Taping a notice to the front door is the most intuitive thing a landlord can do, and one of the most frequently invalid. The confusion is not really about tape. It is that "posting" describes three different acts at three stages of an eviction, performed by different people under different statutes — and landlords routinely borrow the rule from one stage and apply it to another. Sort out which stage you are in and the state-by-state picture gets much clearer.
Three Documents, Three Rulebooks
Stage one: the pre-suit notice. The notice to vacate, pay-or-quit, or cure-or-quit — the document you serve before filing anything. This is where posting is least often authorized, and the stage almost every landlord is asking about.
Stage two: the summons or citation. After you file, the court issues papers that must reach the tenant, served by a sheriff or constable. Posting is commonly authorized here, as a documented last resort after personal delivery fails and usually paired with a mailing.
Stage three: the writ of possession. A 24-hour notice posted by the constable before removal. Not your document and not your decision.
Posting the Pre-Suit Notice: What the Statutes Say
Below is the stage-one picture in seven states. Read the qualifiers — in this area the qualifier is the rule.
| State | Post on the outside of the door? |
|---|---|
| Texas | No. Delivery must reach the inside of the premises |
| Arizona | Not among the statutory methods — hand delivery or registered/certified mail |
| California | Only as the third rung, after personal and substituted service fail — plus a mailing |
| Ohio | Effectively yes — "leaving it at the premises" is authorized |
| Florida | Yes, but only if the tenant is absent from the premises |
| North Carolina | Posting rule applies to the summons, served by an officer — not your notice |
| Georgia | No statutory writing or service requirement; the demand itself is what matters |
Texas — the door method was repealed
This is the biggest recent change. Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(f-3), as rewritten by Senate Bill 38 effective January 1, 2026, lists four delivery methods, and the relevant one is "delivery to the inside of the premises, in a conspicuous place." Inside. The former subsections (f-1) and (f-2), which let a landlord affix a marked sealed envelope to the outside of the main entry door and mail a copy the same day, were repealed on that date. Texas landlords following a pre-2026 checklist are using a method that no longer exists — we covered the full rewrite in our guide to hand delivering an eviction notice in Texas.
Arizona — posting is folklore, not statute
Arizona is the clearest example of received wisdom outrunning the code. Plenty of guides say taping the notice to the door is acceptable. A.R.S. § 33-1313(B) defines when a tenant has "received" a notice: when it comes to the tenant's attention, when it is delivered in hand, or when it is mailed by registered or certified mail to the address the tenant holds out for receipt. Posting appears nowhere in that definition. A posted notice may still work if the tenant admits receipt — but that makes your case depend on the tenant's cooperation, which is a strange thing to do on purpose.
California — a ladder, not a menu
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1162 is often described as offering three service methods. It is better read as three rungs to be worked in order: personal delivery; then substituted service on a person of suitable age and discretion at the residence or business, plus a mailed copy; and only if neither is possible, affixing a copy in a conspicuous place on the property, delivering a copy to a person residing there if one can be found, and mailing a copy. Post-and-mail is available in California, but a landlord who skips straight to it without a documented good-faith attempt at the first two rungs has handed the tenant a service defense.
Ohio — the friendliest of the group
Ohio Rev. Code § 1923.04(A) permits the three-day notice to be served by certified mail with return receipt requested, by handing a copy to the defendant in person, or by leaving it at the defendant's usual place of abode or at the premises from which the defendant is sought to be evicted. That last clause is what makes Ohio workable. The same subsection also requires specific statutory language in the notice — beginning "You are being asked to leave the premises" — and omitting it is the most common reason Ohio evictions are dismissed. Correct delivery does not save a notice missing that sentence.
Florida — conditional on absence
Fla. Stat. § 83.56(4) permits delivery by mailing, by delivering a true copy, by e-mail in accordance with § 83.505, or — if the tenant is absent from the premises — by leaving a copy at the residence. The condition matters. Leaving a copy is authorized because the tenant is not there. Posting on a door while the tenant is home, without knocking, is not what the statute contemplates.
North Carolina — right rule, wrong document
N.C.G.S. § 42-29 is the provision landlords cite when they say posting is normal in North Carolina, and most summary ejectment actions there really are served that way. But read who acts: the officer receiving the summons mails a copy, visits the defendant's place of abode, attempts personal delivery — and only "if such service cannot be made" affixes copies to a conspicuous part of the premises. That is stage two, performed by a public officer under a summons statute. It grants a landlord nothing at stage one.
Georgia — a different question entirely
O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 requires a demand for possession before a dispossessory action but imposes no statutory writing requirement, day count, or service method. Posting is neither authorized nor prohibited — which is not the same as safe. The magistrate will want evidence a demand was made, and a photo of paper on a door is weak next to a mailing record.
Why Posting Fails Even Where It Is Allowed
Authorization is only half the problem. The other half is proof.
A posted notice generates no independent record. Nothing timestamps it, nothing scans it, and nothing establishes that the paper was still there five minutes after you left. Weather, tenants, neighbors and children all take notices down. When the tenant testifies that no notice appeared, your evidence is a memory and, at best, a photograph with no verifiable time or place.
Posting also broadcasts the dispute to every neighbor and passer-by — part of why Texas required a sealed envelope before the 2026 rewrite.
What to Do Instead
Two channels cover nearly every state's requirements without depending on the tenant's cooperation or on tape.
- Mail creates the dated record. Every statute surveyed above accepts some form of mail, and mailing is the one method that generates a third-party timestamp whether or not anyone answers the door.
- Physical delivery creates the contact. A courier who attends the property, delivers according to what your statute authorizes, photographs the result, and logs GPS coordinates produces evidence with a time and a place attached to it.
Running both on a contested unit is inexpensive relative to a dismissed case — and in Texas, § 24.005(f-3) says "at least one of the following methods," so using two is not just permitted but sensible. If you need to draft the notice first, our free eviction notice generator produces a state-appropriate document you can print immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is taping an eviction notice to the door illegal?
Not usually illegal in the sense of carrying a penalty — but frequently ineffective, which is worse for your timeline. In Texas it is no longer an authorized method at all. In Arizona it is absent from the statutory definition of receipt. In California and Florida it is conditional. The risk is that your notice period never legally starts.
My state's evictions are "usually served by posting." Doesn't that mean posting is fine?
That statistic almost always refers to the summons served by a sheriff or constable after filing, not to the pre-suit notice you serve yourself. North Carolina is the clearest case: posting is routine at that stage and irrelevant at yours.
If I post, should I also mail a copy?
Yes, and in several states the mailing is not optional. California pairs posting with a mailing by statute. Even where no pairing is required, the mailing is what gives you a dated third-party record.
Does a photograph of the posted notice prove service?
It helps and is much better than nothing, but a bare photograph has no verifiable time or location. A photograph tied to a timestamp and GPS coordinates, logged by whoever performed the delivery, is a substantially stronger record.
What if the tenant has a keyless deadbolt, an alarm, or a dog, so I cannot get inside?
In Texas that scenario used to have its own statutory answer — the sealed-envelope method under the repealed (f-1) — and no longer does. Mail and hand delivery to a tenant 16 or older remain available. Do not improvise an entry; talk to a Texas attorney if the property is genuinely inaccessible.
Can I slide it under the door instead?
Where the rule is framed around reaching the inside of the premises, that is closer to compliant than taping it outside — but it still leaves you no record. Pair it with a mailing.
The Short Version
Before you post anything, ask which document you are serving. If it is the pre-suit notice, assume posting is not enough until you have read your own statute — and read the current text, because Texas quietly removed the country's most popular door method at the start of 2026.
For notice periods and content requirements, see our state-by-state guide; for mail that comes back untouched, what to do when a tenant won't claim the certified mail.
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