Managing Residential Rent Increases Under New Laws
From 5/7/2025 through 12/31/2025, the lease boost cap is 10%.
From 1/1/26 through 12/31/26, the rent boost cap is 9.683%
It is a best practice for housing service providers to change rent routinely, keeping rents in the range of the location market rate. Housing service providers that keep leas lower than the market rate in order to keep long-term tenants will rapidly find themselves in a scenario where they need to contribute cash to the residential or commercial property for ongoing upkeep, and to cover increasing operating expenses such as taxes, insurance coverage, and administration, like having to serve notifications by means of Certified Mail!
It is essential to develop and record your lease increase policies to follow all state and city government policies on increasing rent. First, let's look at the brand-new and existing laws that govern lease increases across the state, then review the actions and finest practices for giving lease boosts.
RENT INCREASE REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES:
RCW 59.18.140 + EHB 1217 (WA 2025); and 59.12.040 + EHB 1003 (WA 2025)
- Definition: "Rent" or "rental amount" indicates recurring and periodic charges determined in the rental contract for the usage and occupancy of the premises, which might include charges for energies. This does not consist of non-recurring charges for expenses due to late payment, damages, deposits, legal costs, or other costs, consisting of lawyers' fees. (RCW 59.18.030)
- Minimum notice for rent boost is 90 days.
• If the rental agreement governs a subsidized tenancy where the amount of lease is based upon the income of the renter or circumstances specific to the subsidized household, a proprietor shall supply a minimum of thirty days' previous written notice of a boost in the quantity of rent to each affected tenant.
- Any boost in the amount of lease may not end up being efficient before the completion of the regard to the rental agreement.
- You need to use a specific lease increase notification type in the statute, EHB 1217 (WA 2025).
• The RHAWA Rent Increase Notice adhere to the statute.
- No lease boost can be given in the very first 12 months of occupancy.
• Per the new statutory type, but not really defined in law, just one rent increase can be given up any 12-month period after the very first 12-month period.
- Rent boost notification should be served like an expulsion notice per RCW 59.12.040.
• (See "Serving Notices Under New Law" on page 27.)
- New service requirements reliable 7/27/2025 under HB 1003 require mailing by Certified Mail, although no longer within the exact same County.
- Rent increase is limited to 7% + Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 10%, whichever is less, per 12-month period.
• For each fiscal year, the CPI number to be referenced will be picked and announced by the Department of Commerce (DOC) at www.commerce.wa.gov/housing-policy/hb1217-landlord-resource-center/
- - From 5/7/2025 through 12/31/2025, the lease boost cap is 10%.
- From 1/1/26 through 12/31/26, the rent boost cap is 9.683%
The law forbids offering any rewards based upon length of term or month-to-month status aside from a 5% difference in month-to-month lease amount.
• If offering a reward in an existing tenancy, the greater offer needs to conform with the lease increase limitation, 7% + CPI.
Note: The tenant should offer a "notification to cure" to the property manager who increases lease unlawfully. Even without, AG can still bring enforcement action, consisting of reimbursing lease, charges as much as 3 months' rent, a $7500 fine per infraction, lawyer charges, and court expenses.
Lease Renewal Laws
If you have a term lease, you can not unilaterally raise the lease mid-term. To require a renter to sign a lease renewal rather than going into a month-to-month tenancy, RCW 59.18.650( 1) states that you serve an "end of term" notification at least 60 days prior to completion of the term. Per completion of Term Notice, the tenant must sign before the end of the term, or they should vacate.
Under EHB 1217 in impact on 5/7/2025, if the lease renewal deal consists of a lease boost, notification of that increase need to be served 90 days before completion of the term.
If a prolonged lease boost notice is required under a city government law, the lease increase notification ought to be offered initially, and after that the lease renewal with a copy of the lease increase notice type attached. Use the RHAWA type, End of Term Notice with Lease Extension, following the provided guidelines.
City Government Regulations
Even though we now have statewide lease control, RCW 35.21.830 still prohibits cities or counties in Washington from executing their own lease increase caps. However, several city governments have actually enacted laws that need extended notice periods for rent increases and other procedures meant to complicate the procedure for increasing lease.
The most common lease increase guideline that will still be in impact on top of the new state law is:
"Any overall rent increase higher than 3% needs 120 days' notice." This rule uses in the cities of Issaquah, Kenmore, Kirkland, Port Townsend, Redmond, SeaTac, and Woodinville, plus all unincorporated areas of King County.
The next most common additional guideline is: "Any total rent boost higher than 5% requires 120 days' notification," embraced by the cities of Auburn, Olympia, and Tumwater.
And a few more cities have their own distinct set of rules:
City of Bellingham: Any total lease increase requires 120 days' notice. If the overall rent increase is 8% or more over a 12-month rolling period, the notification will consist of a variety of extra information, consisting of a rationale for the lease increase and information about Bellingham's Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance (EDRA) program.
City of Seattle: Any lease boost requires 180 days' notification. If the postal service utilized for mailing notice requires a signature, notification should also be sent by routine top-notch mail. If the boost is for 10%, the notice needs to likewise consist of Seattle's EDRA Notice.
City of Shoreline:
- - "Base Rent" means a recurring and periodic charge determined in the rental contract for use and tenancy of a home or dwelling unit. Base Rent might consist of charges for energies, but does not include those charges defined as Optional Rent.
- "Optional Rent" indicates repeating and periodic charges identified in the rental arrangement that are not needed for usage and occupancy however that a tenant voluntarily accepts, such as charges for a parking area or a pet.
- "Rent" suggests the total combined quantity of Base Rent and Optional Rent.
- Any "Base Rent" boost higher than 3% however less than 10% requires 120 days composed notification.
- Any "Base Rent" increase of 10% requires 180 days' notification.
- Any "Optional Rent" increase of any amount needs a minimum of 60 days' prior composed notification to each affected renter. (New state law increases this to 90 days.)
NOTE: Several city governments have laws that are the very same as the new state law (e.g., RCW 59.12.040 service required) or are superseded by more tenant-friendly state law (e.g., allowances for rent increases greater than 10%). These outdated guidelines have been omitted from the above to avoid confusion. The City of Burien rescinded BMC 5.63.100 - Rent increases on May 19, 2025.
Basic Steps and Best Practices for Increasing Rent
Remember, do refrain from doing any rent increases during the first year of tenancy, and for now, just do one increase per 12-month duration (this may alter - fingers crossed!).
Lease Renewals or Rules Changes without Rent Increases
If no rent boost is required on a lease renewal and you are imposing fixed lease terms, send out a lease renewal offer with more than 90 days' notification. If the tenant does not sign, serve an End of Term Notice with Lease Renewal (RHAWA type). If they do not check in 30 days, you can enhance this by serving an End of Tenancy Notice (RHAWA form) with selected cause k. Resident fails to sign a new rental contract, etc by the end of the term (make certain to email some reminders), you can have your lawyer continue with an unlawful detainer. You can alter nonrent associated guidelines at lease
renewal, or in a month-to-month tenancy utilizing a 30-day Rules Change in Terms of Tenancy Notice.
Document Your Rent Increase Practices
RCW 59.18.240 forbids the landlord from retaliation or making reprisals against the occupant in reaction to the occupant doing anything that was within their rights to do. Retaliatory actions include lease increases. RCW 59.18.250 states that if a landlord takes a negative action (such as a rent boost) within 90 days of an occupant exercising their rights, such as making a reasonable housing grievance, there is a rebuttable presumption that the property owner is guilty of retaliation, and the problem of evidence is on the property manager. Similarly, a property owner might be implicated of "economic expulsion" if they raise rent excessively with the intent of requiring people to move out.
Therefore, it is really crucial to just offer lease boosts using fair and consistent practices based upon nondiscriminatory, nonretaliatory business needs and rental market trends. It is also essential to record your lease increase practices in case you need to respond to a retaliation problem.
Formal legal advice and evaluation are recommended prior to the choice and usage of this info. RHAWA does not represent your selection or execution of this info as proper for your particular scenario. The product included and represented herein, although obtained from trustworthy sources, is not thought about legal guidance or to be used as a replacement for legal counsel.