Wherewithal

Washington security deposit return obligations for landlords

What the statute requires of you in Washington: return deadlines, clock triggers, itemization / notice duties, deposit caps, and penalties for non-compliance — drawn from Wherewithal’s statute research corpus. A landlord who complies correctly does not create a statutory penalty claim.

Confidence: PRIMARY

PRIMARY — main elements read against statute text

Deadline to return / account	30 days
When the clock starts	termination of rental agreement + vacation (or 30d after landlord learns of abandonment)
Penalty for non-compliance	full deposit + barred from claims; court may award up to 2× deposit for intentional refusal
Deposit cap (maximum you may collect)	none
Escrow / interest requirements	trust/escrow req
Citation	RCW §§ 59.18.260–.285

Source: RCW §§ 59.18.260–.285

Compliance flags / traps

⚠ 30 not 21; HB 1074 (2023) ordinary-use language

Corpus version: 091f8a158290816b (hash of human fields; use as last-updated fingerprint)

Deadline calculator

Compliance tool only — estimates the statutory return / accounting window from Wherewithal’s corpus fields. Not legal advice. No case is created.

This state’s corpus encodes a primary numeric window of 30 days. Enter the move-out / possession-delivery date the statute keys on.

Move-out / termination date (when possession is delivered)

Tenant side: Washington security deposit return rules

Same statute corpus, framed for tenants organizing a deposit-return claim.

Nearby states (landlord side)

Wherewithal is an organizational tool only. Not legal advice. Consider consulting a licensed attorney. This page is compliance information for landlords summarizing statutory duties — not legal advice.

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