Washington Lease Termination Letter Form

• Delivery: Notice should be delivered in person. If this cannot be done, a copy must be left at the residence with a person of suitable age and a copy must be mailed. If nobody is available at the residence, a copy must be affixed in a conspicuous place at the residence.^[1]
• Notice Period: For standard periodic tenancy, 20 days.^[2] However, in many cases, cause must be provided by the landlord to terminate a tenancy. Details are provided below. Members of the armed forces are not required to provide 20 days notice if a new assignment does not allow sufficient time to provide such notice.^[3]
• Penalty for Holdover: If a landlord must take legal action to evict a tenant after the end of their tenancy, the landlord may be able to collect damages, cost of suit, and attorney’s fees.^[4]

Landlords must typically provide cause for ending a periodic tenancy, and the number of days’ notice required by law varies, given a landlord’s cause. In most cases, a landlord may not evict a tenant, refuse to continue a tenancy, or end a periodic tenancy, except for one of the causes listed in RCWA 59.18.650(2). There are essentially fifteen causes, each with its designated notice period. Below are some, but not all, of the most common causes. Defer to RCWA 59.18.650(2) to review the entire for-cause regime.^[5]

• Tenant fails to pay rent (14-Day Notice to Quit).
• Tenant violates lease terms (10-Day Notice to Quit).
• Landlord intends to occupy the leased property for themselves or their immediate family. 90 days’ notice required.
• Landlord intends to sell the leased property, provided it is a single-family residence. In this case, the landlord or owner must:
  • Give the tenant 90 days’ notice; and
  • Make reasonable attempts to sell the property 30 days after the tenant has vacated.
• The landlord and tenant share bathroom or kitchen access. 20 days’ notice required.

Some landlords may end a tenancy without cause if the tenancy began with an initial, fixed term of between 6 and 12 months and provides for a continuation on a month-to-month or another periodic basis. In this case, the landlord must issue 60 days’ notice before the end of the initial, fixed term, i.e., before the tenancy converts and continues on a periodic basis. There are also other, less common exceptions to the cause requirement (see RCWA 59.18.650 and Residential Landlord Tenant Act).