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Legal Information: Washington

Washington Housing Laws

Housing Laws

Basic info

Who is protected by these housing laws?

Washington’s housing laws protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, and stalking.1 For the purpose of these housing laws, the definition of unlawful harassment is expanded to also include any request for sexual favors to a tenant or household member in exchange for changing a lease or carrying out the terms of a lease.2

The laws apply to tenants who are victims themselves or to tenants who have a household member who is a victim.1

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(a)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.570(9)

 

 

What protections do these housing laws offer victims?

For tenants who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking, or whose household members are victims, Washington’s housing laws provide the following protections to the tenant:

  • You have the right to end (terminate) your lease early without having to pay a penalty if you follow the required steps.1
  • It is illegal for a landlord to discriminate against you by ending your tenancy, not renewing your tenancy, refusing to rent to you, or trying to evict you because:
    • you or your household member is a victim; or
    • you terminated a prior lease based on the protections that these laws offer.​2
  • If you have a protection order that gives you possession of the home and excludes the abuser, you have to right to ask the landlord to change your locks. However, you have to pay for it.3

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(b)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.580(2), (4)
3 R.C.W. § 59.18.585(1)

How recent must the incident of violence, stalking, or harassment be in order to qualify?

You must make the request to terminate the rental agreement, providing the proper notice and required documents, within ninety days of the domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking.1

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(b)

Terminating your lease

What steps do I need to take and what documents do I need to show my landlord to terminate my lease?

In order to end (terminate) your lease under the protections of these housing laws, you need to do both of the following:

  1. You must notify the landlord in writing that:
    • you or your household member was a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking, as defined by law; and
    • you are requesting to terminate your lease on a specific date.
  2. You must show the landlord a copy of one of the following:

Note: You must make the request to terminate the rental agreement within 90 days of the domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking.2

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(a)(i), (1)(a)(ii)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(b)

Who is considered a "qualified third party" and what needs to be included in his/her report?

A “qualified third party” means any of the following people acting in their official capacity:

  • law enforcement officers;
  • health professionals;
  • court employees in a Washington court;
  • licensed mental health professionals or other licensed counselors;
  • employees of victim/witness programs who are trained as advocates; and
  • members of the clergy.1

If you are going to show your landlord a report from a qualified third party instead of showing a valid protection order, these are the specific criteria that the report must meet:

  • The report must be signed and dated by the qualified third party and state all of the following:
  1. that the tenant or the household member notified the qualified third party that s/he was a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking;
  2. the time, date, and location where the act(s) took place;
  3. a brief description of the act(s) of domestic violence, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, or stalking; and
  4. that the tenant or household member informed the qualified third party of the name of the abuser. Note: The report should not include the name of the abuser. The abuser’s name is only supposed to be noted on the copy of the report kept in the records of the qualified third party and revealed to the landlord only under certain circumstances.2

To see a sample form that the qualified third party can use, go to section (1)(b) of the law on our Selected Washington Statutes page.

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.570(5)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(1)(b), (3)(a)(ii)

What happens if the person who victimized me is the landlord? Do the same rules apply?

If the person who committed sexual assault, stalking, or unlawful harassment against you or your household member is your landlord, or their agent, employee, property manager, or residential manager, you can terminate the rental agreement and leave immediately.1 You can do this even before you provide the required protection order or report from a qualified third party to the landlord. You then must deliver the documents to the landlord within seven days of leaving the property. You can deliver the documents by mail, fax, or by having someone personally deliver them.2

In terms of the rent that you owe, you only have to pay rent through whichever of these two events comes later:

  • the day that you leave (vacate) the unit; or
  • the date you deliver the required documents, including a written notice that you have vacated the unit, to the landlord by mail, fax, or personal delivery by a third party.3

If you already paid rent for the full month but either of these events take place before the month ends, you are entitled to a partial (pro rata) refund of the rent for the remaining days that you already paid.3

Another option that you have when the landlord or their agent, employee, or manager has victimized you is to change or add locks to your unit at your own expense. Then, within seven days, you must deliver to the landlord by mail, fax, or personal delivery by a third party both of the following:

If you change or add locks, your rental agreement will automatically end on the 90th day after providing the written notice and required documents unless within 60 days, you take one of these steps:

  • you notify the landlord in writing that you do not want to terminate your rental agreement. In this case, you must give the landlord a copy of the new keys only if:
    • the person who victimized you is no longer working for the landlord; or
    • the protection order against the landlord or their employee expires; or
  • give notice and follow the proper steps to inform the landlord that you want to terminate the rental agreement on a date before the 90th day.5

1 R.C.W. §§ 59.18.575(3)(a); 59.18.570(4); 59.18.030(16)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(3)(a)
3 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(3)(b)
4 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(4)(a)
5 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(4)(b)

After you give your lease termination notice

After I give notice to terminate my lease, what rent do I have to pay?

You will have to pay rent only for the month in which you terminate your lease but not for the following months.1 So, for example, let’s say you usually pay your rent on the first of the month and you want to terminate your lease in the month of January. You will still have to pay a full month’s rent whether you leave the rental property on January 2nd or January 31st. But you will not have to pay rent for February or the remaining months on the lease.

However, if you don’t pay rent monthly, then you may have to pay rent for a shorter period of time. For example, if you pay weekly, then you’d have to pay for the week period when the termination takes place.2

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(2)(a)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(2); see R.C.W. § 59.18.200(1)(a)

What happens to my security deposit?

You are entitled to get your security deposit back as if you finished out the term of your lease. Even if your lease says that you will forfeit your deposit if you break the lease, that does not apply if you terminate your lease under these laws.1

However, the landlord can still deduct from the security deposit any damage caused to the property or unpaid rent as they normally would. A landlord who seeks reimbursement for damages to the property from Washington’s landlord mitigation program, however, cannot keep any of your security deposit or sue you for damages.2 

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(2)(b)(i)
2 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(2)(b)(ii)

If there are other tenants on the lease, what happens to their tenancy when I terminate my lease?

If there are other tenants who have signed the lease, they are still bound by the lease. The termination doesn’t affect their duty to pay rent for the rest of the lease. The only exception to this is if the other tenant is the “household member” of yours who is the victim of sexual assault, stalking, unlawful harassment, or domestic violence.1

1 R.C.W. § 59.18.575(2)(c)