Free Washington Roommate Agreement
Washington wrote the co-tenant answer down. Under RCW 59.18.575 the other tenants are not released when one leaves — and because the statute’s household member is “a child or adult residing with the tenant, other than the perpetrator”, it appears to reach the roommate who never signed the lease — though the grant is worded as the tenant terminating, so that reach is untested.
A roommate agreement is a contract between the roommates. The landlord is not a party to it and is not bound by it, and it cannot release anyone from the rental agreement. In Washington the surrounding law is unusually explicit about what happens when one person leaves, which makes it one of the few states where the agreement can be written against a known rule rather than a guess. RCW 59.18.575 lets a tenant or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment terminate and quit — on written notice to the landlord, supported either by a qualifying protection order or by a written record of a report signed by a qualified third party, and provided the request is made within ninety days of the reported act; and subsection (2)(c) then says, in terms, that the other tenants who are parties to the rental agreement are not released from their obligations.
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The exit reaches further than the lease does
This is the part most summaries miss. The right in RCW 59.18.575 belongs to a tenant or a household member, and RCW 59.18.570(3) defines a household member as “a child or adult residing with the tenant other than the perpetrator”. That is not limited to people named on the rental agreement. So the roommate who moved in without signing anything — who has no tenancy, no deposit claim and no repair remedy under the chapter — can still rely on this section to leave. The people who cannot escape are the ones who signed. Note: the victim’s rent stops at the end of the month in which they quit, and their deposit must be returned in full notwithstanding any early-termination forfeiture clause — subject, under RCW 59.18.575(2)(b)(i), to the ordinary RCW 59.18.280 accounting for damage. RCW 59.18.585(1), the only section in the chapter that uses the word “cotenant”, repeats the same structure for court-ordered lockouts.
Watch: Free Washington Roommate Agreement explained
Washington roommate agreement at a glance
If one tenant leaves under RCW 59.18.575
The others are NOT released
Who may use that exit
A child or adult residing with the tenant, not the perpetrator
Deposit checklist
A precondition to collecting a deposit at all
Deposit accounting
30 days, with invoices or estimates attached
The move-in checklist decides whether a deposit was ever collectable
RCW 59.18.260(2)–(3) make the written checklist a precondition rather than a formality: no written checklist describing the condition of the premises, signed by both parties — and under .260(5) the landlord is liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit. That matters more to roommates than to a single tenant, because a shared deposit is the pot everyone is arguing over at the end. RCW 59.18.280 then requires a full and specific statement within 30 days — raised from 21 in 2023 — with copies of invoices or estimates attached, and a landlord who intentionally refuses can face up to double. What the chapter does not do is split any of it: there is no apportionment language anywhere in RCW 59.18.260 to .285, and the sections speak of “the tenant” in the singular throughout.
How to use a Washington roommate agreement
Fill in the move-in checklist together, and keep a copy each
RCW 59.18.260(2) makes it a precondition to the landlord holding a deposit at all, and it is the only contemporaneous record of what the place looked like before you all moved in.
Write down who is a tenant on the rental agreement and who is not
It decides who can use the chapter’s remedies – and, separately, who stays liable if someone leaves under RCW 59.18.575.
Agree what happens if a roommate leaves under RCW 59.18.575
The statute is clear that the others are not released. Decide in advance who covers the share, for how long, and whether you will look for a replacement.
Agree how the deposit will be divided before it is paid
The chapter contains no apportionment rule, so whatever you agree between yourselves is the only thing that will decide it.
Keep a signed copy each
The agreement is only useful as evidence if every roommate can produce the same version.
About the Washington roommate agreement
A roommate agreement settles what the lease leaves open between the people living together: rooms, rent shares, deposit shares, shared costs, guests, and what a departing roommate owes the others. It settles none of it against the landlord. Each tenant named on the rental agreement remains liable to the landlord for the whole rent — that is what joint and several liability means, and an internal split does not change it. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act contains no general co-tenant liability rule; the two occurrences of “severally” in the chapter are in the definition of an owner. What this agreement gives you is a claim against each other, which is worth having precisely because the claim against the landlord is not divisible.
What a Washington roommate agreement should record
- Who is named as a tenant on the rental agreement, and who is living there without signing
- That the move-in checklist under RCW 59.18.260 has been completed and copied to everyone
- Each roommate’s share of the rent, and who pays the landlord
- Each roommate’s share of the deposit, and how it will be divided when it is returned
- That the chapter has no apportionment rule, so the split agreed here is the only one
- What happens if a roommate leaves under RCW 59.18.575 and the rent does not fall
- The notice a departing roommate gives the others
- Who finds and approves a replacement, and what the landlord needs to change the lease
- Guests, quiet hours, smoking, pets and cleaning
- That the agreement binds the roommates only and does not bind the landlord
Common Washington mistakes
- Assuming the rent drops when a roommate leaves. RCW 59.18.575(2)(c) says the other tenants are not released from their obligations. The total owed to the landlord is unchanged.
- Assuming only people on the lease can use that exit. RCW 59.18.570(3) defines a household member as a child or adult residing with the tenant – other than the perpetrator – which reaches a roommate who never signed.
- Skipping the move-in checklist. Under RCW 59.18.260(2) there is no lawfully held deposit without one, and no shared record of the condition anyone can rely on later.
- Expecting the landlord to divide the deposit. There is no apportionment language in RCW 59.18.260 to .285 at all – the statute addresses the tenant in the singular.
- Thinking a roommate agreement can waive any of this. It binds the roommates to each other. It gives nobody rights against the landlord.
What Washington law actually says about roommates
Very little, and that is worth stating precisely rather than vaguely. Reading the whole of chapter 59.18 — 381,382 characters — and searching it in both numeric and written number forms produces no right to have a roommate, no occupancy standard, no persons-per-bedroom rule, and no general co-tenant liability rule. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act has no subletting provision at all: “sublet”, “sublease” and “successor tenant” each appear zero times, and there is no provision on assignment of a rental agreement. And although the chapter uses the words “occupant” and “guest”, it never defines either.
That is a measured absence rather than an assumption, and it is scoped: it describes chapter 59.18, which is where such a rule would sit. It does not describe the Washington Administrative Code, the state building code, any city ordinance, or any case law, none of which were searched. Seattle in particular regulates in this area, and a Seattle reader should check the municipal code as well as the state Act.
What happens when one roommate leaves
Here Washington is unusually direct. RCW 59.18.575(2)(c) reads: “Other tenants who are parties to the rental agreement, except household members who are the victims of sexual assault, stalking, unlawful harassment, or domestic violence, are not released from their obligations under the rental agreement or other obligations under this chapter.”
Three things follow. The person who leaves owes rent only to the end of the month in which they quit. Their deposit comes back in full notwithstanding any early-termination forfeiture clause — subject, under RCW 59.18.575(2)(b)(i), to the ordinary RCW 59.18.280 accounting for damage. And nobody else’s obligation changes at all — the landlord is still owed the whole rent, and the roommates who stay are the ones who will be asked for it.
The reach of the section is the part that surprises people. The right belongs to a tenant or a household member, and RCW 59.18.570(3) defines a household member as a child or adult residing with the tenant, other than the perpetrator. Nothing in that definition turns on having signed the rental agreement — though the grant in § 59.18.575(1)(b) is worded as the tenant terminating, and we found no Washington decision on how far the exception in (2)(c) carries an off-lease household member, though no case law was searched for this page. So the off-lease roommate — who cannot bring a repair claim under the chapter, cannot claim the deposit, and is not protected against retaliation, because none of the chapter’s tenant remedies reach them — can nonetheless use this exit. It is the one place where the person with the fewest rights under the Act has the same escape as everyone else.
The deposit, and the checklist that has to come first
A shared deposit is what roommates argue about, so it is worth knowing that Washington makes the paperwork a condition rather than a courtesy. Under RCW 59.18.260(2)–(3) a deposit may be collected only under a written rental agreement and with a written checklist describing the condition of the premises, signed by both parties and copied to the tenant — and under .260(5) a landlord who takes one without that is liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit. Fill it in properly, with every roommate present, and keep a copy each.
At the end, RCW 59.18.280 requires a full and specific statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit within 30 days — increased from 21 days in 2023 — with copies of estimates or invoices for the work attached. A landlord who does not comply forfeits the right to retain any of it, and a court may award up to double for an intentional refusal.
None of that divides anything. There is no apportionment rule in RCW 59.18.260 to .285, and the statute addresses “the tenant” in the singular throughout. Whatever the roommates agree between themselves is the only allocation that exists, which is the strongest reason to write the deposit shares down before the money is paid rather than after it comes back.
A note on reading the statute yourself
Two traps are worth knowing if you go to the source. First, a small number of sections in the chapter currently serve two texts on the same page, one in force now and one effective 1 January 2027 — and the later version renumbers the definitions, so the subsection number for “tenant” changes. Cite the defined term rather than the subsection number. Second, the chapter mixes numeric and written number forms unpredictably: it writes “20 days” but “seven days”, and RCW 59.18.575 itself writes “ninety days”. Searching for only one form will make you think a rule is not there.
An agreement between roommates is not a lease
This document is a contract among the people living together. The landlord is not a party to it, is not bound by it, and does not have to honour the shares in it. Everyone named on the rental agreement can still be pursued for the entire rent. What the agreement does is give the roommates a claim against each other — so that a roommate who covers someone else’s share has written proof of what was agreed, and a departing roommate has written proof of what they were owed.
Where a roommate agreement sits in Washington law
A roommate agreement is a private contract, so most of what it does is decided by the roommates rather than by statute. The parts that state law does reach are the ones that involve the landlord — and the biggest of those is the deposit. Our guide to Washington security deposit laws sets out what the landlord may hold and when it has to come back, which is the money the roommates are dividing between themselves.
The other place state law bites is non-payment. An internal agreement about shares does not change what the landlord may do if the total rent is short, and Washington eviction notice laws explain the notices and timelines that follow — which reach everyone named on the lease, not only the roommate who fell behind.
For the obligations that run between a landlord and the tenants throughout the tenancy, and the rules that apply to both sides, see Washington landlord tenant laws.
Bottom line
RCW 59.18.575(2)(c) says it outright: the other tenants are not released. The victim’s rent stops at the end of the month they quit and their deposit returns in full despite any forfeiture clause, subject to the landlord’s ordinary RCW 59.18.280 claims, while everyone who signed stays liable for the whole rent. Note: the exit appears to reach further than the lease does — RCW 59.18.570(3) defines a household member as “a child or adult residing with the tenant other than the perpetrator”, which does not turn on having signed. The grant is worded as the tenant terminating, so that reach is untested.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Washington have a roommate law?
There is no statute conferring a right to have a roommate. Reading the whole of chapter 59.18 – 381,382 characters, searched in both numeric and written number forms – returns no such right, no occupancy standard and no co-tenant liability rule. The chapter is also silent on subletting entirely. That negative is scoped to chapter 59.18; the administrative code, the building code and city ordinances were not searched.
If my roommate leaves under RCW 59.18.575, does my rent go down?
No. RCW 59.18.575(2)(c) says the other tenants who are parties to the rental agreement are not released from their obligations. The landlord is still owed the full rent, and the roommates who remain are the ones who will be asked for it.
Can a roommate who is not on the lease use that exit?
The statute is written that way, though we found no decision testing it and no case law was searched for this page. The right is triggered where a tenant OR A HOUSEHOLD MEMBER is a victim, and RCW 59.18.570(3) defines a household member as a child or adult residing with the tenant, other than the perpetrator – which does not depend on having signed the rental agreement. Note the grant in § 59.18.575(1)(b) is worded as the TENANT terminating, so how far the exception in (2)(c) carries an off-lease household member is not settled.
What does the victim owe when they leave?
Rent to the end of the month in which they quit, and no more – provided the notice and supporting order or qualified third-party report were given, and the request was made within ninety days of the reported act. Their deposit must be returned in full notwithstanding any forfeiture provision in the lease, subject to the landlord’s ordinary RCW 59.18.280 claims for damage.
Do we have to do a move-in checklist?
If a deposit is being collected, yes. RCW 59.18.260(2)–(3) make a written checklist describing the condition of the premises, signed by both parties, a precondition to holding a deposit – and under .260(5) a landlord who takes one without it is liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit.
How long does the landlord have to return the deposit?
Thirty days after the rental agreement ends and the premises are vacated, under RCW 59.18.280, with a full and specific statement of the basis for keeping any of it and copies of estimates or invoices attached. That period was raised from 21 days in 2023.
How is the deposit split between roommates?
Only in whatever way the roommates have agreed. There is no apportionment language anywhere in RCW 59.18.260 to .285, and the statute addresses the tenant in the singular, so the landlord has no statutory duty to divide it or to pay any roommate a share directly.
Does a roommate agreement take me off the lease?
No. It is a contract between the roommates and the landlord is not a party to it. Coming off the rental agreement itself requires the landlord’s written agreement, and until then each tenant named on it remains liable for the whole rent.
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