Housing & Tenant · Eviction Notice
Eviction Notice in Kentucky
How many days of written notice a landlord must give before filing an eviction in Kentucky, broken down by reason, and what you can do about it, cited to the statute.
Every notice period in Kentucky
The written notice for each reason a landlord can end a tenancy, and what each one means.
| Reason for the notice | Notice in Kentucky | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Nonpayment of rent (adopting jurisdictions) | Can fix and stay7 days | A 7-day notice to pay applies only in cities and counties that adopted the Act (KRS 383.660(2)). Outside those places the notice comes from the lease and older landlord and tenant law, not from this section. |
| Material noncompliance (adopting jurisdictions) | Can fix and stay14 days | Where the Act applies, a material noncompliance carries a notice with termination not less than fourteen days after receipt (KRS 383.660(1)). |
| No cause, month-to-month (adopting jurisdictions) | 30 days | A no-cause termination of a month-to-month tenancy takes at least 30 days before the periodic rental date (KRS 383.695). A week-to-week tenancy takes 7 days. |
| Local ordinance | Varies | This is the whole story in Kentucky, and it runs the opposite way from every other state. The Act is not statewide law. KRS 383.500 lets cities, counties, and urban-county governments enact it, so the 7-day rule binds only where a local government chose it. Outside those places the notice comes from the lease and older landlord and tenant law. |
| After the notice | Court | Written notice, then a forcible detainer action in district court. Which notice period applies depends first on where the property sits, because the Act is only in force in adopting jurisdictions. |
| Statute | Ky. Rev. Stat. §383.660; §383.500; §383.695 | The controlling statute for these notice periods. Read the full text through the source link below. |
The list of jurisdictions that adopted the Act can change, and there is no single official registry, so any statement of where it applies needs a review date and a named source for the list.
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps if you have received an eviction notice in Kentucky. This is legal information, not legal advice.
- Find out if the Act applies where you live
In Kentucky the seven-day rent notice only exists in cities and counties that adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Your first question is not how many days you have, but whether your local government adopted the Act at all.
- If it applies, pay within the seven days
In an adopting jurisdiction, paying the rent within the seven days keeps the tenancy, and a material lease violation gives 14 days. Keep proof of payment and get written confirmation that the tenancy continues.
- If it does not apply, read your lease
Outside an adopting jurisdiction there is no statutory 7-day floor, so your notice period comes from the lease and older landlord and tenant law. Read the lease carefully and get advice on what governs your specific situation.
- Get local legal help
A local Kentucky legal aid office can tell you whether your county or city adopted the Act, which decides everything else. Search for legal aid in your area and act before any court date.
This is general legal information, not legal advice. Read your own lease and check for a local ordinance, since either can change the notice that applies to your home.
What Kentucky renters get wrong
Kentucky is the one state where the honest answer to how many days notice you get starts with where you live. The seven-day rent notice that most guides quote comes from the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and Kentucky did not make that Act statewide law. Under KRS 383.500 the General Assembly authorized cities, counties, and urban-county governments to enact it one by one, so the seven-day rule in KRS 383.660 binds only where a local government chose it. A renter in an adopting county has a statutory floor of seven days to pay, and fourteen days to cure a lease violation. A renter one county over may have nothing but the lease and older landlord and tenant law. Ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause takes at least 30 days where the Act applies (KRS 383.695). Because there is no single official registry of adopting jurisdictions, and the list can change, this page is marked as cited until that list can be sourced and dated. Publishing a single statewide number for Kentucky without that caveat would be wrong.
Common questions
Does the Kentucky landlord tenant act apply where I live?
It depends on your city or county. The Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which sets the 7-day rent notice, is not statewide in Kentucky. Under KRS 383.500 it applies only in local governments that adopted it, so you have to check whether yours did.
What notice do I get in Kentucky if my county never adopted the Act?
The statutory 7-day floor does not apply. Outside an adopting jurisdiction, your notice period comes from the lease and older Kentucky landlord and tenant law rather than from KRS 383.660, so the lease terms and general law govern.
How do I find out whether my Kentucky city adopted the Act?
There is no single official registry, which is part of the problem. A local legal aid office or your district court clerk can usually tell you whether your city, county, or urban-county government enacted the Act, and that answer decides which notice period applies.
Is the Kentucky seven-day rent notice a floor or a default?
Where the Act applies, it is a statutory floor that the lease cannot cut below. Where the Act does not apply, there is no such floor at all, and the notice comes from the lease. So the same seven-day figure is either binding or irrelevant depending on location.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.