Your notice to enter is in writing. Does it actually say what Civil Code 1954 requires?

Published July 26, 2026

Civil Code 1954 does not just require notice, it requires specific content, and how you deliver that notice changes your timeline from 24 hours to six days.

Most owners know they owe a tenant notice before entering. Fewer know the notice has to contain three specific things in writing, and that the delivery method you choose, hand it over, post it, or mail it, changes how much lead time the law presumes you owe. Get the format wrong and a technically timely notice still will not hold up.

I keep coming back to Civil Code 1954 because it is the rule self managing owners think they already know and usually only half know. The part everyone remembers is the 24 hour number. The part that trips people up is everything else: what has to be written down, which delivery method buys you which timeline, and the narrow situations where the statute lets you skip the written notice entirely. I pulled the current text of Civil Code section 1954 directly rather than work from memory, since owners get this one wrong by assuming an old draft of the rule still applies.

What the written notice actually has to say

Subsection (d) is specific. The notice has to be in writing, and it has to state the date of entry, the approximate time of entry, and the purpose of the entry. Not one of the three, all three. "Coming by to check the water heater" is missing two of them. A notice that just says "entering Thursday" is missing the purpose and the approximate time.

The purpose matters more than owners expect, because subsection (a) lists the reasons entry is permitted at all: emergencies, necessary or agreed repairs, alterations or improvements, supplying services the tenant agreed to or that are otherwise necessary, an abandoned or surrendered unit, a court order, showing the unit to a prospective buyer, tenant, mortgagee, worker, or contractor, an inspection tied to the security deposit rules in Section 1950.5, submetering entry under Section 1954.201, and the balcony and elevated element inspections required by Health and Safety Code Section 17973. Stating the purpose is not paperwork for its own sake, it is the thing that ties your entry back to a reason the statute actually permits.

The delivery method you pick sets your clock

This is the part that gets skipped. The statute lists four ways to give notice, personal delivery to the tenant, leaving it with someone of suitable age and discretion at the premises, posting it on or near the usual entry door in a manner reasonably calculated to come to the tenant's attention, or mailing it. Three of those, personal delivery, leaving it with someone at the premises, and posting, fall under the same standard: 24 hours is presumed reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Mail runs on a different clock entirely. If you mail the notice, at least six days before the intended entry is presumed reasonable. That is not six days from when the tenant opens the envelope, it is six days from when you mail it, which means a mailed notice needs to go out closer to a week ahead if you actually want the buffer the presumption gives you.

Owners who post a notice on the door often assume it works the same as mailing since both are hands off. It does not. Posting sits in the 24 hour bucket with personal delivery, not the six day bucket. If you are relying on posting alone, you still only have to clear 24 hours, but you also want the posting to be somewhere the tenant is actually going to see it, tucked in a screen door or taped where wind or rain will not take it down before the tenant gets home.

Two carve outs almost nobody uses correctly

The statute has two narrower provisions that read like exceptions but are really just alternate paths, and self managing owners either do not know about them or misuse them.

The first covers agreed repairs. If you and the tenant orally agree on repairs or services, the entry connected to that agreement can happen within one week of the agreement without a separate written notice. The oral agreement itself has to include the date and approximate time of entry, not just a general "sure, come by sometime." This only works because the tenant agreed to the specific work, it is not a blanket pass to show up for anything within the week.

The second covers showings to a prospective purchaser. If you already gave the tenant written notice within the last 120 days that the property is for sale, you can give oral notice, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable for that oral notice. That prior written for sale notice has to state that the owner may contact the tenant orally for this purpose, and after you enter under the oral notice you still need to leave written evidence of the entry inside the unit. Without that prior 120 day written notice on file, you are back to the full written notice requirement for every showing.

Both of these get misapplied the same way, an owner treats one agreed visit or one prior notice as ongoing permission for anything that follows. It is not. Each entry still needs its own basis, whether that is a fresh written notice, the one week repair window tied to that specific agreement, or the 24 hour oral notice tied to that specific 120 day disclosure.

Building your own notice template

If you are self managing and want one document to reuse, build it around the three required elements plus the delivery method you actually intend to use, since the method determines how far ahead you send it. Write the date of entry, the approximate time window, and the specific purpose pulled straight from the subsection (a) list, do not paraphrase into something vaguer. Then pick your delivery lane. Hand delivered, left with an adult at the unit, or posted at the door all need to go out at least 24 hours ahead. Mailed needs to go out at least six days ahead, first class, and you should keep a copy with the mailing date noted.

Log every notice the same way every time, date sent, method used, and the entry date and time it references. That log is what turns "I sent a notice" into something you can actually point to later.

Common questions

Does posting a notice on the door count the same as mailing it? No. Posting falls under the 24 hour presumption along with personal delivery and leaving it with someone at the premises. Only mailing gets the six day presumption, and that clock starts when you mail it, not when the tenant reads it.

Can I just tell my tenant verbally that I am coming by? Only in two situations, an emergency, or the two narrower carve outs in subsection (d), an agreed repair entered within one week of the oral agreement, or a showing to a prospective purchaser when you already gave written notice within the prior 120 days that the property is for sale. Outside of those, the notice needs to be in writing with the date, approximate time, and purpose stated. Confirm your specific situation with a licensed professional before relying on an oral notice.

What if my notice has the date and time but I forgot to state the purpose? That notice does not satisfy subsection (d). All three elements, date, approximate time, and purpose, are required, and a notice missing one of them is exactly the kind of gap a tenant's attorney will point to if entry is ever disputed.

Last verified: July 26, 2026. Statutory text confirmed against the official California Legislative Information site for Civil Code section 1954 as of that date. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice. Confirm your specific notice language, delivery method, and timing with a licensed professional before entering a tenant's unit.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: self-management, legal, south-bay

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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.