{
  "meta": {
    "name": "Deposit Record ruleset: Washington",
    "description": "The verified Washington security-deposit rules that https://deposit.orygn.tech/washington is built from: each rule as a machine payload, its plain-English summary, its exact citation, the verbatim statute text where quoted, the official source URL it was verified against, and the date a human last checked it.",
    "state": "WA",
    "page": "https://deposit.orygn.tech/washington",
    "dataUrl": "https://deposit.orygn.tech/data/washington.json",
    "lastReviewed": "2026-09-06",
    "citeAs": "Deposit Record, Washington Security Deposit Return (verified September 6, 2026), https://deposit.orygn.tech/washington",
    "publisher": {
      "name": "Orygn LLC",
      "url": "https://orygn.tech/"
    },
    "license": "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): free to reuse and quote with attribution to Deposit Record and a link to the page. The statutes themselves are public law.",
    "disclaimer": "General information, not legal advice. Every rule cites the source it was verified against; rely on the source, and on a lawyer for your situation.",
    "fields": {
      "summary": "plain-English statement of the rule, as rendered on the page",
      "value": "the machine payload the calculator uses (days, triggers, caps, multipliers)",
      "citation": "exact statutory pin-cite",
      "statuteQuote": "verbatim operative text, re-checked weekly against sourceUrl",
      "sourceUrl": "the official source the quote was verified against",
      "lastVerified": "the date a human last checked this rule against sourceUrl",
      "notes": "traps and edge cases, as rendered on the page",
      "derivation": "'verbatim' for a literal statutory rule; 'synthesized' for our reading across sections, which the page labels as such"
    },
    "schema": "src/schema/rules.ts in the deposit-compliance-tool repository documents every field",
    "version": "d3386bd"
  },
  "rules": {
    "stateCode": "WA",
    "stateName": "Washington",
    "slug": "washington",
    "lastReviewed": "2026-09-06",
    "summary": "Washington landlords have 30 days after BOTH the rental agreement ends and the tenant moves out to deliver three things together: a full and specific written statement of what is being kept, the paperwork substantiating it, and any refund. Miss it and you owe the entire deposit back, whatever the damage was. Washington sets no cap on a residential deposit, despite widespread reporting to the contrary, but no deposit may be collected at all without a written move-in checklist, and above 25% of a month’s rent the tenant can require installments.",
    "letterFooter": {
      "label": "Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 59.18",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18"
    },
    "deadline": {
      "summary": "The landlord has 30 days after the LATER of two events: the rental agreement terminating and the tenant vacating the premises. If the tenant abandons the unit as RCW 59.18.310 defines it, the 30 days instead run from the day the landlord learns of the abandonment.",
      "value": {
        "days": 30,
        "dayType": "calendar",
        "triggerBasis": "later-of",
        "triggerEvents": [
          "termination-of-rental-agreement",
          "vacate"
        ],
        "suspendUntilForwardingAddress": false,
        "rollsForwardOnHolidays": true,
        "complianceRequires": [
          "itemized-statement",
          "deposit-balance"
        ]
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.280(1)(a)",
      "statuteQuote": "Within 30 days after the termination of the rental agreement and vacation of the premises or, if the tenant abandons the premises as defined in RCW 59.18.310, within 30 days after the landlord learns of the abandonment, the landlord shall give a full and specific statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit, and any documentation required by (b) of this subsection, together with the payment of any refund due the tenant under the terms and conditions of the rental agreement.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 331 s 4 (SHB 1074)",
      "notes": "The word joining the two events is \"and\", so the clock waits for whichever happens last. A tenant who moves out three weeks before the lease ends has not started your clock, and a tenant who holds over past the end date does not start it on the end date. WHERE YOUR TWO DATES DIFFER, THIS IS A READING OF THE TEXT RATHER THAN A DECIDED QUESTION: it is how the clause reads on its face, but we have found no Washington appellate decision squarely holding that the period runs from the later of the two when they fall on different days, and one Division III decision paraphrases the clause without the vacation element. Washington also does not define \"vacation of the premises\", and a 2015 Court of Appeals decision counts both the day a move finished and the day the last keys came back without choosing between them. If the gap between your two dates is what decides whether you are on time, work from the earlier one. It was 14 days before 2016 and 21 days from 2016 until July 22, 2023, so a form packet or a website still saying 14 or 21 days is out of date. Abandonment is a narrow, defined thing: RCW 59.18.310 needs a rent default AND words or actions showing the tenant does not mean to come back, so a paid-up tenant who simply leaves has not abandoned, and the abandonment clock is the wrong one to use."
    },
    "forwardingAddress": {
      "summary": "Washington does not make you wait for a forwarding address, and the tenant does not lose anything by not giving one. You send the statement and any refund to the tenant’s last known address, which may be the unit they just left.",
      "value": {
        "required": false,
        "mustBeWritten": false,
        "suspendsObligation": false,
        "forfeitsRightIfNotProvided": false
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.280(1)(a) (second sentence)",
      "statuteQuote": "The landlord complies with this subsection if these are delivered to the tenant personally or deposited in the United States mail properly addressed to the tenant's last known address with first-class postage prepaid within the 30 days.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "notes": "This is a mailbox rule, not a receipt rule: putting it in the mail inside the 30 days is compliance even if it arrives later or never. Keep proof of when you mailed it. Washington is the opposite of Texas here, where the duty is genuinely suspended until a written forwarding address arrives."
    },
    "itemization": {
      "summary": "If you keep any part of the deposit you must give a full and specific written statement of the basis for keeping it, and it goes out together with the substantiating paperwork and any refund, inside the same 30 days.",
      "value": {
        "required": true,
        "mustBeWritten": true,
        "excusedWhen": "Nothing excuses the statement where any part of the deposit is retained. RCW 59.18.280(4) does lift the CHECKLIST and DOCUMENTATION requirements where the money is withheld for reasons unrelated to damage, such as unpaid rent, but the statement itself is still required."
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.280(1)(a)",
      "statuteQuote": "the landlord shall give a full and specific statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit, and any documentation required by (b) of this subsection, together with the payment of any refund due the tenant",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 331 s 4 (SHB 1074)",
      "notes": "Three things travel together and the latest one governs: a perfect statement on day 12 with the cheque posted on day 34 is late. Since July 23, 2023 the statement must be accompanied by copies of estimates received or invoices paid; where you or your employee did the work, a copy of the bill, invoice or receipt for materials plus a statement of the time spent and the hourly rate charged."
    },
    "deductions": {
      "summary": "You may deduct for damage beyond wear resulting from ordinary use, and for unpaid rent and other charges the tenant owes. Washington then names four things you may never withhold for, and one of them turns on paperwork you had to create at move-in.",
      "value": {
        "allowed": [
          "Damage to the premises, fixtures, equipment, appliances or furnishings beyond wear resulting from ordinary use",
          "Unpaid rent and other charges the tenant owes under the rental agreement"
        ],
        "disallowed": [
          "Wear resulting from ordinary use of the premises",
          "Carpet cleaning, unless you document wear to the carpet beyond wear resulting from ordinary use",
          "Repair or replacement of fixtures, equipment, appliances and furnishings whose condition was not reasonably documented in the written move-in checklist",
          "Any amount above the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged portion, where the damage does not cover the whole item"
        ],
        "documentationThresholdUsd": null,
        "photosRequiredWhenDeducting": false
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.280(1)",
      "statuteQuote": "No portion of any deposit may be withheld: (i) For wear resulting from ordinary use of the premises; (ii) For carpet cleaning unless the landlord documents wear to the carpet that is beyond wear resulting from ordinary use of the premises; (iii) For the costs of repair and replacement of fixtures, equipment, appliances, and furnishings if their condition was not reasonably documented in the written checklist required under RCW 59.18.260; or (iv) In excess of the cost of repair or replacement of the damaged portion in situations in which the premises, including fixtures, equipment, appliances, and furnishings, are damaged in excess of wear resulting from ordinary use of the premises but the damage does not encompass the item’s entirety.",
      "statuteQuoteCitation": "RCW 59.18.280(1)(c)",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280",
      "derivation": "synthesized",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 331 s 4 (SHB 1074)",
      "notes": "Item (iii) is the one that catches landlords: if the move-in checklist did not record the condition of an appliance, a fixture or the furnishings, you cannot charge for repairing or replacing it at all. Item (iv) bars charging for a whole item when only part of it was damaged. Separately, RCW 59.18.280(3)(b) says damages for ordinary wear, or damages you cannot substantiate with the documentation subsection (1) requires, may not be charged to the tenant, reported to a consumer reporting agency, tenant screening service or prospective landlord, or sent to collections."
    },
    "interest": {
      "summary": "Washington requires no interest to be paid to the tenant. The deposit sits in a trust account, and any interest that account earns belongs to the landlord unless the lease says otherwise in writing.",
      "value": {
        "required": false
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.270",
      "statuteQuote": "Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the landlord shall be entitled to receipt of interest paid on such trust account deposits.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.270",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2011-07-22",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "notes": "Read the words \"unless otherwise agreed in writing\" before assuming: this is a default, not a prohibition, and a lease can hand the interest to the tenant. Check your own lease. No Washington city we have read requires deposit interest, which is the opposite of California, where every interest duty is municipal."
    },
    "cap": {
      "summary": "Washington sets no maximum on a residential security deposit. The one-month cap that most sources report was written into the 2025 bill and removed before it passed; what passed caps deposits only for manufactured and mobile home LOTS, and caps rent increases for everyone.",
      "value": {
        "hasCap": false,
        "capMonths": null
      },
      "citation": "RCW ch. 59.18 (no deposit-amount limit); cf. RCW 59.20.170(1)",
      "statuteQuote": "For leases or rental agreements entered into on or after May 7, 2025, if a landlord charges a tenant any move-in fees or security deposits, the move-in fees and security deposits combined may not exceed one month's rent, unless the tenant brings any pets into the tenancy, in which case the move-in fees and security deposits combined may not exceed two months' rent.",
      "statuteQuoteCitation": "RCW 59.20.170(1) (Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act)",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.20.170",
      "derivation": "synthesized",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2025-05-07",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2025 c 209 s 204 (EHB 1217)",
      "notes": "The quoted cap is real law, and it is not your law unless the tenant rents a LOT in a manufactured or mobile home community and owns the home on it. That is RCW 59.20, a separate act. (The same 2025 act also limited rent increases, though not for every rental: RCW 59.18.710 exempts several categories, including buildings whose first certificate of occupancy issued within the last twelve years.) For an ordinary apartment or house under RCW 59.18 there is no ceiling on the deposit. Two limits do still apply: a fee or deposit to HOLD a unit before the tenancy starts may not exceed 25% of the first month’s rent, and above that same 25% the tenant can require the deposit be paid in installments."
    },
    "penalty": {
      "summary": "Miss the 30 days and you are liable for the entire deposit, not just the disputed part, and in the tenant’s suit to recover it you are barred from raising any claim or defence for keeping any of it. A court may on top of that award up to twice the deposit, but only for an intentional refusal. Whoever wins gets costs and attorney fees.",
      "value": {
        "standard": "mixed",
        "badFaithFlatUsd": null,
        "multiplier": 2,
        "multiplierBase": "whole-deposit",
        "multiplierIsDiscretionaryCeiling": true,
        "attorneyFees": true,
        "attorneyFeesBasis": "prevailing-party",
        "forfeitureForFailureToItemize": true,
        "deadlinePresumptionDays": null,
        "burdenOnLandlord": true
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.280(2)",
      "statuteQuote": "If the landlord fails to give the statement and any documentation required by subsection (1) of this section together with any refund due the tenant within the time limits specified in subsection (1) of this section he or she shall be liable to the tenant for the full amount of the deposit. The landlord is also barred in any action brought by the tenant to recover the deposit from asserting any claim or raising any defense for retaining any of the deposit unless the landlord shows that circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented the landlord from providing the statement and any documentation within the 30 days or that the tenant abandoned the premises as defined in RCW 59.18.310. The court may in its discretion award up to two times the amount of the deposit for the intentional refusal of the landlord to give the statement, documentation, or refund due unless the landlord shows that circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented the landlord from providing the statement and any such documentation within 30 days or that the tenant abandoned the premises as described in RCW 59.18.310.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 331 s 4 (SHB 1074)",
      "notes": "Two very different things sit in one subsection. The full-deposit liability is automatic: no bad faith, no willfulness, just the missed deadline, and it is the whole deposit however small the dispute. The doubling is not automatic. It needs an intentional refusal and the court \"may in its discretion\" award it, so treat it as a ceiling rather than a number. READ WHERE THE ESCAPES SIT, because it is easy to get backwards. The statute puts \"circumstances beyond the landlord’s control\" and the tenant having abandoned the premises on TWO of the three consequences: the bar on raising a claim or defence, and the doubling. The sentence making you liable for the full amount of the deposit carries no such qualifier on its face, and we have found no Washington decision settling whether the escapes reach it. Note also that the bar operates in the tenant’s action to recover the deposit; it does not stop you suing separately for sums exceeding the deposit. Costs and attorney fees go to the prevailing party, which means they can run against a tenant who sues and loses. A tenant has three years to bring the claim."
    },
    "scope": {
      "summary": "These rules are the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, and they reach ordinary residential tenancies with no exception for small landlords, owner-occupied buildings or unit counts. Nine living arrangements sit outside the act entirely.",
      "value": {
        "residentialOnly": true
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.040",
      "statuteQuote": "The following living arrangements are not intended to be governed by the provisions of this chapter, unless established primarily to avoid its application, in which event the provisions of this chapter shall control",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.040",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 22 s 1",
      "notes": "Outside the act: residence at an institution where it is incidental to detention or to medical, religious, educational or recreational services; occupancy under an earnest-money agreement or contract of sale where the occupant stands in the buyer’s place; a seller staying on for up to three months after closing, subject to conditions; hotels, motels and other transient lodging; certain condemnation-related agreements; a single-family residence rented incidentally to an agricultural land lease; seasonal agricultural employee housing; Department of Natural Resources agreements on public land; and an employee whose right to occupy depends on their job. Note the opening words: an arrangement set up mainly to dodge the act is governed by it anyway. Renting a LOT for a manufactured or mobile home is a different act entirely, RCW 59.20, with different deposit rules. Three more exclusions sit outside this section and are easy to miss: a lease of a single-family dwelling for a year or more, or one with a genuine option to purchase, is outside the whole chapter, but only where the TENANT’S ATTORNEY approved it on the face of the agreement (RCW 59.18.415); a proprietary lease in a co-operative is outside it (RCW 59.18.435); and so is a lease entered into before July 16, 1973 (RCW 59.18.430)."
    },
    "ownershipChange": {
      "summary": "The deposit belongs in a trust account at a Washington financial institution or licensed escrow agent, and it follows the property. If the landlord changes, the money moves to the new landlord’s trust account and the tenant is told where. On a foreclosure it must be transferred or refunded immediately.",
      "value": {
        "liabilityShiftsToNewOwner": true
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.270",
      "statuteQuote": "All moneys paid to the landlord by the tenant as a deposit as security for performance of the tenant’s obligations in a lease or rental agreement shall promptly be deposited by the landlord in a trust account, maintained by the landlord for the purpose of holding such security deposits for tenants of the landlord, in a financial institution as defined by *RCW 30.22.041 or licensed escrow agent located in Washington.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.270",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2011-07-22",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "notes": "You must give the tenant a written receipt for the deposit and written notice of the name, address and location of the depository, and tell them if it changes. On a foreclosure, if the deposit is not transferred to the successor the foreclosed-upon owner must refund the whole deposit immediately, and failing that is liable for up to twice the deposit. One thing worth knowing if money gets tight: the tenant’s claim to the deposit beats any creditor of yours, including a trustee in bankruptcy, even if you commingled it."
    },
    "moveInChecklist": {
      "summary": "You may not collect a deposit at all unless the rental agreement is in writing and you gave the tenant a written checklist at the start of the tenancy describing the condition and cleanliness of the unit. It has to be signed and dated by both of you, and the tenant keeps a copy.",
      "value": {
        "requiredBeforeCollectingDeposit": true,
        "mustBeSignedByBoth": true,
        "penaltyIsFullDepositAmount": true,
        "barsUndocumentedItemDeductions": true
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.260(2), (3), (5)",
      "statuteQuote": "No deposit may be collected by a landlord unless the rental agreement is in writing and a written checklist or statement is provided by the landlord to the tenant at the commencement of the tenancy specifically describing the condition and cleanliness of or existing damages to the premises, fixtures, equipment, appliances, and furnishings including, but not limited to: (a) Walls, including wall paint and wallpaper; (b) Carpets and other flooring; (c) Furniture; and (d) Appliances.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.260",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2023-07-23",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2023 c 331 s 3 (SHB 1074)",
      "notes": "The checklist bites twice. Collect a deposit without one and RCW 59.18.260(5) makes you liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit, with costs and fees to the prevailing party. Then, at move-out, RCW 59.18.280(1)(c)(iii) bars you from withholding anything for fixtures, equipment, appliances or furnishings whose condition the checklist did not document. A missing checklist is not a formality in Washington; it is the difference between having a claim and having none. The tenant may also ask for one free replacement copy."
    },
    "depositInstallments": {
      "summary": "There is no cap, but there is a brake. If the deposit and any non-refundable fees together come to more than 25% of the first full month’s rent, the tenant can ask in writing to pay them in installments and you have to allow it. Refusing costs one month’s rent plus their attorney fees.",
      "value": {
        "rightOnWrittenRequest": true,
        "exemptAtOrBelowPercentOfFirstMonthRent": 25,
        "longerScheduleFromMonths": 3,
        "installmentsLongerTerm": 3,
        "installmentsShorterTerm": 2,
        "refusalPenaltyMonthsRent": 1
      },
      "citation": "RCW 59.18.610",
      "statuteQuote": "Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, upon receipt of a tenant’s written request, a landlord must permit the tenant to pay any deposits, nonrefundable fees, and last month’s rent in installments.",
      "sourceUrl": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.610",
      "derivation": "verbatim",
      "sourceType": "codified",
      "effectiveDate": "2020-06-11",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
      "confidence": "high",
      "amendedBy": "2020 c 169 s 1",
      "notes": "For a term of three months or longer the tenant may elect three equal monthly installments starting at the inception of the tenancy; otherwise two. You may not charge a fee or interest for it, or otherwise make it cost more, and the schedule has to be in writing and signed by both of you. The duty does not arise at all if the deposits and non-refundable fees together are 25% or less of the first full month’s rent and you are not also requiring last month’s rent up front. Seattle is more generous still: inside the city a tenant on a term of six months or longer may elect six monthly installments, four on a term between 30 days and six months, and two month to month, with a separate three-installment right for a pet damage deposit."
    },
    "cities": [
      {
        "city": "Seattle",
        "citySlug": "seattle",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Seattle regulates what you may collect at move-in, and leaves the return to state law. The security deposit and any non-refundable move-in fees together may not exceed one month’s rent; the non-refundable fees alone may not exceed 10% of a month’s rent; and a pet damage deposit may not exceed 25% of the first full month’s rent. The City reads that 25% as sitting on top of the one month rather than inside it, which would make the practical maximum about 1.25 months, and the ordinance supports that reading because it lists security deposits and pet security deposits as separate permitted charges. No court has decided it. Seattle also lets a tenant spread the deposit over as many as six monthly installments, where state law gives three. If you rent a unit inside a single-family home that is your own principal residence, SMC 7.24.035 does not apply to you at all, which lifts the cap, the 10% fee limit and Seattle’s longer installment schedule; the 25% pet deposit limit sits in SMC 7.24.038, which carries no matching exception, so on our reading it still applies.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Seattle? If it is a room or unit inside a single-family residence that is your own principal residence, the deposit cap and move-in fee limits do not apply, but the pet damage deposit limit still does.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "petDepositMaxPercentOfRent": 25,
          "moveInFeesMaxPercentOfRent": 10,
          "notes": "A pet damage deposit is charged IN ADDITION to the one-month cap, not inside it, so the practical Seattle maximum at move-in is about 1.25 months’ rent. That is the City’s own published reading, and the ordinance supports it: the 25% pet limit sits in its own section, and the list of one-time charges a landlord may make counts \"security deposits\" and \"pet security deposits\" as separate things."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Seattle Municipal Code 7.24.020, 7.24.035.A, .B.1, .B.3, .B.4, .C, .D, .E, .H; 7.24.038.A–.E; 7.24.060.A; 7.24.130.F",
        "sourceUrl": "https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT7COPR_CH7.24REAGRE_7.24.035SEDENOMOFE",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Seattle does not change the return deadline. SMC 7.24.035.D says the return or retention of a deposit \"must comply with the requirements of RCW 59.18.280\", so the state’s 30 days and its penalties are the rule inside the city too. Four Seattle-only points that catch landlords: you may charge no other one-time fee at the start of a tenancy beyond the deposit, the pet deposit, non-refundable move-in fees and last month’s rent; if you charged a non-refundable cleaning fee at move-in you may not also deduct cleaning from the deposit at move-out; you may not require a pet deposit at all where the animal is an assistance animal, and you may not charge any other fee for keeping a pet; and Seattle’s installment schedule is far longer than the state’s. The Seattle remedies sit on top of the state ones and they are not small. A landlord who tries to enforce a rental-agreement term that breaches these sections is liable to the tenant for actual damages, DOUBLE any penalty the City imposed, DOUBLE any security deposit unlawfully charged or withheld, and attorney fees. Merely including a prohibited term in a new or renewed agreement costs up to $3,000 plus fees, whether or not it is ever enforced. A tenant who defeats an attempt to enforce such a term recovers their fees. Separately the City can cite a landlord $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for a later one within five years, and after repeat citations it can escalate to a daily penalty. All of these figures rise on July 1, 2027. This row reflects the code as codified through Ordinance 127423, passed April 14, 2026."
      },
      {
        "city": "Tacoma",
        "citySlug": "tacoma",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Tacoma regulates the move-in side in two chapters that were written years apart and do not use the same words. The 2023 voter initiative (TMC ch. 1.100) bars \"move-in fees that in total exceed the first month’s rent\", and defines move-in fees to include the security deposit, application and screening charges, and prepaid last month’s rent, but not a valid pet fee; so in practice the deposit plus screening plus any prepaid rent together may not exceed one month. A pet damage deposit may not exceed 25% of one month’s rent, and only the actual cost of repairing pet damage may be kept from it. Any non-refundable fee at the start of a tenancy is prohibited unless the section or state law specifically allows it. The older Rental Housing Code (TMC ch. 1.95) gives tenants a written-request right to pay the deposit, fees and last month’s rent in installments, six on a term of six months or longer, three on a term of three to five months, two month to month, requires Tacoma’s own move-in checklist, and bars a landlord who broke the late-fee rules from deducting late fees from the deposit. Units owned or managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority, and nonprofit-held deed-restricted affordable units, are outside chapter 1.100 once the landlord has given tenants 30 days’ written notice of the exemption. The return itself is state law.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Tacoma? If the unit is owned or managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority, or is nonprofit-held deed-restricted affordable housing, the chapter 1.100 fee cap does not apply once the landlord has given the required written notice; the chapter 1.95 installment and checklist rules still do.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "petDepositMaxPercentOfRent": 25,
          "notes": "TMC 1.100.040(1)(d) caps \"move-in fees\" at the first month’s rent, and TMC 1.100.015 defines \"move-in fees\" to include the security deposit, application and screening charges, and prepaid last month’s rent, excluding a valid pet fee. So the one-month figure is for the deposit, screening and prepaid rent TOGETHER, which is tighter than Seattle’s deposit-plus-fees rule. Where part of the rent is paid by a subsidy, \"first month’s rent\" counts the subsidy too. The pet deposit is outside the total on the face of the definition. Chapter 1.95 uses different definitions (\"security deposit\" there \"does not include a fee\"), so read the two chapters separately."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Tacoma Municipal Code 1.100.015, 1.100.017, 1.100.040, 1.100.080; 1.95.020, 1.95.030, 1.95.035.C, 1.95.037, 1.95.040, 1.95.065.D, 1.95.090.E",
        "sourceUrl": "https://ecode360.com/48359894",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Tacoma does not change the 30-day return: TMC 1.95.040.H sends the trust-account and receipt rules to RCW 59.18.270, TMC 1.95.040.I preserves the state-law action for sums above the deposit, and nothing in either chapter alters RCW 59.18.280. The exposure for getting the move-in side wrong is the largest of any Washington city we have read: a tenant who sues under the initiative recovers actual damages, costs and attorney fees, and the landlord \"shall also be liable for penalties of not less than $500 and up to five times the monthly rent of the dwelling unit at issue, per violation\" (TMC 1.100.080). The City separately fines a first breach of the deposit and installment section $500 per affected unit and later ones $1,000 (TMC 1.95.090.E.1.a). A rental agreement is void to the extent it requires a prohibited fee, the initiative’s rights cannot be waived, and any ambiguity is read in the tenant’s favour. Read from the codified Tacoma Municipal Code on eCode360, the host the City Clerk’s office now directs to; the chapter 1.100 text carries an updated date of July 28, 2026, and its latest amending ordinance is Substitute Ordinance 29086 of December 9, 2025. Two more provisions touch the deposit at the end of a tenancy. TMC 1.95.037.A.2 makes void any lease term \"requiring forfeiture of all or any part of a deposit if the tenant terminates the tenancy pursuant to law and vacates before expiration of any minimum term for a month-to-month tenancy\", while preserving retention for damage and for other obligations under the agreement, and TMC 1.95.037.D requires last month’s rent collected up front to be applied to the last month of the tenancy and to nothing else. On the move-in side, TMC 1.95.035.C.3.d lets a landlord conditionally approve an applicant who falls short of the income ratio by requiring \"an additional security deposit\" or a guarantor; the code does not say how that sits with the chapter 1.100 total, and we do not resolve it."
      },
      {
        "city": "Olympia",
        "citySlug": "olympia",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Olympia caps a refundable security deposit, or last month’s rent taken to secure possession, at one month’s rent, and makes the list of permitted fees closed: a landlord may require only the fees the section names, each described in a written rental agreement and disclosed before application, so a non-refundable move-in fee that is not on the list may not be charged at all. A pet damage deposit may not exceed 25% of one month’s rent whenever it is paid, may not be required for an assistance animal, may be paid in three monthly installments, may be kept only for damage a pet caused, and must be returned or itemised within 30 days of the end of the tenancy. Income-based subsidised housing is outside both limits, but a Section 8 voucher tenancy is not. The return of the deposit itself is state law.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Olympia? If the rent is set by the tenant’s income (other than a Section 8 voucher tenancy), the one-month cap and the pet deposit limit do not apply.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-only",
          "petDepositMaxPercentOfRent": 25,
          "notes": "OMC 5.82.060.A.2 permits \"a refundable security deposit or last month’s rent to secure possession of a rental unit, which may not exceed one month’s rent\". Whether a landlord may take a one-month deposit AND a separate one-month prepaid last month’s rent, or one month between them, is not settled by the sentence; we record it as a deposit-only cap and flag the ambiguity. Non-refundable move-in fees are not on the permitted list at all, so the question of adding them to the cap does not arise."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Olympia Municipal Code 5.82.050, 5.82.060.A, 5.82.170",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Olympia/html/Olympia05/Olympia0582.html",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Olympia does not change the 30-day state return, but it adds a second one for the pet deposit specifically: OMC 5.82.050.D requires any unused part of the pet damage deposit to be returned, or an itemised list of damages sent, \"not later than 30 days from the end of the tenancy, consistent with RCW 59.18.280(1)(a)\". A tenant who sues recovers actual damages, double any security deposit unlawfully charged or withheld, and attorney fees and costs (OMC 5.82.170.B); non-compliance is also a defence to an eviction and a ground to refuse or revoke the rental business licence, and each day is a separate civil infraction. Read from the codified Olympia Municipal Code on Code Publishing, the City’s codifier, which states it is current through Ordinance 7467, passed April 14, 2026; chapter 5.82 carries a \"Revised 5/26\" supplement mark and its latest amending ordinance is Ordinance 7446 of 2026."
      },
      {
        "city": "Bellingham",
        "citySlug": "bellingham",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Bellingham caps a refundable security deposit at one month’s rent, with a two-month exception only where a nonprofit service organisation pays it on a client’s behalf, and caps a pet damage deposit at 30% of the monthly rent. Its list of permitted fees is closed: any mandatory or optional fee not named in the section or in RCW ch. 59.18 is an unfair or excessive fee and prohibited, which rules out a non-refundable move-in fee. A one-time or recurring pet fee may not exceed 2% of the monthly rent, and may not be charged at all where a pet deposit was taken. Income-based subsidised housing is outside the deposit cap. Bellingham does not touch the return: deadline, statement, documentation and interest are state law, and the code says state law governs on any conflict.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Bellingham? If the rent is set by the tenant’s income, the one-month deposit cap does not apply. A manufactured or mobile home LOT in Bellingham has its own chapter and is outside this tool.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-only",
          "petDepositMaxPercentOfRent": 30,
          "notes": "BMC 6.16.030 lists the one-month security deposit (B) and the 30% pet damage deposit (C) as separate permitted charges and does not say whether the pet deposit counts inside the one month or sits on top of it. Read as separate line items in a permissive list the practical maximum would be 1.3 months, but that is an inference, and we do not publish it as the cap. Non-refundable move-in fees are not on the permitted list at all, so a deposit-plus-fees total does not arise."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Bellingham Municipal Code 6.16.010, 6.16.030, 6.16.040, 6.16.070, 6.16.110(D)",
        "sourceUrl": "https://bellingham.municipal.codes/BMC/6.16.030",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Bellingham’s remedy is the sharpest of the Washington cities we have read: a landlord in violation is liable in a private action for three times the tenant’s actual damages or $2,000, whichever is greater, plus double any deposit unlawfully charged or withheld, plus costs and attorney fees. The chapter took effect on August 1, 2025, so most guidance written before then does not mention it. Read from the codified Bellingham Municipal Code, which states it is current through Ordinance 2026-06-015, passed June 1, 2026, and checked against the enacted ordinance on the City’s meeting portal. One trap for anyone citing from that ordinance PDF: it numbers the subsections 1, 2, 3 where the code letters them A, B, C, so the deposit cap is 6.16.030(2) in the ordinance and 6.16.030(B) in the code."
      },
      {
        "city": "Redmond",
        "citySlug": "redmond",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Redmond caps all move-in fees and security deposits charged before the tenant takes possession, together, at one month’s rent, and lets the tenant choose to pay that money in six equal monthly installments on a term of six months or longer, or two on a shorter or month-to-month tenancy. Income-based subsidised housing is outside the cap, but a Section 8 voucher tenancy is not. The chapter reaches manufactured and mobile home lot tenancies as well as ordinary rentals, sits on top of state law rather than replacing it, and does not touch the return: deadline, statement, documentation and interest are RCW ch. 59.18.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Redmond? If the rent is set by the tenant’s income (other than a Section 8 voucher tenancy), the one-month cap does not apply.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "notes": "RMC 9.54.040.A: \"All move in fees and security deposits charged by a landlord before a tenant takes possession of a dwelling unit shall not exceed one month’s rent\". The cap is on the pre-possession total, so a pet deposit taken at move-in is inside it; the chapter sets no separate pet ceiling. Prepaid last month’s rent is not named, and whether it is a \"move in fee\" is not settled by the text."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Redmond Municipal Code 9.54.020, 9.54.040, 9.54.070, 9.54.080, 9.54.090",
        "sourceUrl": "https://redmond.municipal.codes/RMC/9.54.040",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "A lease term that breaks the cap is void, and the cap and installment right cannot be waived except by a separate written agreement outside the standard lease that the tenant’s own attorney has approved in writing. A landlord found in violation is liable to the tenant for the greater of double the tenant’s economic and non-economic damages or three times the monthly rent, plus litigation costs and attorney fees. Read from the codified Redmond Municipal Code, which states it is current through Ordinance 3265, passed July 21, 2026, and checked against the enacting ordinance in the City Council packet: Ordinance 3091, passed July 19, 2022. The chapter takes its definitions from RCW 59.18.030 and neither defines \"move-in fees\" nor names last month’s rent, so whether prepaid last month’s rent counts toward the cap is not something the code answers; we do not borrow Tacoma’s or Burien’s definition to answer it."
      },
      {
        "city": "Kenmore",
        "citySlug": "kenmore",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Kenmore caps all move-in fees and security deposits charged before the tenant takes possession, together, at one month’s rent, and lets the tenant choose to pay that money in six equal monthly installments on a term of six months or longer, or two on a shorter or month-to-month tenancy. Income-based subsidised housing is outside the cap, but a Section 8 voucher tenancy is not. The chapter also reaches manufactured and mobile home lot tenancies. It does not touch the return: deadline, statement, documentation and interest are state law.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Kenmore? If the rent is set by the tenant’s income (other than a Section 8 voucher tenancy), the one-month cap does not apply.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "notes": "KMC 8.55.040.A: \"All move in fees and security deposits charged by a landlord before a tenant takes possession of a dwelling unit shall not exceed one month’s rent\". A pre-possession total, so a pet deposit taken at move-in is inside it; the chapter sets no separate pet ceiling. Whether prepaid last month’s rent is a \"move in fee\" is not settled by the text."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Kenmore Municipal Code 8.55.020, 8.55.040, 8.55.080, 8.55.090, 8.55.100",
        "sourceUrl": "https://ecode360.com/49594433",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "A lease term charging more than the cap is void, the cap and installment right can be waived only by a separate written agreement outside the standard lease, and a landlord in violation is liable to the tenant for the greater of double the tenant’s economic and non-economic damages or three times the monthly rent, plus litigation costs and attorney fees; a violation is also a defence to an eviction. Read from the codified Kenmore Municipal Code on eCode360, the host the City’s own code link resolves to, which states it includes legislation through December 8, 2025; the six ordinances adopted since and not yet codified are all zoning and property matters and none touches this chapter. The chapter takes its definitions from RCW 59.18.030 and neither defines \"move-in fees\" nor names last month’s rent, so whether prepaid last month’s rent counts toward the cap is not something the code answers; we do not borrow Tacoma’s or Burien’s definition to answer it."
      },
      {
        "city": "Auburn",
        "citySlug": "auburn",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Auburn caps everything a tenant pays at the start of a tenancy to obtain the unit, the security deposit included, at the allowable monthly rent, and requires the landlord to offer to take the deposit over six months before the agreement is signed; an additional deposit for pets is allowed if it is reasonable and does not fold in other deposits or fees. One caution: the section opens by allowing any non-rent charge \"agreed to in writing signed by landlord and tenant at the time of entering into the initial lease or rental agreement\", and read literally that exception could reach the cap itself; the code does not say whether it does, so we publish the cap as written and flag the exception rather than resolve it. On written request the tenant may pay the deposit, non-refundable move-in fees and last month’s rent in three monthly installments on a term of three months or longer, or two on a month-to-month or two-month tenancy, with no fee or interest for doing so. Auburn also restates the state rule that no deposit may be collected without a written agreement and a signed move-in checklist. The return of the deposit is state law.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Auburn?",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "notes": "ACC 5.23.040.A.2: \"Any amount paid to the landlord by the tenant at the commencement of the tenancy charged for the purpose of procuring and obtaining a dwelling unit, including the deposit or as security for performance of the tenant’s obligations in a lease or rental agreement, must not exceed the allowable monthly rent as permitted by this chapter.\" Read as one month because the ceiling is the monthly rent itself; the sentence caps the total of everything charged to obtain the unit rather than the deposit alone. The same subsection then allows \"additional security deposits ... for tenants that have pets; provided, that those deposits are reasonable and do not embed other types of deposits or fees\", so a pet deposit sits outside the one month, with \"reasonable\" as its only limit. Auburn sets no percentage for it. The chapeau of 5.23.040.A allows any non-rent charge \"agreed to in writing signed by landlord and tenant at the time of entering into the initial lease or rental agreement\"; whether that exception reaches A.2 is not resolved in the code and is not resolved here."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Auburn City Code 5.23.020, 5.23.040, 5.23.080.B",
        "sourceUrl": "https://auburn.municipal.codes/ACC/5.23",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Auburn does not change the 30-day return: ACC 5.23.040.H sends the trust-account and receipt rules to RCW 59.18.270, 5.23.040.I preserves the state-law action for sums above the deposit, and nothing in the chapter alters RCW 59.18.280. A tenant who misses an agreed installment is in breach, faces a 14-day notice, and the whole outstanding balance falls due with the next rent unless you agree otherwise in writing; a defaulted installment may be treated as rent owing. The screening-report cost cannot be paid in installments and is limited to its standard and actual cost. Breaking the chapter exposes a landlord to civil liability of up to two times the monthly rent, and a willful violation draws a $1,000 City penalty. Read from the codified Auburn City Code, which states it is current through Ordinance 7023, passed July 6, 2026; the chapter was enacted by Ordinance 6786 in 2020."
      },
      {
        "city": "Burien",
        "citySlug": "burien",
        "applies": true,
        "summary": "Burien caps the security deposit, any non-refundable move-in fees and any prepaid last month’s rent, all three together, at one month’s rent, and gives a tenant who asks in writing the right to pay them in installments: six monthly payments on a term of six months or longer, two on a shorter or month-to-month tenancy, with no fee or interest for doing so. Burien also restates the state rule that no deposit may be collected without a written agreement and a signed move-in checklist, and enforces it with its own fines. Income-based subsidised housing is outside the cap, but a Section 8 voucher tenancy is not. The return of the deposit is state law.",
        "coverageQuestion": "Is the rental in the City of Burien? If the rent is set by the tenant’s income (other than a Section 8 voucher tenancy), the one-month cap does not apply.",
        "cap": {
          "capMonths": 1,
          "covers": "deposit-plus-move-in-fees",
          "notes": "BMC 5.63.040(1): \"The sum of any security deposits, nonrefundable move-in fees, and/or last month’s rent may not exceed one month’s rent\". Prepaid last month’s rent is inside the total, which makes this tighter than Seattle’s deposit-plus-fees cap. Burien sets no separate pet deposit ceiling; a pet fee that is nonrefundable is a \"nonrefundable move-in fee\" under BMC 5.63.020 and so counts toward the one month, and a refundable pet deposit is a security deposit and counts too."
        },
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Burien Municipal Code 5.63.020, 5.63.040, 5.63.140(3)",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Burien/html/Burien05/Burien0563.html",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Burien does not change the 30-day return: BMC 5.63.040(7) sends the trust account and receipt rules to RCW 59.18.270, 5.63.040(8) preserves the state-law action for sums above the deposit, and nothing in the chapter alters RCW 59.18.280. A tenant who misses an agreed installment is in breach, faces a 10-day notice, and the whole outstanding balance falls due with the next rent unless you agree otherwise in writing. The screening-report cost cannot be paid in installments and is limited to its standard and actual cost. Breaking the deposit and installment section costs $500 per affected unit for a first violation and $1,000 per unit for a later one within three years. Read from the codified Burien Municipal Code on Code Publishing, the City’s codifier, which states it is current through Ordinance 905 and legislation passed through July 27, 2026."
      },
      {
        "city": "Federal Way",
        "citySlug": "federal-way",
        "applies": false,
        "summary": "We read the Federal Way Revised Code and found no city rule on residential security deposits: no cap, no move-in fee limit, no pet deposit limit, no installment right, no return deadline and no interest duty. The only landlord-tenant chapter in the code is the Good Cause Eviction Ordinance (FWRC ch. 20.05), which does not mention deposits. In Federal Way, state law is the whole answer.",
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Federal Way Revised Code (no deposit provision); cf. FWRC ch. 20.05",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/FederalWay/",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Read from the codified Federal Way Revised Code on Code Publishing, the code the City’s own site links to, which states it is current through Ordinance 26-1049, passed August 11, 2026. A negative like this is only as good as the search behind it, so here is the search: every one of the code’s seventeen title indexes was read and none carries a rental-housing, landlord-tenant, rental-registration or tenant-protection chapter; and the code’s own full-text search was run for security deposit, damage deposit, move-in fee, pet deposit, installment, last month’s rent, screening fee, landlord and tenant. \"Landlord\" appears in only two chapters in the entire code, the eviction ordinance and one on bathhouses, and the eviction ordinance uses the word \"deposit\" nowhere."
      },
      {
        "city": "Bellevue",
        "citySlug": "bellevue",
        "applies": false,
        "summary": "We searched the Bellevue City Code and found no city rule on residential security deposits: no cap, no move-in fee limit, no pet deposit limit, no installment right, no return deadline and no interest duty. The search was run through the code’s own index with its scope pinned to the City Code and Land Use Code, and checked with control terms (\"landlord\", \"tenant\") that do return the code’s relocation-assistance and tax chapters, so the index was covering the code when it returned nothing for deposits. A second, independent read on September 6, 2026, with a different tool, ran fifteen terms through the same pinned index, read the second page of results for \"deposit\" and \"tenant\", and read the chapters the control terms surface (BCC ch. 9.20, 9.21 and 4.52); it found the same nothing. Neither read was a page-by-page reading of the whole code. In Bellevue, on those two reads, state law is the whole answer.",
        "checkedFor": [
          "cap",
          "interest",
          "deadline",
          "itemization"
        ],
        "citation": "Bellevue City Code (no deposit provision found); cf. BCC ch. 9.21",
        "sourceUrl": "https://bellevue.municipal.codes/BCC",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06",
        "confidence": "high",
        "notes": "Read from the codified Bellevue City Code on the City’s code host, which states it is current through Ordinance 6929, passed July 14, 2026, with no pending ordinance touching rentals or deposits. The one chapter that mentions landlords is BCC ch. 9.21, relocation assistance for tenants displaced by development, which is not a deposit rule. A trap worth recording for anyone repeating this: the code host’s search box answers \"did not match anything in the chosen scope\" with nothing selected, which reads like a negative and is not one; the scope has to be pinned before a zero result means anything."
      }
    ],
    "localLaw": {
      "preempted": false,
      "summary": "Washington cities can and do add their own deposit rules, and they mostly regulate what you may collect at move-in rather than how you give it back. We have read the codes of the ten cities with the most renters. Seven regulate deposits: Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Redmond, Auburn, Olympia, Burien and Kenmore each cap what may be charged at move-in at one month’s rent in one form or another, several add a pet deposit ceiling and a longer installment schedule than the state’s, and none changes the 30-day return. Two, Bellevue and Federal Way, have no deposit rule at all. Together those ten cities hold roughly a third of Washington’s renter households (2024 American Community Survey). Everywhere else in the state we have not read the code, and state law is the answer as far as we know.",
      "lastVerified": "2026-09-06"
    },
    "sources": [
      {
        "label": "RCW ch. 59.18, Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (Washington State Legislature)",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 59.18.280, the return deadline, statement, documentation and penalties",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.280"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 59.18.260, the written move-in checklist",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.260"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 59.18.270, trust account and interest",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.270"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 59.18.610, paying a deposit in installments",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.610"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 59.20.170, the manufactured/mobile home LOT deposit cap (a different act)",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.20.170"
      },
      {
        "label": "RCW 1.12.040, computation of time",
        "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=1.12.040"
      },
      {
        "label": "EHB 1217 (2025 c 209) as passed: the act that did NOT cap residential deposits",
        "url": "https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/1217.SL.pdf"
      },
      {
        "label": "HB 1217 as introduced, containing the section 107 residential cap that was removed",
        "url": "https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1217.pdf"
      },
      {
        "label": "Silver v. Rudeen Mgmt. Co., No. 98024-1 (Wash. 2021): three-year limitation period",
        "url": "https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/980241.pdf"
      },
      {
        "label": "Seattle Municipal Code ch. 7.24 (move-in fees, deposits, pet damage deposits)",
        "url": "https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT7COPR_CH7.24REAGRE_7.24.035SEDENOMOFE"
      },
      {
        "label": "City of Seattle, Renting in Seattle: move-in fees and deposits (City guidance)",
        "url": "https://seattle.gov/rentinginseattle/housing-providers/moving-a-tenant-in/move-in-fees-and-deposits"
      }
    ],
    "pendingLegislation": [
      {
        "label": "Seattle Ordinance 127497 (CB 121254), passed August 11, 2026 and approved August 18",
        "url": "https://legistar2.granicus.com/seattle/attachments/730b80af-1d83-407d-a2e0-61adace1957f.pdf",
        "status": "enacted-not-in-force",
        "citySlug": "seattle",
        "effectiveDate": "2027-07-01",
        "note": "Seattle has already passed a rewrite of its rental fee rules that takes effect on July 1, 2027. It does not change the one-month deposit cap or the 25% pet deposit limit. What it does change is what it costs to get any of this wrong, and what triggers it. Seattle ALREADY doubles a security deposit unlawfully charged or withheld, so do not read what follows as the point at which the exposure begins. What changes is the trigger and the arithmetic. Today the claim turns on the landlord trying to enforce a non-compliant term; from July 2027 it reaches any failure to meet an obligation under the chapter. The doubling is reworded to cover a prohibited fee as well as a deposit, and gains interest at 12% a year on a prohibited fee plus, for each violation the court finds, twice the City penalty. Putting a prohibited term in a new or renewed agreement goes from up to $3,000 to up to $4,000; a new provision makes retaliation worth up to $6,000 to the tenant; City citations go from $500 and $1,000 to $750 and $1,500, with $5,000 for retaliation; and tenants may sue on behalf of others in the same position. From January 1, 2028 all of those amounts are indexed to Seattle area inflation. It also amends the chapter’s definitions section. The new fee-disclosure and permitted-fee sections apply to any rental agreement or renewal entered into after July 1, 2027, so an existing tenancy is not permanently outside them: it comes in at its next renewal.",
        "lastVerified": "2026-09-06"
      }
    ]
  }
}