California Eviction Summons Service Law 2027 (AB 747)

AB 747 was signed and chaptered as Chapter 563, Statutes of 2025, on October 10, 2025. It is already law in the sense that matters for tracking legislation: it passed and was signed, not merely proposed. What it isn't yet is operative. None of the requirements described in this article apply to service performed before January 1, 2027.

[Cite: AB 747, Stats. 2025, ch. 563]

The bill amends several sections of the Code of Civil Procedure that govern how any California civil lawsuit is served, and it adds language specific to unlawful detainer cases, the court filing a landlord makes once a termination notice period has run out and the tenant hasn't moved. This article focuses on the pieces that change an eviction filing specifically.

[Cite: California Courts, Judicial Council of California, Invitation to Comment SPR26-08]

Existing law already required a plaintiff to show "reasonable diligence" in attempting personal delivery before falling back on substitute service or posting. AB 747 defines that standard in concrete, countable terms for the first time: attempting personal delivery of the summons and complaint, in good faith, on at least three occasions, on three different days, at three different times.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 415.20]

For unlawful detainer cases specifically, a comparable diligence showing now governs posting and mailing service under amended Code of Civil Procedure section 415.45. A landlord or process server who currently makes one or two attempts before posting a summons will need to document three, spread across different days and times, once this section becomes operative.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 415.45]

AB 747 amends Code of Civil Procedure section 1166, the statute setting out what an unlawful detainer complaint must contain. Going forward, a complaint must state the date, time, and location of effected service of the termination notice, in addition to identifying the method used to serve it.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 1166]

This is a documentation requirement layered on top of existing practice, not a change to how much notice a tenant is owed or what a valid termination notice has to say. A landlord who already keeps a clear, dated log of exactly when and how a notice was served shouldn't find this difficult. A landlord relying on memory or informal notes will need a more disciplined record starting January 1, 2027.

Under amended Code of Civil Procedure section 417.10, proof of service must include one or more photographs of the site of each effected or attempted service, carrying a readable timestamp showing the date and time, along with GPS coordinates identifying the location. If GPS data isn't available for a given attempt, the person serving the papers must explain why in a written statement filed with the proof of service.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 417.10]

A new Judicial Council form, POS-012, has been proposed specifically to help parties document compliance with this standard in a consistent format.

[Cite: California Courts, Judicial Council of California, Invitation to Comment SPR26-08]

AB 747 also amends Business and Professions Code section 22355, making California's process server registry information publicly searchable. A landlord or attorney working with a process server will be able to independently verify that server's registration rather than relying solely on the server's own representation.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Business and Professions Code section 22355]

AB 747 amends the Code of Civil Procedure sections governing default judgments and motions to set them aside, sections 473 and 473.5, and adds a new section, 473.2, addressing improper service specifically. Together, these changes give a tenant a clearer statutory path to challenge a default judgment obtained through an eviction filing if the underlying service didn't meet the documentation standard described above.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure sections 473, 473.2, and 473.5]

For a landlord, the practical effect is that a default judgment resting on thin or undocumented service becomes more exposed to being set aside after January 1, 2027 than it is under current law. A default judgment obtained today, before the operative date, is evaluated under the rules in place when service occurred.

Nothing in AB 747 requires action before its operative date, and the roughly fourteen-month gap between chaptering and enforcement gives property managers time to prepare rather than scramble. Anyone relying on an outside process server for eviction filings should confirm that vendor already uses, or is transitioning to, timestamped and GPS-tagged photographs and a specific log of attempt dates, times, and locations, well before the deadline rather than discovering a gap during an active unlawful detainer case.

Property managers who self-serve or manage in-house service logistics for smaller portfolios face the same requirement directly. Building the habit of logging three distinct attempts, on three different days and times, before falling back to posting or substitute service, is worth starting now even though the deadline is more than a year out.

Requiring three attempts, on three different days, at three different times, before a landlord can fall back on posting or substitute service is a higher bar than many process servers currently document. If a tenant is difficult to locate at home, meeting that standard could take longer than the one or two attempts some servers currently log before posting. This doesn't change the length of the termination notice period itself, but it can extend the time between filing an unlawful detainer complaint and reaching the point where service is complete and the case can move toward a default judgment if the tenant doesn't respond.

[Cite: AB 747, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 415.20]

Landlords who currently budget a fixed number of days between filing and expected service completion should build in additional lead time starting January 1, 2027, particularly for tenants who aren't reliably home during standard daytime hours.