Free Washington Residential Lease Agreement
A configurable Washington residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act — the RCW 59.18.700 rent-increase limit, ninety-day increase notice, a thirty-day deposit accounting, and the fee clause Washington prohibits.
A Washington residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act at RCW chapter 59.18, with eviction handled separately under chapter 59.12. Washington has moved further and faster than almost any state in this series, and the pace is the problem: three separate 2025 and 2026 acts have rewritten what a compliant Washington lease has to say, and every free template currently ranking for this query was written before at least one of them. Since 7 May 2025 a landlord may not raise the rent at all in the first twelve months and may not raise it later by more than seven per cent plus the consumer price index, or ten per cent, whichever is less — a figure the Department of Commerce publishes each July rather than one written into any statute. Since the same act, the rent-increase notice is ninety days, not sixty, and it has to be given on a prescribed statutory form. Since 11 June 2026, RCW 59.18.740 stops a landlord banning a tenant’s portable air conditioner and, where window-mounted units are restricted, requires the lease itself to say so. And a 2026 act quietly renumbered the disclosure subsections, so every page still citing RCW 59.18.060(13) for mold is now citing the flood disclosure instead. Every figure below was verified on 6 August 2026 against the Washington State Legislature’s own codification, the enrolled session-law PDFs, the Code Reviser’s sections-affected tables for both years of the biennium, and the Department of Commerce’s own published rates.
Washington Lease Rules at a Glance
Security Deposit Cap
None
Deposit Accounting
30 Days
Entry Notice
2 Days Written
Rent Increase Notice
90 Days
Four Washington Rules That Catch Landlords Out
First, the rent-increase limit is a mechanism, not a number. RCW 59.18.700(1)(c) tells the Department of Commerce to calculate and publish the maximum for the following calendar year, from the June twelve-month change in the consumer price index for all urban consumers, all items, Seattle area. Writing a percentage into your lease guarantees it will be wrong within a year. Second, the move-in checklist is a precondition, not a formality. RCW 59.18.260(2) says no deposit may be collected at all without a written agreement and a signed, dated checklist — and RCW 59.18.280(1)(c) then bars withholding for any fixture, appliance or furnishing whose condition was not documented in it. Third, the entry notice has required contents. Two days is not enough on its own: RCW 59.18.150(6) requires the exact time and date or a stated window, and the telephone number for objecting or rescheduling. Fourth, the disclosure subsections moved in 2026. Mold is now RCW 59.18.060(14) and landlord identification is now (16), because 2026 c 234 inserted the flood disclosure at (13).
How to Fill Out This Washington Lease Agreement
1. Identify the landlord, and an in-county agent if out of state
RCW 59.18.060(16) requires the name and address of the person who is the landlord, either stated in the rental agreement or conspicuously posted on the premises. If that person does not reside in Washington, a person who resides in the county must also be designated as agent for service of notices and process — and if none is designated, the person to whom rent is paid becomes that agent by operation of law.
2. Describe the premises and choose the term deliberately
Washington is a just-cause state, so the term you pick decides how the tenancy can end. RCW 59.18.650(1)(b) allows a no-cause ending only at the close of an initial agreement of between six and twelve months; RCW 59.18.650(1)(c) allows one on the expiry of a fixed term of twelve months or more that has never been periodic. Each takes sixty days written notice. Everything else needs a listed cause.
3. Set rent, and remember where payments go
RCW 59.18.283(1) requires every payment to be applied to rent first, before late payments, damages, legal costs or fees. RCW 59.18.283(2) then stops possession being conditioned on any non-rent amount. RCW 59.18.063 requires the landlord to accept a personal check, cashier’s check or money order, and to allow payment by mail unless there is an accessible on-site location.
4. Set the late fee outside the five-day window
RCW 59.18.170(2) forbids a late fee for rent paid within five days after its due date. RCW 59.18.230(2)(i) then makes a lease term charging one inside that window a prohibited provision, which is a different and more expensive problem than an unenforceable fee. Washington caps no amount, so the number is yours — the timing is not.
5. Answer the rent-increase question
This is the Washington question no imported template asks. Are you subject to the RCW 59.18.700 limit, or exempt under one of the seven categories in RCW 59.18.710? Pick an exemption only if you can state supporting facts in the notice, as RCW 59.18.700(2) requires, and remember that three of the exemptions disappear if the owner is a corporation, a real estate investment trust, or a limited liability company with a corporate member.
6. Set the deposit and commit to the checklist
Washington sets no deposit maximum. But RCW 59.18.260(2) forbids collecting a deposit at all without a written agreement and a written checklist describing the condition and cleanliness of the premises, fixtures, equipment, appliances and furnishings, signed and dated by both parties. RCW 59.18.270 then requires the money to sit in a trust account at a financial institution or licensed escrow agent located in Washington, with a written receipt and written notice of the depository.
7. Allocate utilities, then answer the cooling question
Assign electricity, gas, water, sewer, garbage, internet and yard care. Then say whether window-mounted portable cooling devices are restricted at the property. If they are, RCW 59.18.740(8) requires the lease itself to carry a notice of the tenant’s rights, responsibilities and the restriction — a lease-content duty that has existed only since 11 June 2026.
8. Check the disclosures Washington actually requires
Fire safety and smoke detection, signed by both parties; Department of Health mold information; landlord identification; deposit terms, checklist, receipt and depository; a clear written statement for any nonrefundable fee; the cooling notice where you restrict; and federal lead paint for pre-1978 housing. Note the 2026 renumbering — mold is subsection (14) and identification is (16).
9. Generate, sign, and leave the fee clause out
Download the multi-page PDF and sign it. No witnesses and no notary are required. Give each signing tenant an executed copy under RCW 59.18.065, sign the move-in checklist the same day, and calendar the thirty-day deposit accounting the moment possession comes back. Do not add an attorney-fee clause: RCW 59.18.230(2)(e) prohibits it, and a reciprocal wording does not save it.
Build Your Washington Residential Lease Agreement
Complete the fields below to generate a Washington residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document — the utility allocations, the rent-cap branch, the cooling branch and each disclosure you check — and the generated lease cites the controlling RCW section at each point. Before you hand keys to anyone, run proper tenant screening; the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with a Washington move-in / move-out checklist, because in Washington that checklist is not merely good practice — it is the statutory precondition to holding a deposit at all.
Washington Residential Lease Agreement Builder
1. Parties — Landlord Identification
RCW 59.18.060(16) requires the landlord to designate the name and address of the person who is the landlord, either by a statement in the rental agreement or by a notice conspicuously posted on the premises. If that person does not reside in Washington, a person who resides in the county must also be designated as agent for service of notices and process — and if none is designated, the person to whom rent is paid becomes that agent by operation of law. This duty sat at subsection (15) until 2026 c 234 renumbered it.
2. Premises
3. Term
Washington is a just-cause state. RCW 59.18.650(1) lets a landlord end a tenancy without cause in only two narrow windows: at the end of an initial agreement of between six and twelve months, or on the expiry of a fixed term of twelve months or more that has never been periodic — each on at least sixty days’ written notice. Every other ending needs one of the enumerated causes. A tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy on twenty days’ written notice, and a fixed term by written notice not less than twenty days before the ending date.
4. Rent & Payment
RCW 59.18.283(1) requires every payment to be applied to rent first, before late payments, damages, legal costs or fees. RCW 59.18.063 requires the landlord to accept a personal check, cashier’s check or money order, and to allow payment by mail unless an accessible on-site location is provided. RCW 59.18.230(2)(j) makes a lease term requiring rent to be paid by electronic means only a prohibited provision.
5. Rent Increases — the RCW 59.18.700 Limit
Since 7 May 2025 no rent increase is permitted in the first twelve months of a tenancy, and any later twelve-month increase is limited to seven per cent plus the consumer price index, or ten per cent, whichever is less. The Department of Commerce publishes the number for the following calendar year each year under RCW 59.18.700(1)(c). Pick the exemption below only if you can support it with facts in the notice, as RCW 59.18.700(2) requires. The generated lease states the mechanism and never hard-codes a percentage, so a signed lease cannot go stale.
6. Security Deposit — and the Checklist That Makes It Lawful
RCW 59.18.260(2) provides that no deposit may be collected at all unless the rental agreement is in writing and a written checklist specifically describing the condition and cleanliness of, or existing damage to, the premises, fixtures, equipment, appliances and furnishings is given to the tenant at the commencement of the tenancy, signed and dated by both parties. RCW 59.18.270 then requires the money to sit in a trust account at a financial institution or licensed escrow agent located in Washington. Washington sets no maximum deposit.
7. Nonrefundable Fees
RCW 59.18.285 forbids designating nonrefundable money as a deposit, and provides that if the written agreement fails to say a fee is nonrefundable it must be treated as a refundable deposit. RCW 59.18.130(10) adds that a tenant who has paid a nonrefundable cleaning fee may not be charged for normal cleaning at move-out.
8. Utilities & Services
Assign each utility. Whatever the allocation says, RCW 59.18.060(11) still requires the landlord to provide facilities adequate to supply heat, water and hot water, and RCW 59.18.300 makes it unlawful for a landlord to cause termination of a tenant’s utility service except for a reasonable time to make necessary repairs.
9. Entry
RCW 59.18.150(6) requires at least two days’ written notice of intent to enter, stating the exact time and date or dates, or specifying the earliest and latest possible times within them, and giving the telephone number to which the tenant may communicate an objection or a request to reschedule. Showing the unit to a prospective or actual purchaser or tenant takes only one day. No notice is needed in an emergency or on abandonment.
10. Portable Cooling Devices — RCW 59.18.740
In force since 11 June 2026. A landlord may not prohibit or restrict a tenant from installing a portable cooling device of the tenant’s choosing, and may not charge a fee for its use, inspection or installation. If you restrict window-mounted devices on one of the five permitted grounds, RCW 59.18.740(8) requires the lease itself to notify tenants of their rights, responsibilities and the restriction. The tenant gives at least two days’ notice before installing a window-mounted device.
11. Washington Disclosures
Washington requires six lease-stage disclosures of its own plus the federal lead-paint disclosure. Note two subsection numbers that changed in 2026: mold is now RCW 59.18.060(14) and landlord identification is now (16), because 2026 c 234 inserted the flood disclosure at (13). Washington requires no radon, bed bug, asbestos, methamphetamine, ordnance-proximity, shared-metering, sinkhole, demolition or offender-registry disclosure; a template printing one and citing an RCW section was written for another state.
12. Fire Safety Details (RCW 59.18.060(12))
Except for a single-family residence, the fire safety notice must disclose each of the following. Answer honestly — the notice is signed by both parties and is evidence.
13. Other Provisions
There is deliberately no attorney-fee option here. RCW 59.18.230(2)(e) provides that no rental agreement may require the tenant to pay the landlord’s attorneys’ fees except as authorized in chapter 59.18 and awarded by a court pursuant to a judgment — a carve-out for statutory awards, not a licence for a lease clause. There is likewise no confession-of-judgment, exculpation, indemnity, class-action-waiver, nondisclosure-agreement or lien option: RCW 59.18.230(2) and (4) refuse all of them, and knowingly using an agreement that contains one costs actual damages plus up to two times the monthly rent plus the tenant’s fees.