the entire nonpayment-of-rent notice period, and paying every dollar due within that window cancels the notice outright. (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6)
- 4
Six circumstances erase the notice requirement altogether under Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8: a specified-term lease reaching its end date, a tenancy's determination date fixed directly in the contract, a tenant at will committing waste, a tenant at sufferance remaining on the premises, advance rent going unpaid where the contract demands it, and situations where no landlord-tenant relationship exists in the first place.
- 5
Chapters 1, 5, and 7 of Indiana Code Title 32, Article 31, Landlord-Tenant Relations, contain the general notice rules, service-of-process mechanics, and tenant-obligation standards.
- 6
Serving the tenant directly comes first. Only if that fails does the statute allow delivery to a resident of the premises, with the contents explained to that person, and only if no one at all can be found does posting a copy on the premises become an option. (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-9)
- 7
Optional, not mandatory, is the status of the notice form Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-7 offers for nonpayment of rent; no comparable form exists in the statute for a lease-violation notice or a no-cause termination notice.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Indiana, 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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Indiana Requirements for Eviction Notice
10 days' written notice for nonpayment of rent. The tenant defeats the notice by paying the rent due in full before the 10-day period expires, unless the parties otherwise agreed. Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-7 provides an optional statutory form of this notice; using that exact wording is not mandatory.
Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8 lists six situations where no notice to quit is required at all: the landlord rented for a specified period that has ended, the tenancy's determination date is specified in the contract, a tenant at will commits waste, the tenant is a tenant at sufferance, the contract requires rent in advance and the tenant fails to pay it in advance, or no landlord-tenant relationship exists. These are true no-notice-required situations, not a short notice period with no cure option.
Before bringing a court action to enforce a tenant obligation under Indiana Code Section 32-31-7-5 (health and housing code compliance, cleanliness, reasonable use of building systems, avoiding property damage, following reasonable rules, and smoke detector maintenance), the landlord must give the tenant notice of the noncompliance and a reasonable amount of time to remedy it. The statute does not set a fixed number of cure days.
Notice may be served on the tenant directly. If the tenant cannot be found, the notice may be served on a person residing at the premises, and the person serving the notice must explain its contents to that person. If no such person is found on the premises, the notice may be served by posting a copy conspicuously on the premises.
Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-7 provides an optional statutory form of notice for nonpayment of rent that a landlord may, but is not required, to use. No mandatory wording is prescribed by statute for lease or rental-obligation violation notices under Chapter 7, or for no-cause termination notices.
Distinct from the cause-based notices above: ending a tenancy at will or month-to-month tenancy without a specific statutory cause requires 1 month's written notice (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-1). Ending a year-to-year tenancy requires 3 months' notice (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-3). A periodic tenancy of 3 months or less requires notice equal to the interval between periods (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-4).
The statutory basis for the notice types on this page: Indiana Code Title 32, Article 31 (Landlord-Tenant Relations), specifically Chapter 1 (General Provisions, notice and service rules), Chapter 5 (Rental Agreements; Right of Access), and Chapter 7 (Tenant Obligations).
Frequently Asked Questions
For nonpayment of rent, Indiana requires 10 days' written notice, and the tenant can defeat the notice by paying the full amount due before it expires. For lease or rental-obligation violations, Indiana law requires notice plus "a reasonable amount of time" to fix the problem, but does not set a fixed day count. Six specific situations, like a fixed-term lease reaching its stated end, require no notice at all.
In most cases, no. Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6 requires a 10-day notice for nonpayment of rent, and Section 32-31-7-7 requires notice plus a reasonable cure period for lease or rental-obligation violations. There are narrow exceptions: Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8 lists six situations, such as a specified-term lease ending on schedule or a tenant at will committing waste, where no notice to quit is required at all.
An Indiana eviction notice should identify the landlord and tenant, the rental address, the date of the notice, and the specific reason for the notice: nonpayment of rent (with the amount due and how to pay it), a lease or rental-obligation violation (described under Indiana Code Section 32-31-7-5), or one of the situations under Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8 where no notice is legally required. It should also state the applicable deadline and the statute the notice is served under.
Only for nonpayment of rent. Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-7 provides an optional statutory form of notice a landlord may use for a pay-or-quit notice, but the exact wording isn't mandatory. Indiana has no separate mandated form for a lease or rental-obligation violation notice or for a no-cause termination notice; those simply need to be in writing and meet the applicable content and timing rules.
Nonpayment of rent is curable: the tenant defeats the 10-day notice by paying the full amount due before the period expires (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6). Lease and rental-obligation violations under Indiana Code Section 32-31-7-5, like failing to keep the unit reasonably clean or misusing building systems, are also curable: the landlord must give notice and "a reasonable amount of time" to fix the problem before suing (Section 32-31-7-7). By contrast, the six situations in Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-8, such as a fixed-term lease reaching its stated end or a tenant at will committing waste, require no notice or cure opportunity at all, because no notice to quit is legally required in those cases.
For nonpayment of rent, count 10 days from the tenant's receipt of the notice; the deadline is the date payment in full is due (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-6). For a lease or rental-obligation violation, Indiana law doesn't set a fixed cure-day count, so the landlord proposes a reasonable number of days on the notice and fills in that deadline (Section 32-31-7-7). For a no-cause termination, use 1 month's notice for a tenancy at will or month-to-month tenancy, or 3 months' notice for a year-to-year tenancy, counting forward from the date of service (Section 32-31-1-1, Section 32-31-1-3).
If the tenant hasn't paid, cured the violation, or vacated by the deadline stated on the notice, the notice itself doesn't end the tenancy automatically. Indiana Code Section 32-31-5-6 bars the landlord from removing the tenant, changing the locks, or shutting off utilities without a court order. Keep the notice and proof of how and when it was served; that becomes part of the record the landlord relies on to pursue an action for possession.
The notice should show the date it was issued and be signed by the landlord or property manager. Separately, record the date the notice was actually served on the tenant and which service method was used (Indiana Code Section 32-31-1-9). Keeping the issue date, service date, and method together on the notice creates the paper trail the landlord may need if the case goes to court.