The Federal 30-Day Eviction Notice Did Not Expire: Fannie and Freddie Just Stopped Reminding You

If you own a rental in another state and you financed it with a conventional, FHA, VA or USDA loan, there is a federal eviction-notice rule sitting on top of your state’s landlord-tenant law. Most owners assume it died with the pandemic. It did not. What changed is that the agencies that used to remind you about it have stopped — and one of them tried to repeal its own version this year and had to put the repeal on hold.

The rule itself: 30 days after the notice to vacate

Section 4024(c) of the CARES Act, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 9058(c), says the lessor of a “covered dwelling” may not require the tenant to vacate before 30 days after the lessor gives the tenant a notice to vacate. The 120-day eviction-filing moratorium in the same section expired in July 2020. Subsection (c) has no expiration date in its text.

“Covered dwelling” is much broader than most landlords expect. Under § 9058(a), it includes any dwelling on a property with a federally backed mortgage loan — defined to include loans on 1-to-4-family residential property that are insured, guaranteed or assisted by a federal agency, or purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. In plain terms: a single-family rental with an ordinary conforming loan Fannie or Freddie bought is very likely covered, as is a duplex with an FHA or VA loan, and units in federal rental-assistance programs.

Fact: most courts say it is still in force. One state’s high court disagrees

The Congressional Research Service’s September 2026 report on the requirement (CRS R48955) summarizes the case law bluntly: the notice-to-vacate requirement “remains in effect,” and most courts to consider it have held that it is not time-limited. Cited examples include Arvada Village Gardens LP v. Garate (Colo. 2023), Olentangy Commons Owner LLC v. Fawley (Ohio App. 2023) and Sherwood Auburn LLC v. Pinzon (Wash. App. 2022). Most courts have also read it to apply only to nonpayment-of-rent evictions, and to require the landlord to wait out the 30 days before filing the eviction case — not to run the clock alongside it.

The notable outlier is the Iowa Supreme Court in MIMG CLXXII Retreat on 6th, LLC v. Miller (Iowa 2025), which read subsection (c) together with the expired moratorium and limited it to tenants who fell behind during the 2020 moratorium window.

Interpretation, not fact: the rule functions as a tenant defense, not a compliance program. CRS notes no federal agency monitors or enforces it. You will not get a letter from Washington — you will get a case dismissed and have to refile, weeks later than planned.

What actually changed in the last 12 months

Three federal actions have made this rule less visible without making it go away:

• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stopped enforcing it. Fannie Mae retired Supplement 21-08 (“CARES Act Compliance with Law Notice”) on October 8, 2025, and Freddie Mac removed the related origination requirement from its guide. That means the paperwork prompt at closing is gone. The statute was not amended.
• USDA Rural Development rescinded its own 30-day requirement for Multi-Family Housing direct properties (91 FR 9135, February 25, 2026).
• HUD tried to revoke its version, then froze the revocation. On February 26, 2026, HUD published an interim final rule (91 FR 9449) revoking the 2021 interim rule and the 2024 final rule that required public housing agencies and project-based rental assistance owners to give 30 days’ notice before terminating a lease for nonpayment. It would have returned public housing to a 14-day nonpayment notice. After a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on March 2, HUD used 91 FR 12301 (March 13, 2026) to delay the effective date indefinitely and to treat the revocation as a proposed rule pending a final rule. No final rule has been published in that docket as of September 16, 2026.

Consistent with that, the Code of Federal Regulations still carries the 30-day language: 24 CFR 966.4(l) (public housing lease addendum) and 24 CFR 247.4(c) (subsidized multifamily), both checked in the eCFR as of September 10, 2026.

The misconception worth correcting

The common version, repeated in landlord forums since last fall, is: “Fannie and Freddie dropped the CARES notice, so it’s over.” Enforcement ending is not repeal. The only thing that repeals a statute is Congress. A bill to do exactly that — the Respect State Housing Laws Act, H.R. 1078, which would strike § 4024(c) outright — was reported by the House Financial Services Committee on February 25, 2026 and placed on the Union Calendar. It has had no floor vote. Until it passes, § 9058(c) is still on the books, and a tenant’s lawyer can still raise it.

A practical checklist for an absentee owner

1. Determine, in writing, whether each property is “covered.” Check who owns or insures the loan — your servicer can tell you, and Fannie and Freddie both run public loan-lookup tools. Keep the answer in the property file.
2. Set your manager’s nonpayment template to 30 days where the property is covered, unless your state requires longer. Building the longer clock in costs nothing when it is unnecessary and saves a refiling when it is not.
3. Do not file the eviction until the 30 days have run. That sequencing is where most reported cases were lost.
4. Document delivery of the notice — date, method, copy retained. A 30-day defense usually turns on proof of when notice was given.
5. Ask your manager which rule they use. Managers who dropped the CARES step after October 2025 may be running a shorter clock than your property allows. See our guide to hiring a property management company for the questions to ask, and our walkthrough on managing an out-of-state property yourself if you handle notices directly.
6. If you rent to a voucher or project-based tenant, track the HUD docket — a final rule could change the public housing and PBRA baseline back to 14 days. Our posts on the 2027 Section 8 inspection changes and agency-specific MTW rules cover the other moving parts on the assisted-housing side.

New to remote ownership? Start with whether out-of-state investing fits you before the next purchase.

This article is educational and is not legal, tax, financial or investment advice. Eviction procedure is governed primarily by state and local law, federal requirements can change, and courts in different states have read CARES Act § 4024(c) differently. Confirm the rules that apply to your specific property and tenancy with a licensed attorney in that state before sending any termination notice.