Free Washington Month-to-Month Rental Agreement

RCW 59.18.200(1)(a) provides that where premises are rented for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent reserved, the tenancy is construed to be a tenancy from month to month, or from period to period on which rent is payable, and shall end by written notice of twenty days or more, preceding the end of any of the months or periods of tenancy, given by the tenant to the landlord. Read the last seven words: this is the tenant’s notice. Washington gives a landlord no equivalent no-cause period, and the rest of the section is a list of long-notice situations where a landlord is changing something about the property itself.

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Watch: Free Washington Month-to-Month Rental Agreement explained

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Washington’s periodic-tenancy section does two quite different jobs. Subsection (1) is the tenant’s exit: twenty days’ written notice preceding the end of a rental period, with a shorter route for a tenant under military orders. Subsection (2) is a set of long-notice duties on a landlord who is changing something about the property or the terms on which it is offered — excluding children, converting to condominiums, demolishing, substantially rehabilitating or changing the use. What the section conspicuously does not contain is a landlord’s no-cause termination, because Washington moved that question into RCW 59.18.650. A Washington agreement should therefore be clear about the rental period, since every notice in the section is measured against a period end.

• The full names of the landlord and of every adult tenant
• The address of the premises, including the unit number
• The rent and the period it is reserved for, since RCW 59.18.200 measures notice against the end of a period
• That the tenancy is from month to month, or from period to period on which rent is payable
• The twenty-day written notice a tenant gives under RCW 59.18.200(1)(a)
• That a landlord ending the tenancy needs a ground under RCW 59.18.650 rather than a period
• The address each party sends notice to
• The security deposit, where it is held, and what the tenant is told about its return
• Which utilities and services each party pays for
• The pet, smoking, guest and alteration rules

• Treating the twenty days as a landlord’s notice. RCW 59.18.200(1)(a) says the notice is “given by the tenant to the landlord”. It is not a period a landlord can use to end a tenancy at will.
• Counting twenty days forward from the notice. The subsection measures them preceding the end of a month or period of the tenancy, so a notice with fewer than twenty days left in the period takes effect at the end of the next one.
• Reading a version of the section that is not yet in force. The state’s site serves this cite with two captions — one “effective until January 1, 2028” and one effective from that date. Check which one you are reading.
• Assuming the 90-day children-policy notice is optional. The subsection says the landlord shall give it, and that it is in lieu of the twenty-day notice — but if the change is then delayed, subsection (1) applies again unless waived by the tenant.
• Calling an owner move-in a change of use. The definition in (2)(c)(ii)(B) carries a proviso that displacing a tenant so the owner or a member of the owner’s immediate family may occupy the premises does not constitute a change of use.

Twenty days or more, in writing, from the tenant. RCW 59.18.200(1)(a) provides that when premises are rented for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent reserved, the tenancy is construed to be a tenancy from month to month, or from period to period on which rent is payable, and shall end by written notice of twenty days or more, preceding the end of any of the months or periods of tenancy, given by the tenant to the landlord.

Two features of that sentence do most of the work. The notice is measured preceding the end of a month or period, so it is aligned to the rent cycle rather than counted forward from the day it is written. And it is given by the tenant to the landlord, which makes this a one-directional provision.

RCW 59.18.200(1)(b) allows a tenant who is a member of the armed forces, including the national guard and armed forces reserves, or that tenant’s spouse or dependent, to end a rental agreement with less than twenty days’ written notice, where the tenant receives permanent change of station or deployment orders that do not allow a twenty-day written notice.

The subsection is drawn more widely than people expect, but it does have a gate. Membership of the armed forces, the national guard or the reserves is the first element — and from there the subsection reaches the member’s spouse and dependent as well as the member. Once membership is established, what decides the question is the timing of the orders: whether they allow twenty days, not how long the tenant has served. And it shortens the notice; it does not remove the requirement to give one.

Subsection (2) imposes three long notices on a landlord who is changing something about the property or the terms on which it is offered: ninety days to exclude children, one hundred and twenty days for a condominium conversion, and one hundred and twenty days to demolish, substantially rehabilitate or change the use. The children-policy and condominium notices are expressly stated to stand in lieu of the subsection (1) notice; the third carries no such clause.

• Excluding children — 90 days. Where a landlord plans to change to a policy of excluding children, the landlord shall give written notice to a tenant at least ninety days before the tenancy ends to effectuate the change.
• Condominium conversion — 120 days. Where a landlord plans to change any apartment or apartments to a condominium form of ownership, at least one hundred and twenty days’ written notice before the tenancy ends, in compliance with RCW 64.34.440(1).
• Demolition, substantial rehabilitation or change of use — 120 days. At least one hundred and twenty days’ written notice before the tenancy ends. This does not apply in jurisdictions that have created a relocation assistance program under RCW 59.18.440 and otherwise provide one hundred and twenty days’ notice.

Subsection (2)(c)(ii) defines the terms the 120-day notice turns on, and the definitions are narrower than the everyday words suggest. Each one is tied to displacement of an existing tenant:

• “Demolish” means the destruction of premises, or the relocation of premises to another site, that results in the displacement of an existing tenant.
• “Substantially rehabilitate” means extensive structural repair or extensive remodeling that requires a permit — building, electrical, plumbing or mechanical — and that results in the displacement of an existing tenant.
• “Change of use” covers conversion from residential to non-residential use, conversion from one type of residential use to another such as a retirement home, emergency shelter or transient hotel, and conversion following removal of use restrictions from an assisted housing development — each where it results in displacement.
• “Assisted housing development” means a multifamily rental housing development that either receives government assistance and is defined as federally assisted housing in RCW 59.28.020, or receives other federal, state or local government assistance and is subject to use restrictions.

The change-of-use definition carries an express proviso worth knowing: displacement of an existing tenant in order that the owner or a member of the owner’s immediate family may occupy the premises does not constitute a change of use. So an owner move-in is not routed through the 120-day notice by this definition.

This is a practical warning rather than a legal one. The state’s own site serves RCW 59.18.200 under two captions — one marked “Effective until January 1, 2028” and one marked “Effective January 1, 2028” — on the same page. Everything on this page is the version currently in force.

The differences are small but real; the forthcoming text updates a cross-reference in the condominium-conversion provision, for instance. Anyone reading the section directly should check the caption above the text before relying on it, because it is easy to land on the later version and take it for current law.

The rental period is the fact everything in this section is measured against, so an agreement that states the rent without stating the period it is reserved for has left every notice calculation open. After that, the notice address for each party, since the section requires notice to be given and says nothing about where.

It is also worth stating plainly in the document that the twenty-day notice is the tenant’s and that a landlord ending the tenancy is looking to RCW 59.18.650. Tenants and landlords alike arrive at Washington expecting a symmetric period because almost every other state has one, and an agreement that says otherwise on its face prevents a costly assumption.

The deposit accounting begins when the tenancy ends, which on a periodic tenancy can be at any period boundary rather than at a lease anniversary — see Washington security deposit laws. Because a periodic tenancy holds nothing still, rent changes come up more often here than on a fixed term; Washington rent increase laws covers the notice a change of rent takes, which is a separate question from the one RCW 59.18.200 answers. And if matters move beyond notices, Washington eviction notice laws sets out the process and the notices that belong to it.

A periodic tenancy is the arrangement where rent changes most often, because there is no fixed term holding the number still. The notice a rent change takes is a separate question from the notice that ends the tenancy, and the two are easily confused — so they are worth reading together. Our guide to Washington rent increase laws covers how a rent change works on a periodic tenancy here.

The deposit is the other thing a month-to-month tenancy makes harder, because the tenancy can end on short notice and the clock for returning the money starts running the moment it does. Washington security deposit laws cover what a landlord may deduct and the deadline for accounting for the rest — a deadline that is easy to miss when a tenancy can end at any point in the year rather than at the end of a lease term.

If the notice is ignored, ending a tenancy stops being a paperwork question and becomes a court one. Washington eviction notice laws set out the notices that come next and how they must be served. A termination notice and an eviction notice are different documents doing different jobs, and serving the wrong one is one of the more common ways a straightforward ending turns into a contested case.

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