Washington Security Deposit Return Letter: Free Template and Generator for Landlords
Washington gives you 30 days, counted from the later of the rental agreement ending and the tenant moving out. What most landlords get wrong is not the date. It is that three separate things have to be in that envelope: the written statement, the paperwork substantiating the damage charges, and the money. This page gives you the letter: sample text you can copy, a free generator that fills it in from your facts, and the statute behind every line. Statutes verified September 6, 2026.
Two dates that appear on older Washington templates are wrong now. The deadline was fourteen days before 2016 and twenty-one days until July 22, 2023. It has been thirty days since then, and the same 2023 act added the documentation requirement below. This page is for landlords preparing the refund and statement; if you are a tenant looking for a demand letter, this is not that page.
Sample security deposit return letter (Washington)
Three versions, generated by the same engine as the tool below: a partial refund with itemized deductions, a full refund with no deductions, and one where the deductions exceed the deposit. Replace the bracketed placeholders, keep the itemization honest, and review everything before you sign.
Itemized letter with deductions (partial refund)
Re: Your security deposit at [Rental property address]
This letter is the itemized statement of your security deposit for the rental at [Rental property address], following the end of your tenancy.
Your security deposit was $2,000.00. I have deducted the amounts itemized below, with a description of each.
| Deduction | Amount |
|---|---|
| Replace bedroom door damaged beyond wear from ordinary use | $185.00 |
| Unpaid utility charges owed under the rental agreement | $92.00 |
| Total deductions | $277.00 |
The remaining balance of $1,723.00 is enclosed with this letter.
The documentation substantiating the damage charges above is enclosed with this statement. Where the work was done by me or by my employee, that documentation includes a copy of the bill, invoice or receipt for the materials or supplies, together with a statement of the time spent and the hourly rate charged, as RCW 59.18.280(1)(b) requires.
If you have any questions about this statement, you can reach me at the address above.
Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 59.18: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18
Full refund letter (no deductions)
Re: Your security deposit at [Rental property address]
This letter confirms the return of your security deposit for the rental at [Rental property address], following the end of your tenancy.
Your security deposit was $2,000.00, and I have not made any deductions.
Your full deposit of $2,000.00 is enclosed with this letter.
If you have any questions about this statement, you can reach me at the address above.
Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 59.18: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18
When the deductions exceed the deposit
Re: Your security deposit at [Rental property address]
This letter is the itemized statement of your security deposit for the rental at [Rental property address], following the end of your tenancy.
Your security deposit was $2,000.00. I have deducted the amounts itemized below, with a description of each.
| Deduction | Amount |
|---|---|
| Unpaid final month of rent | $2,000.00 |
| Replace interior door damaged beyond wear from ordinary use | $220.00 |
| Total deductions | $2,220.00 |
After applying your full security deposit, a balance of $220.00 remains owed under your lease. This statement accounts for the deposit; any remaining balance is a separate matter under the lease.
The documentation substantiating the damage charges above is enclosed with this statement. Where the work was done by me or by my employee, that documentation includes a copy of the bill, invoice or receipt for the materials or supplies, together with a statement of the time spent and the hourly rate charged, as RCW 59.18.280(1)(b) requires.
If you have any questions about this statement, you can reach me at the address above.
Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 59.18: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18
Generate this letter free
The free Washington deposit tool computes your exact deadline from both of your dates, does the deduction math, warns you where the move-in checklist limits what you may keep, and produces this letter with your facts filled in. No sign-up, no watermark, no charge, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Three things travel together, and the latest one governs
This is the Washington-specific trap. RCW 59.18.280(1)(a) does not require a statement by day thirty and the money whenever. It requires the statement, the documentation, and the refund delivered together inside the thirty days. A perfect itemization on day twelve with the cheque posted on day thirty-four is late, and so is a statement sent on time with the invoices following the next week.
- A full and specific statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit. Required only where you keep something. “Cleaning and damages” is not a full and specific statement.
- The documentation required by subsection (1)(b). Copies of estimates received or invoices paid. This has been required since July 23, 2023 and is the part most often missing.
- Any refund due. Posted, not merely calculated, by the same deadline.
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 RCW 59.18.280(1)(a)
The 30-day clock, and what starts it
Two events matter, and the clock starts at whichever happens last: the rental agreement terminating, and the tenant vacating the premises. Those are not always the same day. A tenant who hands back the keys three weeks early has not started your clock, because the agreement has not ended; a tenant who holds over past the end date does not start it on the end date. There is one alternative: if the tenant abandoned the unit, the thirty days run from the day you learned of the abandonment, which can be earlier than either event.
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. RCW 59.18.280(1)(a)
Abandonment is narrower than it sounds. RCW 59.18.310 needs a rent default and words or actions showing the tenant does not intend to resume the tenancy. A tenant who is paid up and simply leaves has not abandoned, and reaching for the abandonment clock in that situation starts your thirty days from the wrong date.
If day thirty is a weekend or a holiday. RCW 1.12.040 computes a statutory period by excluding the first day and including the last, “unless the last day is a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, and then it is also excluded”, and the code reviser’s note records four Washington Supreme Court decisions treating that section as one of general application. The tool shows you both dates. Acting by the earlier one is the safe course.
The move-in checklist decides what you may keep
Washington is unusual here, and it catches landlords who did everything else right. The checklist is a precondition to collecting a deposit at all, and it is separately the gate on your deductions at move-out. If the checklist did not record the condition of a fixture, an appliance or the furnishings, you may not charge for repairing or replacing it, however real the damage was.
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. RCW 59.18.260(2), (3), (5)
There is a second, independent consequence. If you collected a deposit without providing a written checklist at the commencement of the tenancy, 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, and it says expressly that this does not limit the tenant’s rights under RCW 59.18.280. The two remedies stack; they do not substitute.
What to enclose with the statement
Since July 23, 2023 the statement must be accompanied by copies of the estimates you received or the invoices you paid, to reasonably substantiate the damage charges. Where you or your employee did the work, that means a copy of the bill, invoice or receipt for the materials or supplies, together with a statement of the time spent and the reasonable hourly rate charged. Materials already in your possession, or bought on an ongoing basis, can be documented with a vendor price list or other vendor document.
One exception, and it is worth knowing because it is easy to over-comply into. RCW 59.18.280(4) lifts both the checklist and the documentation requirements where the deposit is withheld for reasons unrelated to damages, such as unpaid rent or other charges owing. The written statement itself is still required.
How to send the letter and the money
Washington measures compliance by despatch, not by receipt. You comply by delivering the three items to the tenant personally, or by depositing them in the US mail with first-class postage prepaid, properly addressed to the tenant’s last known address, inside the thirty days. That is forgiving in one direction and unforgiving in another: a tenant who never collects their mail cannot manufacture a missed deadline, and you cannot prove you posted it in time without a record. Keep proof of the date.
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. RCW 59.18.280(1)(a) (second sentence)
You never wait for a forwarding address. Washington is the opposite of Texas here, where the duty is genuinely suspended until a written forwarding address arrives. If the tenant left nothing newer, the last known address may be the unit they just left.
If you get it wrong, you lose the whole deposit
Two very different things sit in one subsection, and conflating them misstates your risk in both directions. The full-deposit liability is automatic: no bad faith, no willfulness, just the missed deadline, and it is the entire deposit however small the dispute was. You are also barred from asserting any claim or raising any defence for keeping any of it. 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.
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. RCW 59.18.280(2)
The fee shift runs both ways. Costs and a reasonable attorney fee go to the prevailing party, so unlike Texas’s tenant-only provision it can run against a tenant who sues and loses. Two escapes exist for both the forfeiture and the doubling: circumstances beyond your control, or the tenant having abandoned the premises.
What you may not do afterwards
Nothing in the chapter stops you suing a tenant for sums exceeding the deposit, with attorney fees. But RCW 59.18.280(3)(b) closes a door landlords walk through by habit: damages for wear resulting from ordinary use, or damages not substantiated by documentation equivalent to what subsection (1) requires, may not be charged to the tenant, reported to any consumer reporting agency, tenant screening service or prospective landlord, or submitted for collection by any third-party agency. The bar is on the charge itself. A charge you could not substantiate does not become collectable by being handed to someone else.
If the property changed hands
The deposit follows the property. On a change of landlord the money moves to the new landlord’s trust account and the tenant is told where it went; on a foreclosure it must be transferred to the successor or refunded to the tenant immediately, and failing that exposes the foreclosed-upon owner to damages of up to twice the deposit.
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. RCW 59.18.270
Who this covers
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. (RCW 59.18.040) Renting a lot for a manufactured or mobile home is a different act with different deposit rules, and this page does not cover it.
Washington security deposit return letter: common questions
How long does a Washington landlord have to send a security deposit return letter?
Thirty days, counted from the later of two events: the rental agreement terminating and the tenant vacating the premises. If the tenant abandoned the unit as RCW 59.18.310 defines it, the thirty days run from the day the landlord learned of the abandonment instead. The period was fourteen days before 2016 and twenty-one days until July 22, 2023, so a template that still says fourteen or twenty-one days is out of date. (RCW 59.18.280(1)(a))
Do I need to send a letter if I am refunding the full deposit?
The written statement is required only where you retain some part of the deposit. If you are returning every dollar, the statute requires the refund itself by the deadline, not a statement of reasons. A short dated cover letter is still worth sending: it records when and how you returned the money, and the date you posted it is the whole of your defence if the tenant later says it never arrived.
What must a Washington security deposit statement include?
A full and specific statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit. Since July 23, 2023 it must be accompanied by copies of the estimates received or invoices paid that substantiate the damage charges; 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. The statement, that documentation and the refund all travel together, inside the same thirty days. (RCW 59.18.280(1)(a), (b))
Do I have to wait for the tenant to give me a forwarding address?
No. Washington never conditions the return on a forwarding address, and the tenant loses nothing 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. You comply by delivering it personally or depositing it in the US mail with first-class postage prepaid inside the thirty days, so posting it in time is compliance even if it arrives later. (RCW 59.18.280(1)(a))
What happens if I miss the 30-day deadline in Washington?
You are liable to the tenant for the full amount of the deposit, whatever the dispute was worth, and you are barred from asserting any claim or raising any defence for retaining any of it. There is no good-faith exception; the only escapes are showing that circumstances beyond your control prevented you, or that the tenant abandoned the premises. A court may additionally award up to twice the deposit, but only for an intentional refusal and only in its discretion. Costs and reasonable attorney fees go to the prevailing party, which can run against a tenant who sues and loses. (RCW 59.18.280(2))
Can I keep anything if there was no move-in checklist?
Very little, and you have a separate problem. Washington bars collecting a deposit at all unless the rental agreement is in writing and a written checklist describing the unit’s condition was given to the tenant at the start of the tenancy and signed by both of you. Collecting one without a checklist makes you liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit. Separately, you may not withhold anything for repairing or replacing fixtures, equipment, appliances or furnishings whose condition the checklist did not document, which with no checklist means all of them. (RCW 59.18.260(2), (5); RCW 59.18.280(1)(c)(iii))
Can I send the unpaid balance to collections if the deductions exceed the deposit?
You may sue the tenant for sums exceeding the deposit, with attorney fees. But damages for wear resulting from ordinary use, or damages you cannot substantiate with the documentation the statute requires, may not be charged to the tenant at all, and may not be reported to a consumer reporting agency, a tenant screening service or a prospective landlord, or submitted for collection by any third-party agency. A charge you could not substantiate does not become collectable by being sent somewhere else. (RCW 59.18.280(3))
How long does a Washington tenant have to sue over a deposit?
Three years. The Washington Supreme Court held in Silver v. Rudeen Management (2021) that a claim under RCW 59.18.280 is an action to recover the tenant’s personal property and carries the three-year limitation period in RCW 4.16.080(2). Keep the checklist, the statement, the estimates and your proof of posting for at least that long.
About this page
Every passage quoted above is the wording of the Revised Code of Washington as published by the Washington State Legislature, read against that source rather than against a summary, and re-checked weekly by an automated watch. How we verify the law explains the process and what a “last verified” date does and does not promise. This is general information that cites the statute, not legal advice, and Orygn LLC is not a law firm. For advice about your situation, talk to a licensed Washington attorney.
Sources
- RCW 59.18.280 (Moneys paid as deposit or security for performance by tenant)
- RCW 59.18.280(1)(a): the 30-day deadline and the later-of trigger
- RCW 59.18.280(1)(a): the full and specific statement and the documentation with it
- RCW 59.18.280(1): what no portion of a deposit may be withheld for
- RCW 59.18.260(2), (3), (5): the written move-in checklist
- RCW 59.18.280(2): the full-deposit liability and the discretionary doubling
- RCW 59.18.270: the trust account and a change of landlord
- Silver v. Rudeen Mgmt. Co., No. 98024-1 (Wash. 2021): the three-year limitation period
- The Washington security deposit tool and full cited rules
- The same rules as machine-readable JSON