Nearly every summary of Alabama law says "seven days." The statute, as amended, says seven business days after receipt — which over a holiday weekend can be a materially different date. Alabama also caps how often a tenant may cure and lists breaches that cannot be cured at all.
Start an AL Notice — $49.99 See all 50 statesThe table paraphrases commonly cited residential notice periods under the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It is background information, not a determination that any of these applies to your tenancy.
| Situation | Notice the statute describes | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Rent unpaid when due | Written notice to terminate specifying the amount of rent and any late fees owed to remedy the breach, with termination on a date not less than seven business days after receipt | § 35-9A-421(b) |
| Material noncompliance with the rental agreement, or noncompliance with § 35-9A-301 materially affecting health and safety | Written notice to terminate specifying the acts and omissions, with termination on a date not less than seven business days after receipt | § 35-9A-421(a) |
| Intentional misrepresentation of a material fact in the rental agreement or application | Same notice route, but the statute states this may not be remedied or cured | § 35-9A-421(a) |
| Both a nonpayment and a non-rent breach at once | The statute directs that the nonpayment notice period governs | § 35-9A-421(b) |
| Listed non-curable defaults (see below) | Described as a seven-day notice with no right to remedy unless the landlord consents | § 35-9A-421(d) |
| Ending a month-to-month tenancy | Written notice given at least 30 days before the periodic rental date specified in the notice | § 35-9A-441 |
Subsections (a) and (b) of § 35-9A-421, as currently published, both describe termination on a date "not less than seven business days after receipt of the notice." Business days exclude weekends and, depending on how they are counted, holidays. Seven calendar days and seven business days can sit nearly a week apart. A notice that states a termination date computed on the calendar-day assumption is stating a date the statute may not support.
There is also an internal wrinkle worth knowing about: subsection (d), which addresses non-curable defaults, refers to "a seven-day notice" without the word "business." We are not going to tell you how to reconcile those two phrasings — that is precisely the sort of question a landlord should put to an Alabama attorney rather than to a mailing service.
Both subsections measure the period from receipt of the notice. That is a different design from states that run the clock from mailing or from posting, and it puts the burden of establishing when the tenant got the document on the landlord.
Subsection (d) contains two rules that do not appear in most states' statutes:
Whether your facts fall into any of these categories — and particularly whether a repeat breach is "substantially the same" — is a legal determination. Getting it wrong in either direction is costly: treating a curable breach as non-curable invites a defense, and treating a non-curable breach as curable gives away a right the statute grants you.
For unpaid rent, § 35-9A-421(b) describes a written notice to terminate with a termination date not less than seven business days after receipt of the notice. The same seven-business-day framing appears in subsection (a) for material noncompliance. To end a month-to-month tenancy, § 35-9A-441 requires written notice at least 30 days before the periodic rental date specified in the notice.
The current published text of § 35-9A-421(a) and (b) says seven business days. Subsection (d) refers to a seven-day notice in the non-curable-default context. Many secondary sources say simply "seven days." Read the current official text and, if the date matters — it usually does — confirm the computation with counsel.
Subsection (b) describes a written notice to terminate the lease specifying the amount of rent and any late fees owed to remedy the breach, and stating that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than seven business days after receipt. Subsection (a), for other breaches, describes specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach. Whether your notice adequately specifies those items is a legal judgment.
Alabama has a general provision, Ala. Code § 1-3-7, that where the giving or serving of a notice by registered mail is authorized or required by law, certified mail may be used in lieu of registered mail. Separately, § 35-9A-144(e) states that the Act's general notice section does not apply to the notice required to terminate a tenancy or evict a tenant. We are not in a position to tell you what method satisfies § 35-9A-421 in your case, and we will not imply that any particular product does. Ask an Alabama attorney before you rely on a method.
Subsection (d) provides that no breach may be cured more than two times in any twelve-month period except by the landlord's express written consent, and treats a repeat breach involving substantially the same acts within six months of a cured first breach as non-curable. Applying that to your history with a tenant is a legal exercise.
Chapter 9A applies statewide, with exclusions listed in § 35-9A-122, but district court practice, filing procedures, and local ordinances vary. A notice that satisfies the statute can still run into a local requirement. Check your county's district court practice before filing.
In Alabama, once the notice period has run and the rental agreement has terminated without cure, a landlord who wants possession proceeds through the courts — commonly as an unlawful detainer action in the district court for the county where the property sits. Self-help removal is not available; Alabama, like every URLTA state, routes possession through a judicial process. A USPS record of what was sent, when, and to what address — or photo and GPS documentation of an attended delivery — is a form of delivery documentation commonly referenced in landlord-tenant filings, and is worth more than usual in a state that keys the notice period to receipt while expressly withholding the statutory receipt presumption for termination notices. Whether any particular court accepts a given record, and whether your notice, its date, and its delivery are correct, are matters for the landlord and the landlord's attorney to evaluate.
EvictServe is not a law firm, does not practice law, and does not give legal advice. We provide a self-service document-and-mail tool. Because Alabama counts business days from receipt and limits cures, we suggest having an Alabama-licensed attorney confirm your termination date and your ground before the notice goes out.
Ala. Code § 35-9A-421 (Noncompliance with rental agreement; failure to pay rent) — FindLaw · Justia
Ala. Code § 35-9A-441 (Periodic tenancy; holdover remedies) — FindLaw · Justia
Ala. Code § 35-9A-144 (Notice — including subsection (e)) — Justia
Ala. Code § 1-3-7 (Notice required by registered mail may be served by certified mail) — Justia
Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, full text (court-published copy) — Macon County Circuit Court · Chapter 9A index, Justia
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