Rule data
Landlord-tenant law changes every year: new rent caps, new notice periods, new registration deadlines, new fee and deposit limits, new forms. This log tracks every update to the rule data behind GiveProperNotice's deadline engine, with the source we verified it against. When the law itself moves (a new cap announcement, a session law, a repealed ordinance), we track the change as it happens and log it here. Keeping this current, so your calendar never runs on a stale rule, is what the subscription pays for.
August 17, 2026Sources verified
What changes
Every local rule we compute outside Seattle now has its start date read from the ordinance that enacted it. Knowing the exact day matters when you are checking an increase from an earlier year: before that day the state rule governs, and on or after it the stricter city rule does. The dates are Auburn October 16, 2020; unincorporated King County July 26, 2021; Kenmore April 7, 2022; Redmond July 30, 2022; Kirkland September 17, 2022; Issaquah October 6, 2022; Burien October 24, 2022; SeaTac May 10, 2023; Tacoma December 8, 2023 for relocation and move-in costs and January 1, 2026 for the 180-day notice rule; Bellingham January 27, 2024; and Olympia May 21, 2024. Two thresholds are worth stating plainly because they sit right where the state cap does. In SeaTac the 180-day tier applies to an increase over 10 percent, so an increase of exactly 10 percent needs 120 days, not 180. In Auburn the 120-day rule applies to an increase of more than 5 percent, so exactly 5 percent falls to the state rule. Kirkland and Redmond work the same way at 3 and 10 percent. Auburn's ordinance is worth one extra note: it took effect in September 2020 but set its own start date for landlords at October 16, 2020, which is the date we use. No date or dollar figure on your calendar moves as a result of this review. Every start date and threshold matches what the tool was already computing.
August 15, 2026Law change tracked
What changes
The Seattle City Council passed Council Bill 121254 on August 11, 2026 by a unanimous vote. The new rules take effect July 1, 2027 and apply to rental agreements and renewals entered into on or after that date. Three things change. First, a fee is allowed only if the code names it. Any other fee counts as unfair or excessive and is prohibited, and so is a fee you charge but did not disclose. Fees for keeping a pet are banned, whatever you call them and whether you charge them once or every month. That ends pet rent. The refundable pet damage deposit stays. Also banned: fees to use an in-unit appliance, to reach common areas, to pay by check, money order, cashier's check, or ACH, to receive mail or packages, to add or remove a tenant, and to have the landlord do something the housing code already requires. Second, you must disclose every mandatory and optional fee, plus the total monthly cost, in your ads, listings, and applications and on a two-page form that comes before the first page of the lease. After that you owe the tenant an updated form every 12 months, and any time a fee that is not variable changes. Third, you must keep the records that show you complied for three years from the date each record was issued. If you cannot produce them, the law assumes you violated the chapter unless you prove otherwise. Three fees are newly allowed with ceilings: replacing a key (the lesser of your actual cost or $50), letting a locked-out tenant back in ($50 for weekday requests between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., $150 outside those hours, and nothing at all if you are already at the property), and a returned payment (the lesser of the bank's charge or $31). Penalties for violating the chapter rise to $750 for a first violation and $1,500 for later ones within five years, with $5,000 for retaliation. The $10 monthly cap on late fees does not change, and neither do the move-in cost limits or the pet damage deposit limit. No date or dollar figure on your calendar moves today. These rules are now in the engine, dated to July 1, 2027 and marked preliminary. The Mayor had not signed the bill and no ordinance number had been assigned when this entry was published, so the preliminary label stays until the signed ordinance is read.
July 27, 2026Law change tracked
What changes
Every rule record has now been reconciled against two rounds of legal research completed July 26, 2026: Seattle Municipal Code text read directly from the codified code (through Ordinance 127423), state law from session-law PDFs, a case-law sweep across Washington's appellate courts, and a municipal effective-date audit. The review establishes the day-counting convention (the notice period excludes both the day of service and the effective date, matching the city's published example, with no weekend or holiday extension), Tacoma's 180-day notice rule for increases of any amount (effective January 1, 2026), the service-by-mail rules across all three statutory periods, the codified three-step EDRA assistance formula, the required Seattle disclosure sentence recited from Director's Rule 15-2019, and the effective dates for SeaTac, Auburn, unincorporated King County, and Olympia. With that review complete, records are no longer marked preliminary. Our source-verification review is an editorial process against the cited primary sources; it is not a certification by legal counsel, and genuinely unsettled questions remain flagged inline wherever they affect a result. Newly added rules (such as each year's rent-cap figure) will again appear as preliminary until they complete the same review.
July 15, 2026Law change tracked
What changes
The Washington Department of Commerce has set the maximum annual rent increase for calendar year 2027 (January 1 through December 31, 2027) at a flat 10%, up from 9.683% in 2026. The HB 1217 formula (7% plus CPI, capped at 10%) produced 11.53% on June 2025 to June 2026 inflation data, so the statutory 10% ceiling binds. If a planned increase straddles the year boundary, the cap that governs is the one in force on the increase's effective date: 9.683% for increases taking effect in 2026, 10% for 2027. Seattle increases still require 180 days' notice, and the state 90-day baseline still applies elsewhere. The record is draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
Seattle (SMC 7.24.035/.036: deposits plus fees capped at one month's rent, nonrefundable fees at 10 percent of first month and only for screening or cleaning, pet deposits at 25 percent, installment rights), Tacoma (TMC 1.100.040: move-in fees over the first month's rent prohibited, pet deposits capped at 25 percent), Burien (BMC 5.63.040), Kenmore (KMC 8.55), Kirkland (KMC 7.75, including pet deposits in the one-month total), Redmond (RMC 9.54.040, read verbatim from the adopted ordinance), and unincorporated King County (KCC 12.25.050). Also encoded the statewide manufactured/mobile-home cap from HB 1217 (RCW 59.20.170: one month, two with pets, new leases from May 7, 2025), together with the verified negative finding that HB 1217 created NO deposit cap for ordinary rentals. These power the new move-in fee checker. All records draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
Three relocation-assistance rule records join Seattle's existing EDRA record, powering the new relocation assistance checker. Tacoma (TMC 1.100.050, read verbatim from the city-published code as amended December 2025): 2 months' rent for increases of 5 percent or more within 12 months, 2.5 months over 7.5 percent, 3 months over 10 percent, payable within 30 days of the tenant's request. Olympia (OMC 5.82, per the city's official page): 2.5 months' rent for increases of 7 percent or more, on written request within 45 days. Bellingham (BMC 6.14, from the official initiative final language, effective January 27, 2024): increases over 8 percent in a rolling 12 months require 120 days' notice and assistance of three times the greater of Bellingham fair market rent or the tenant's actual rent, so our computed figure is a minimum. Also verified the negative finding that Burien has no rent-increase relocation assistance (the provision was removed before Ordinance 804 was adopted in 2022). All records are draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
Added tiered notice records for Kirkland (KMC 7.75.030) and Redmond (RMC 9.54.030), both read verbatim from the adopted ordinance PDFs on the cities' own servers; SeaTac (SMC 4.05.070) from the city's official code host; Kenmore (KMC 8.55.030) from the city's official announcement; and Issaquah (IMC 5.52.030, which has only the 120-day tier) from the city's official announcement. All follow the same shape: 120 days' notice for increases over 3 percent, 180 days over 10 percent (where the city has that tier), 30 days for income-based subsidized tenancies, with the state 90-day baseline governing smaller increases. The same research caught two law changes that many secondary sources still miss: Burien repealed its local 120/180-day tiers in 2025 (Ordinance 871 repealed BMC 5.63.100), so Burien answers now use the state baseline, and Burien never adopted rent-increase relocation assistance (the council removed it before adopting Ordinance 804 in 2022); and Tacoma's Landlord Fairness Code was substantially amended in December 2025 (Substitute Ordinance 29086), with the original two-notice system absent from the current code text, so our Tacoma guidance now says to verify notice requirements with the city. All records remain draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
The engine now supports tiered, city-level notice rules, and the first two encoded jurisdictions are live. Unincorporated King County: at least 120 days' notice for rent increases greater than 3 percent, 30 days for income-based subsidized tenancies (KCC 12.25.070), plus a late-fee cap of 1.5 percent of monthly rent (KCC 12.25.060), both verified against the county's official landlord FAQ. Auburn: 120 days' notice when housing costs increase by more than 5 percent, 30 days subsidized (ACC 5.23.040), verified against the city's official Renting in Auburn packet. These power the new city-by-city notice requirement checker; the state 90-day baseline still governs smaller increases. All records are draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
Added two late-fee rule records. Seattle: late-rent fees are capped at $10 per month and fees for preparing or delivering a notice are banned (SMC 7.24.034, added by CB 120541, effective June 2023). Statewide: no late fee may be charged for rent paid within 5 days of its due date (RCW 59.18.170). We could not pin a statewide numeric late-fee cap to primary statutory text despite widespread secondary-source claims of a 1.5% cap, so the late-fee checker computes a dollar figure only inside Seattle and points other users to their lease and local ordinance. Both records are draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Rules added
What changes
Added the Washington security-deposit return rule: within 30 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant vacates, the landlord must deliver a full and specific written statement of the basis for retaining any of the deposit, documentation for damage charges (estimates received or invoices paid; for landlord-performed repairs, materials receipts plus time and a reasonable hourly rate), and a refund of the remainder. Delivery is personal or by first-class mail to the tenant's last known address. Noncompliance makes the landlord liable for the full deposit, and a court may award up to two times the deposit for intentional refusal. Verified against the live RCW text; the 30-day period took effect July 23, 2023 (2023 c 331). Powers the new free deposit-return deadline calculator. The record is draft pending attorney verification.
July 10, 2026Law change tracked
Encoded HB 2664 (2026 c 144, effective June 11, 2026), which removed the certified-mail requirement for substitute service that HB 1003 had introduced in July 2025; the mailing is now regular first-class mail addressed to the tenant's place of residence, deposited from within Washington. The service-of-notice record is split into three effective-dated periods (pre-HB 1003, HB 1003, HB 2664) so a computation for any past date applies the rule that governed then. Also confirmed the Seattle EDRA tenant claim deadline (within 180 days after receiving the EDRA notice or up to 60 days after the increase takes effect, whichever is later), aligned the required Seattle helpline disclosure to the city's quoted wording, verified the Seattle 180-day ordinance against the enacting ordinance full text, and added the RCW 59.18.720 notice-content requirement (increase notices must substantially match the statutory form). All records remain draft pending attorney verification.
July 8, 2026Rules added
Compiled the initial rule set covering the Seattle 180-day rent-increase notice, the 90-day Washington state baseline notice under HB 1217, the 2026 state rent cap of 9.683% per WA Department of Commerce, the 2-year RRIO registration renewal cycle, and the 10% Seattle EDRA (Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance) trigger. All records currently carry status "draft" pending attorney verification.
January 1, 2026Law change tracked
Washington's annual rent-increase cap for calendar year 2026 is 9.683%, as announced by the Department of Commerce. This replaces the 2025 cap of 10% for increases effective on or after January 1, 2026.
