Can a tenant withhold rent for repairs in Washington?

In Washington, when a landlord fails to fix a condition that substantially endangers or impairs the tenant’s health or safety within the time allowed after the tenant’s written notice, and a local government inspection certifies the condition, the tenant may deposit all rent then due and all later rent into an escrow account or with the clerk of the district or superior court, and must notify the landlord in writing within 24 hours of the deposit. The written notice must specify the conditions and be sent to the landlord or to the person or place where rent is normally paid. After notice the landlord must begin remedial action within 24 hours where the condition deprives the tenant of hot or cold water, heat or electricity or is imminently hazardous to life, within 72 hours where it deprives the tenant of a refrigerator, range and oven or a major plumbing fixture supplied by the landlord, and within 10 days in all other cases. The local government or its designee must inspect and certify within not more than five days of the tenant’s request. The tenant may not use escrow unless the tenant first makes a good faith determination that the condition cannot be repaired through the repair remedies of RCW 59.18.100. The notice of rent escrow is a sworn statement in the form the statute sets out, and electing escrow makes it the tenant’s exclusive remedy for the certified defects, apart from an action for diminished rental value. The landlord may not start an unlawful detainer action for nonpayment while the tenant keeps paying the full rent into escrow as it comes due. Repair-and-deduct is a different remedy with its own rules. This is RCW 59.18.115; RCW 59.18.070.

WhatWashington
Rent withholdingEscrow rent after notice and a government inspection
How it worksThe rent is paid into court or an escrow account instead

What the statute says

“… deposit all periodic rent then called for in the rental agreement and all rent thereafter called for in the rental agreement into an escrow account maintained by a person authorized by law to set up and maintain escrow accounts …”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

RCW 59.18.115; RCW 59.18.070

Read the statute in the Revised Code of Washington (Washington State Legislature): app.leg.wa.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Every deadline on this page runs from the tenant’s notice. A repair request filed in Seayora keeps the date it was made and every update after it, on the website and both phone apps, so owner and tenant are working from the same date.

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