How to File an Eviction Notice in Washington State

To file an eviction notice in Washington State, a landlord must identify a specific just cause under RCW 59.18.650, prepare the written notice that matches that ground, deliver it using the service method the statute requires, and wait out the notice period before filing anything in court.1Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy The notice itself is not the eviction. It opens a window for the tenant to pay, cure, or leave, and only after that window closes can the landlord take the case to Superior Court.

Start With the Just Cause

Washington does not permit no-reason evictions. Under RCW 59.18.650, every eviction notice, whether the tenant is on a fixed-term lease or month to month, must rest on one of the just cause grounds the statute recognizes.1Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy The ground you pick controls which notice you use, how much time the tenant gets, and what the notice must say. Choose wrong and the case is over before it starts.

The grounds landlords rely on most often are:

  • Nonpayment of rent.
  • Substantial breach of a material lease term, such as unauthorized pets or unapproved occupants.
  • Waste, nuisance, or unlawful activity on the premises.
  • Owner or immediate family member moving in as a primary residence, when no equivalent unit is available in the same building.
  • Sale of a single-family home, when the owner makes reasonable efforts to list within 30 days after the tenant leaves.
  • Demolition or substantial rehabilitation requiring a building, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical permit.

Match the Ground to the Correct Notice

Each just cause has its own notice period. Using a shorter notice than the statute allows will get the notice thrown out.

14-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Vacate

When a tenant is behind on rent, the landlord serves a 14-day notice requiring the tenant to pay in full or move out. The 14-day period applies to every residential tenancy governed by the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.2Washington State Legislature. RCW 59.12.030 – Unlawful Detainer Defined If the tenant pays everything owed inside those 14 days, you must accept the money and the case ends. The notice must use the form prescribed by RCW 59.18.057 and list the exact dollar amounts for rent, utilities, and any other recurring charges that are past due.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.057 – Notice, Form The state Attorney General’s office publishes a plain-language template that meets the statutory form requirements.4Washington State Office of the Attorney General. Fourteen-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Vacate the Premises

10-Day Notice to Comply or Vacate

For a material breach that isn’t about rent, use a 10-day notice. It has to name the specific lease term the tenant violated and give the tenant at least 10 days to correct the problem. If the tenant cures the violation inside that window, the tenancy continues.1Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy

3-Day Notice to Quit

The 3-day notice is for the serious cases: waste, nuisance, unlawful activity, or substantial interference with neighbors or the landlord. It gives the tenant no chance to cure. They have three days to leave.1Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy

90-Day Notice for Owner Move-In or Sale

If you or an immediate family member intend to occupy the unit as a primary residence, the tenant is entitled to at least 90 days’ written notice. The same 90 days applies when the owner of a single-family home decides to sell.1Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy The move-in claim has teeth. If the owner doesn’t actually live in the unit for at least 60 consecutive days within 90 days of the tenant leaving, a court can presume the eviction was not in good faith.

120-Day Notice for Demolition or Substantial Rehabilitation

Plans to demolish the unit, or to perform major renovations requiring a building, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical permit, require at least 120 days’ written notice.5Washington State Legislature. RCW 59.18.200 – Tenancy From Month to Month or for Rental Period “Substantial rehabilitation” means the kind of structural work that physically displaces the tenant. A cosmetic remodel that doesn’t require the unit to be vacant will not qualify.

What the Notice Must Contain

A vague notice is a losing notice. Every eviction notice should include, at a minimum:

  • The full names of every tenant listed on the lease.
  • The complete address of the rental property.
  • The specific just cause ground you are relying on.
  • The deadline by which the tenant must comply or vacate.
  • The date of the notice and your signature.

A 14-day nonpayment notice needs more. It must itemize the exact dollar amounts owed, broken out by category (rent, utilities, other recurring charges named in the lease), along with the months those amounts cover.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.057 – Notice, Form A 10-day comply-or-vacate notice needs to point to the specific lease clause the tenant violated. Writing “you violated the lease” is not enough. The tenant has to know what to fix.

How to Serve the Notice

Washington law sets a hierarchy of service methods, and you have to work through it in order. Skipping ahead invalidates the notice.

The first choice is personal service: physically handing the notice to the tenant. If the tenant cannot be found after a reasonable attempt, the second option is substituted service, which means leaving the notice with another person of suitable age at the tenant’s residence and mailing a copy to the property address. Only if both personal and substituted service fail may you resort to posting and mailing, which is taping the notice to a visible spot on the property, such as the front door, and sending a copy by regular mail.

Whichever method you use, document it. Write down the date, the time, and the method. If the case goes to court, the judge will ask how and when the notice was delivered, and a vague answer will not survive scrutiny. When you serve by mail, remember to add the extra mailing time before the tenant’s clock starts.

What You Cannot Do While the Notice Is Pending

Even after you have served a proper notice, you cannot force the tenant out yourself. RCW 59.18.290 prohibits changing the locks, removing the tenant’s belongings, or shutting off utilities to pressure the tenant to leave. A tenant locked out this way can sue to regain possession and recover actual damages plus attorney’s fees.6Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.290 – Removal or Exclusion of Tenant From Premises

Retaliation is the other trap. Under RCW 59.18.240, a landlord cannot evict, raise rent, reduce services, or increase a tenant’s obligations in retaliation for reporting health or safety code violations or for asserting rights under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.7Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.240 – Reprisals or Retaliatory Actions by Landlord, Prohibited If a tenant complains to a building inspector and receives an eviction notice soon after, the timing alone can support an inference of retaliation. Any notice issued close to a tenant complaint should be backed by well-documented, independent grounds.

After the Notice Period Expires

If the tenant pays the rent, fixes the violation, or moves out within the notice period, the matter is resolved and no court filing is needed. The eviction only continues if the tenant does neither.

Once the notice period runs out without compliance, the landlord files an unlawful detainer action, which is Washington’s name for an eviction lawsuit. The case goes in the Superior Court of the county where the property sits, and the landlord pays a filing fee that varies by county.2Washington State Legislature. RCW 59.12.030 – Unlawful Detainer Defined The court issues a summons that must be served on the tenant at least seven days before the tenant’s deadline to respond.

If the tenant files a written response, the court sets a show cause hearing where the tenant can explain why the eviction should not proceed.8Washington State Legislature. RCW 59.18.365 – Unlawful Detainer Action, Summons, Form If the tenant ignores the lawsuit, the landlord can seek a default judgment. When the court rules for the landlord, it issues a writ of restitution that authorizes the county sheriff to physically remove the tenant. The sheriff serves the writ and then must wait at least three days before executing it.9Washington State Legislature. RCW 59.18.390 – Forcible Entry or Detainer or Unlawful Detainer, Writ of Restitution

Mistakes That Void the Notice

Tenants’ attorneys know exactly where to look for defects. The errors that most often kill an eviction at the notice stage:

  • Using the wrong notice period, such as a 3-day notice for a curable lease violation, or 90 days for a renovation that needs 120.
  • Describing the breach vaguely instead of pointing to the specific lease term.
  • Skipping personal or substituted service and going straight to posting.
  • Accepting a partial rent payment during the notice period without a written agreement, which can be read as waiving the eviction.
  • Filing the unlawful detainer before the full notice period has run, especially when service was by mail and the extra mailing days have not been counted.

The process from notice to lockout takes several weeks at a minimum, and longer if the tenant contests. Cutting corners almost always costs more time than doing it right the first time.