Washington Eviction Notice Templates: Types, Service, and Proof

A Washington eviction notice is the written warning a landlord must deliver before filing any unlawful detainer lawsuit, and the type you need depends entirely on why you want the tenant out: 14 days for unpaid rent, 10 days for a lease violation the tenant can fix, 3 days for serious misconduct, and 20 to 90 days for no-fault reasons under the state’s just cause law. Get the type, the content, or the service method wrong and the case starts over.

Which Notice Fits the Reason

Washington’s just cause eviction statute, RCW 59.18.650, controls almost every residential tenancy in the state. A landlord cannot end a tenancy without citing one of the reasons listed there, and each reason comes with its own notice period.¹ Match the reason to the notice:

Unpaid rent: 14-day notice to pay or vacate.
Substantial lease violation other than rent: 10-day notice to comply or vacate.
Waste, nuisance, or unlawful activity on the premises: 3-day notice to quit.
Owner or immediate family moving in: 90-day advance written notice.
Sale of a single-family residence: 90-day advance written notice.
Four or more lease violations within a 12-month period: 60-day advance written notice.
Other good cause: 60-day advance written notice.
Tenant required to register as a sex offender during the tenancy: 60-day advance written notice.
Unit condemned by a local agency: 30-day advance written notice.
Misrepresentation on the rental application: 30-day advance written notice.
Shared dwelling where the owner lives on site: 20-day advance written notice.
Sexual harassment by the tenant: 20-day advance written notice.

Picking the shorter notice when the facts call for a longer one is a common mistake. If the tenant has fallen behind on rent and also violated a lease term, the landlord generally has to pick the notice that fits the ground they actually want to prove in court.

What Every Notice Must Say

RCW 59.18.057 lists seven elements that must appear on any Washington notice of default or intent to forfeit, no matter the reason:²

The full names of the landlord and tenant.
The complete physical address of the rental unit.
A specific description of the default, identifying either the lease term violated or the amount of rent due.
For nonpayment notices, the exact dollar amount owed and the date it must be paid.
A statement that the tenant has the right to contest the eviction in court.
A statement that the tenant may seek help from an attorney or a dispute resolution center.
A warning that failure to comply may result in judicial proceedings leading to eviction.

Every 14-day pay-or-vacate notice must also include the tenant’s right to appointed counsel, the Eviction Defense Screening Line at 855-657-8387, and links to the Attorney General’s website and the Northwest Justice Project.² Low-income tenants in Washington have a statutory right to a state-paid attorney in unlawful detainer cases under RCW 59.18.640, and leaving that language off the notice makes it defective on its face.³

14-Day Notice To Pay Rent or Vacate

This is the most common notice, governed by RCW 59.12.030(3).⁴ The notice has to itemize what the tenant owes in three categories only: monthly rent, utilities, and other recurring or periodic charges identified in the lease. Each line needs to show the specific months at issue and the dollar amount, with a total at the bottom.

Late fees, damage charges, cleaning fees, and other penalties outside those three categories do not belong on a 14-day notice. The legislative findings behind RCW 59.18.057 state plainly that a landlord cannot threaten eviction over fees unrelated to rent.² Padding the demand with ineligible charges can sink the whole notice.

The tenant then has a full 14 calendar days after service to pay the total or move. The landlord is not required to take a partial payment during that window, and accepting money after serving the notice can sometimes invalidate it, so document any payment received in writing and be explicit about whether it fully satisfies the debt.

10-Day Notice To Comply or Vacate

When the problem is a lease violation other than unpaid rent, RCW 59.12.030(4) controls.⁴ The notice has to identify the specific lease provision at issue and describe the conduct in enough detail that the tenant can actually cure it. “You are disturbing the neighbors” is not enough. Dates, times, and specific incidents are what make a 10-day notice stick.

The tenant then has 10 days to fix the violation or leave. Judges dismiss vague 10-day notices more often than landlords expect, because a tenant who cannot tell what to stop doing has no real opportunity to cure.

3-Day Notice To Quit

For serious misconduct, RCW 59.18.650(2)(c) allows a 3-day notice to quit covering waste, nuisance, unlawful activity affecting use and enjoyment of the premises, or substantial or repeated interference with the landlord’s or neighbors’ use of the property.¹

Unlike the 14-day and 10-day versions, this notice offers no chance to cure. The tenant has three days to be out. The conduct described has to be genuinely serious. Landlords who try to force an ordinary dispute into a 3-day notice to shortcut the timeline usually lose.

90, 60, 30, and 20-Day No-Fault Notices

The longer notice periods apply when the tenant has not done anything wrong but the landlord has a statutory reason to end the tenancy. A 90-day notice is required for an owner or immediate family move-in or for the sale of a single-family residence. For a move-in, the landlord also has to show that no substantially equivalent vacant unit exists in the same building.¹

A 60-day notice covers four or more lease violations within 12 months, “other good cause,” and a tenant becoming subject to sex offender registration during the tenancy. A 30-day notice covers condemnation by a local agency and misrepresentation on the rental application. A 20-day notice applies in shared housing where the owner lives on site and in cases of sexual harassment by the tenant.

Every no-fault notice must state the specific date the tenancy ends. Using the wrong notice period, or citing the wrong just cause category, forces the landlord to start over.

How To Serve the Notice

A perfectly drafted notice is worthless if it is served incorrectly. RCW 59.12.040 lists three methods, in order of preference:⁵

Personal service. Hand the notice to the tenant directly. This is the cleanest and hardest to challenge.
Substitute service. If the tenant is not home, leave the notice with another person of suitable age and discretion at the tenant’s residence, and mail a copy to the tenant that same day.
Post and mail. If no one is home, post the notice in a conspicuous place on the property (typically the front door) and mail a copy that same day.

The mailing step for substitute and post-and-mail service is not optional. Skip it and service is invalid, which means re-serving the notice and restarting the clock. Attach a posted notice securely enough that it stays put until the tenant returns.

Counting the Days

The day the notice is served does not count. If you serve a 14-day notice on March 1, March 2 is day one, and the notice expires at the end of March 15.⁴ Weekends and holidays count as regular days during the notice period, but if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day under general court rules.

Filing an unlawful detainer lawsuit even one day early gives the tenant grounds to have it dismissed. When in doubt, wait an extra day.

Proof of Service

The person who delivered the notice has to complete a Declaration of Service recording the date, time, and method of delivery and identifying who received it or where it was posted.⁶ The server signs it under penalty of perjury.⁷ For substitute or post-and-mail service, the declaration has to confirm the date the second copy was mailed.

Without a signed, properly completed Declaration of Service, there is no admissible evidence that the tenant received the notice. Keep the original. It becomes a central exhibit if the case goes to trial.

The Extra Step Before Suing for Unpaid Rent

Before filing an unlawful detainer action for nonpayment of rent, Washington landlords must participate in the Eviction Resolution Program under RCW 59.18.660.⁸ At the same time you serve the 14-day pay-or-vacate notice, you also serve a separate notice about the program that includes:

Contact information for the local dispute resolution center serving the property’s area.
Contact information for the county’s housing justice project, or a statewide housing advocacy organization if the county has none.
A direction to the Attorney General’s website for multilingual notices and rental assistance information.
The landlord’s name, the landlord’s attorney (if any), and the tenant’s name.
A warning that failure to respond within 14 days may result in an unlawful detainer action.

Copies of both notices have to go to the local dispute resolution center the same day. The court will not schedule a hearing on a nonpayment case until the landlord produces a certification of participation from the center.⁸ File without it and the case is rejected.

Local Rules That Add Requirements

Several Washington cities add their own requirements on top of state law. Seattle’s Just Cause Eviction Ordinance recognizes 16 separate just cause categories and bars tenants from waiving its protections in a lease. Seattle also requires landlords to pay relocation assistance in several no-fault scenarios, including substantial remodeling, demolition, or conversion to non-residential use, and triggers payments of $2,000 or two months’ rent (whichever is greater) for evictions tied to code violations in accessory or unauthorized housing units.⁹

Tacoma, Burien, and other cities have adopted their own just cause rules with varying notice periods and relocation obligations. If the property sits in an incorporated city, check the local ordinance before you serve. A notice that satisfies state law but ignores a local rule can still be thrown out.

Reasons a Notice Will Fail Even If the Tenant Breached

Washington law prohibits retaliatory evictions. Under RCW 59.18.240, a landlord cannot take action against a tenant for reporting code violations to a government agency or asserting rights under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.¹⁰ Retaliation includes raising rent or reducing services, not just eviction. A notice served shortly after a tenant complaint to a health inspector can draw a strong presumption of retaliation based on timing alone.

Fair housing law applies with equal force. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits housing actions based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability, and Washington’s own anti-discrimination laws add further categories.¹¹ Selectively enforcing lease terms against tenants in protected classes while tolerating the same conduct from others can turn a facially valid notice into a fair housing violation.

One boundary worth knowing: the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act restricts evictions of active-duty military tenants. If the tenant is on active duty and the monthly rent is $10,239.63 or less (the 2026 threshold), the landlord cannot proceed without a court order regardless of what state law would otherwise permit. Check the Department of Defense SCRA website before seeking any default judgment. The protections do not apply if the lease expired before the tenant entered active duty or if the eviction involves illegal drug use or property damage.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.650 – Eviction of Tenant, Refusal to Continue Tenancy, End of Periodic Tenancy
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.057 – Notice Form
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.640
4
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.12.030 – Unlawful Detainer Defined
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.12.040 – Service of Notice, Proof of Service
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.365
7
Washington Courts. Declaration of Service
8
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 59.18.660 – Eviction Resolution Pilot Program
9
City of Seattle. Just Cause Eviction Ordinance
10
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 59.18.240
11
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act