Eviction Notice Requirements in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Arkansas is the hardest state to summarize because it has three separate eviction procedures running in parallel, and the notice you get depends on which one the landlord chooses:

• Civil unlawful detainer — Ark. Code §§ 18-60-301 to -312. Section 18-60-304 lists the grounds (including a "3 days' notice to quit" for unpaid rent), and § 18-60-307 sets the objection-and-writ procedure.
• The Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007 — §§ 18-17-101 to -913. Section 18-17-701 covers nonpayment (5 days) and lease noncompliance (14 days), § 18-17-704 covers ending a periodic tenancy, and § 18-17-901 lists the grounds for eviction.
• Criminal failure to vacate — § 18-16-101. A tenant who does not pay rent and willfully refuses to leave after a 10-day written notice commits a misdemeanor.

Arkansas did not adopt the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, has no implied warranty of habitability, no statewide just-cause requirement, and — in contrast to nearly every other state — no statutory ban on retaliatory eviction.

Notice for unpaid rent

There is no single answer; it turns on the track:

• Civil unlawful detainer: the landlord must give three (3) days' notice to quit and demand made in writing for possession before the tenant is an unlawful detainer (§ 18-60-304(3)).
• RLTA civil eviction: no separate written notice is required at all — "nonpayment of rent within five (5) days of the date due constitutes legal notice to the tenant that the landlord has the right to begin eviction proceedings" (§ 18-17-901(b)), and § 18-17-701(b) lets the landlord terminate once rent is more than five days late. Paying within five days of the due date is the practical cutoff.
• Criminal failure to vacate: "ten (10) days' notice in writing" to vacate; willful refusal to leave afterward is a misdemeanor (§ 18-16-101(b)).

Notice for a lease violation

Under the RLTA, a curable breach of the lease that is not nonpayment gets a 14-day cure notice: the landlord delivers written notice specifying the acts and stating that the agreement "will terminate upon a date not less than fourteen (14) days after receipt of the notice, if the noncompliance is not remedied in fourteen (14) days" (§ 18-17-701(a)). Fix the problem before the stated date and the tenancy survives. If the landlord instead uses the civil unlawful-detainer track, holding over after a written demand to surrender possession is itself unlawful detainer (§ 18-60-304(2)).

Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)

Arkansas does not have a separate short "unconditional quit" notice with its own fixed day count. Serious conduct is folded into the unlawful-detainer grounds: maintaining a nuisance, or "[f]ail[ing] to maintain the premises in a safe, healthy, or habitable condition," makes a tenant an unlawful detainer under § 18-60-304(4)-(5), which the landlord pursues through the ordinary unlawful-detainer process after a written demand to surrender (§ 18-60-304(2)). A separate criminal-activity eviction procedure also exists (§ 18-16-501 et seq.).

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

To end a periodic tenancy for no fault, the landlord (or tenant) gives written notice: "at least thirty (30) days before the termination date" for a month-to-month tenancy, and "at least seven (7) days" for a week-to-week tenancy (§ 18-17-704(a)-(b)). A fixed-term lease simply ends on its stated date; a tenant who stays past it is an unlawful detainer for holding over (§ 18-60-304(1)).

How the notice must be served

Every pre-suit notice has to be in writing — the civil 3-day notice to quit and demand (§ 18-60-304(3)), the RLTA notice (§ 18-17-701), or the criminal 10-day notice given "by the landlord or the landlord's agent or attorney" (§ 18-16-101(b)). But no Arkansas statute prescribes a single required method of delivering the pre-suit notice, so the safe practice is a written notice delivered in a way you can document; oral notice satisfies none of the tracks. Once an unlawful-detainer complaint is filed, the clerk issues a summons and the sheriff or a process server serves "this summons, complaint, and notice seeking a writ of possession" on the tenant (§ 18-60-307(a)).

Tenant's right to cure/reinstate

Cure rights are narrow in Arkansas. A lease noncompliance can be cured within the 14-day RLTA window (§ 18-17-701(a)). For unpaid rent, paying within five days of the due date avoids eviction, but the RLTA gives no statutory right to reinstate the tenancy by paying once the landlord has terminated (§ 18-17-701(b)). In a civil unlawful-detainer case, the tenant's real defense is procedural: file a written objection "within five (5) days, excluding Sundays and legal holidays," after service, or the clerk issues a writ of possession (§ 18-60-307(b)); if the objection is filed, the court sets a hearing and notifies the tenant by certified mail (§ 18-60-307(c)). Arkansas has no statutory bar on retaliatory eviction and no implied warranty of habitability; § 18-60-304(4) actually makes a tenant's own failure to keep the unit habitable a ground for eviction.

What trips people up

Three tracks, three different day counts — and they are not a mistake. A 3-day civil notice, a 5-day RLTA cutoff, and a 10-day criminal notice all coexist because they come from three different statutes. The landlord picks the route; you can be facing any of them, so read the notice to see which statute it names.

The RLTA "5 days" is not a notice you will receive. Under § 18-17-901(b), the mere fact that rent is more than five days late "constitutes legal notice" — the landlord does not have to hand you a separate written pay-or-quit notice before starting an RLTA eviction. If you are late, assume the clock is already running.

The criminal statute makes staying a crime. Arkansas is the only state where refusing to leave after a nonpayment notice can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, with a separate offense for each day you remain (§ 18-16-101(b)). It is a real, currently-effective statute, not a dead letter.

In court, silence loses. In a civil unlawful-detainer case you must file a written objection within five days (excluding Sundays and holidays) of being served, or the clerk issues a writ of possession without a hearing (§ 18-60-307(b)). Missing that filing, not missing a hearing, is what loses the case.

Self-help is still not allowed. Whichever track the landlord uses, a landlord cannot lock you out or force you out; possession is recovered only through the court process.

Common questions

How many days do I get if my Arkansas landlord says I owe rent? It depends on the statute the notice cites. A civil unlawful-detainer notice gives 3 days to quit (§ 18-60-304(3)); a criminal failure-to-vacate notice gives 10 days (§ 18-16-101); and under the RLTA the landlord can start an eviction once rent is more than 5 days past due, with no separate notice (§ 18-17-901(b)).

My landlord wants me out but I didn't do anything wrong — how much notice is that? For a month-to-month tenancy, 30 days' written notice (§ 18-17-704(b)); a week-to-week tenancy gets 7 days. Arkansas has no just-cause law, so no reason is required.

Can I stop the eviction by paying what I owe? Only up to a point. Paying within five days of the due date avoids an RLTA eviction, but once the landlord terminates, no statute guarantees you can reinstate by paying (§ 18-17-701). Getting current early is the safest move.

Can my landlord evict me for complaining about repairs? Arkansas law does not prohibit it. Unlike almost every other state, Arkansas has no statutory anti-retaliation provision and no implied warranty of habitability, so there is no state-law retaliation defense to raise — federal fair-housing protections and any lease terms are separate matters.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-60-304 — civil unlawful-detainer grounds: 3-day notice to quit for rent, holdover, written demand, habitability, and nuisance. https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-5/chapter-60/subchapter-3/section-18-60-304/ (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-60-307(b)-(c) — tenant's 5-day (excluding Sundays/holidays) objection window; writ of possession or certified-mail hearing notice. https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-5/chapter-60/subchapter-3/section-18-60-307/ (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-17-701 — RLTA: 14-day cure for noncompliance; termination if rent unpaid more than 5 days after due. https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-2/chapter-17/subchapter-7/section-18-17-701/ (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-17-704(a)-(b) — periodic-tenancy termination: 30-day month-to-month, 7-day week-to-week. https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-2/chapter-17/subchapter-7/section-18-17-704/ (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-17-901(b) — RLTA eviction grounds; nonpayment more than 5 days past due "constitutes legal notice." https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-2/chapter-17/subchapter-9/section-18-17-901/ (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-101(a)-(b) — criminal failure to vacate: 10-day written notice; willful refusal is a misdemeanor. https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-18/subtitle-2/chapter-16/subchapter-1/section-18-16-101/ (accessed 2026-07-10)