North Carolina Eviction Notice
North Carolina eviction notice: the 10-day demand for rent under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 42-3. Free template, statute cites. Attorney review available.
Introduction
Most states require a landlord to warn a tenant before going to court. North Carolina flips that assumption: the state's own courts guidance says landlords generally are not required to send an eviction notice before filing at all, and the exceptions are narrow. Unpaid rent is the one cause the law times: a landlord must make a demand for all past-due rent and wait 10 full calendar days, under North Carolina General Statutes Section 42-3, before dispossessing the tenant. For nearly every other cause, holding over after a lease ends, or breaching a lease term, the law asks only that the landlord make a demand for the tenant to surrender the property, with no minimum waiting period attached to that demand. This page's document text is the actual demand a landlord fills out and serves, not a walkthrough of how North Carolina eviction court works. North Carolina also sets no statutory cure period for a lease violation other than nonpayment; whether a tenant gets a chance to fix the problem depends entirely on what the lease itself says, not on state law. Chapter 42 of the General Statutes, Articles 1, 2A, and 3, is the governing framework, but there is no state-issued form for this pre-filing demand: the only official form in the process, AOC-CVM-201, is the complaint a landlord files with the court after the demand period has already run.
Key Things to Know
- 1
An eviction notice, called a demand in North Carolina, is what a landlord serves on a tenant before filing a summary ejectment lawsuit in Small Claims Court to end a tenancy for cause.
- 2
Nonpayment of rent is the only cause North Carolina times by statute: a demand for all past-due rent, followed by 10 full calendar days to pay before the landlord can proceed. Weekends and holidays are not excluded from the count. (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 42-3)
- 3
There's no statutory cure period for a lease violation other than nonpayment. Once a tenant has done or omitted an act that ends the tenancy under the lease's own terms, and the landlord has demanded surrender of the property, North Carolina law sets no minimum waiting period at all. (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 42-26(a)(2))
- 4
Holdover after a lease term expires, and desertion of agricultural premises while in arrears, work the same way: the landlord demands surrender, with no fixed statutory waiting period tied to that demand, unlike the 10-day nonpayment count. (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 42-26(a)(1), (a)(3))
- 5
The governing law spans three parts of Chapter 42: Article 1's general provisions (including the 10-day rent demand), Article 2A's residential ejectment procedure, and Article 3's summary ejectment grounds and court process.
- 6
The statute doesn't prescribe how the pre-filing demand must be delivered, unlike the sheriff's later court-summons service. A written demand with proof of delivery or mailing is the safer practice, even though a clear oral demand has been recognized in North Carolina case law.
- 7
There's no government-issued form for this pre-filing demand. The only official form in the process, AOC-CVM-201, is the Complaint in Summary Ejectment filed with the court once the applicable demand period has run; it isn't served on the tenant beforehand.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in North Carolina, 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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North Carolina Requirements for Eviction Notice
10-day demand for all past-due rent, counted as calendar days with no exclusion for weekends or holidays. The landlord or agent must make a clear demand for the specific past-due amount; if the tenant does not pay within 10 days, the landlord may proceed with a summary ejectment lawsuit.
For holdover after a lease term expires, or a lease violation that ends the tenancy under the lease's own terms, the landlord must first make a demand for surrender of the premises. Unlike the 10-day rent demand, the statute sets no fixed waiting period once that demand for surrender is made.
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the summary ejectment court process that follows: Article 1's general provisions (Sections 42-1 to 42-14.6, including the 10-day rent demand), Article 2A's residential ejectment procedure (Sections 42-25.6 to 42-25.9), and Article 3's summary ejectment grounds and process (Sections 42-26 to 42-36.3).
There is no government-issued form for the pre-filing demand itself. The only official form in the process, AOC-CVM-201 (Complaint in Summary Ejectment), is filed with the clerk of court after the applicable demand period has already run; it is not served on the tenant beforehand.
North Carolina sets no statutory cure period for a lease violation other than nonpayment. Once a tenant has done or omitted an act by which, under the lease's own stipulations, the tenancy ends, the landlord may demand surrender. Any chance to cure before that point comes only from what the lease itself provides, not from state law.
North Carolina statute does not prescribe a required delivery method for the pre-filing rent demand or demand for surrender; a written demand with proof of delivery or mailing is recommended, since case law has required only a clear, unequivocal demand and has recognized oral demands as sufficient. This is distinct from Section 42-29, which governs only the sheriff's service of the later court summons after the case is filed.
Distinct from the for-cause demands above: ending a periodic tenancy without cause requires 7 days' notice for month-to-month, 1 month for year-to-year, 2 days for week-to-week, or 60 days for a manufactured home space rental.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the cause. Nonpayment of rent requires a demand for all past-due rent followed by 10 full calendar days to pay, under North Carolina General Statutes Section 42-3. For holding over after a lease ends or breaching a lease term, the law requires only a demand that the tenant surrender the property, with no fixed statutory waiting period attached to that demand.
No, but the requirement is narrower than in many states. North Carolina's own courts guidance states that landlords generally aren't required to send an eviction notice before filing, except that unpaid rent requires the 10-day demand under Section 42-3, and every summary ejectment ground under Section 42-26(a) requires a demand for surrender first, even though that demand carries no fixed waiting period outside the nonpayment situation.
For nonpayment, the demand should identify the landlord and tenant, describe the rental premises, and state the exact amount of past-due rent along with a clear demand for payment. For a lease violation or holdover, the demand should identify the parties and premises and clearly state that the landlord is demanding surrender of the property, ideally referencing the specific lease term that was violated or the date the lease term ended.
North Carolina statute doesn't prescribe a required method for this pre-filing demand, unlike the sheriff's service of the later court summons. North Carolina case law has recognized a clear oral demand as sufficient, but a written demand delivered personally or by mail, with proof of when it was made, is the safer practice for a landlord who may need to prove the demand later in court.
Only if the lease itself says so. North Carolina General Statutes Section 42-26(a)(2) lets a landlord demand surrender once a tenant has done or omitted an act that ends the tenancy under the lease's own stipulations, but the statute sets no cure period of its own. Any chance to fix the problem before the landlord can proceed comes entirely from what the lease provides, not from state law.
For nonpayment, count 10 calendar days from the date the demand for rent is made; weekends and holidays are not excluded. For a lease violation or holdover, there is no statutory deadline to calculate: once the demand for surrender is made, the landlord may proceed as soon as the tenant fails to comply, subject to any cure period the lease itself grants. (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 42-3; Section 42-26(a))
The 10-day demand under Section 42-3 applies only to unpaid rent and comes with a fixed statutory waiting period. A demand for surrender under Section 42-26(a) applies to holdover after a lease ends or a lease violation causing forfeiture, and it carries no fixed waiting period under state law, only the requirement that the demand be made before the landlord files. Both are demands, but only the rent demand has a statutory clock attached to it.
If the tenant hasn't paid the past-due rent or surrendered the property, the landlord's next step is to file a Complaint in Summary Ejectment, Form AOC-CVM-201, with the clerk of court in the county where the property is located. The demand itself doesn't remove the tenant; filing the complaint is what starts the court case.