Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Washington
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | RCW 59.18.030, 59.18.040, and 59.18.257; prospective landlords/tenants under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, including owners, agents, managers, and persons advertising a dwelling |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Costs of obtaining a tenant screening report allowed after required notice; self-screening charges limited to actual costs. No separate flat application/processing-fee rule in § 59.18.257 |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No flat dollar cap. Third-party charge is costs incurred; self-screening charge is actual costs and cannot exceed customary local screening-service costs (§ 59.18.257(1)(b)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | Disclosures must come before information is obtained; charge follows those disclosures. Self-screening actual costs include long-distance calls and time contacting landlords, employers, and financial institutions (§ 59.18.257(1)(a)-(b)) |
| Before-screening disclosures | Written or posted notice of information types, denial criteria, reporting agency and report/dispute rights, and reusable-report acceptance; website homepage must state acceptance policy (§ 59.18.257(1)-(2)) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No itemized receipt, landlord-supplied report copy, or fee-refund duty in § 59.18.257; if a consumer report is used, pre-screen notice must state free-copy and dispute rights after adverse action |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | Acceptance elective. Qualifying report: applicant-directed/paid, direct and free to landlord, with a ≤30-day credit report plus criminal, eviction, employment, address, and rental history (§§ 59.18.030(4), .257) |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order rule; denial or conditional approval requires the state-format written notice stating reasons and report-provider details when applicable (§ 59.18.257(1)(c)) |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Violation of subsection (1): liability up to $100; prevailing party may recover court costs and reasonable attorney fees. Section 59.18.257 states no local-preemption rule (§ 59.18.257(3)) |
Requirements one by one
Who the screening rule covers
RCW 59.18.030 defines a prospective landlord broadly. It includes the owner, lessor, sublessor, agents, resident and property managers, and anyone who advertises or otherwise holds a dwelling out for rent. A prospective tenant is a person applying for residential housing governed by the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.
RCW 59.18.040 excludes the listed arrangements from that chapter. Examples include institutional residence incidental to services, transient lodging, certain purchase arrangements, agricultural-employment housing, and occupancy conditioned on employment with the landlord. An arrangement created primarily to avoid the Act does not receive the exclusion.
Disclosure must precede both screening and the charge
Under RCW 59.18.257(1)(a), the landlord must give written or posted notice before obtaining any information about the applicant. The notice identifies the information categories, criteria that may cause denial, the reporting agency and free-copy/dispute rights when a consumer report will be used, and whether a comprehensive reusable report will be accepted.
Only after that notice may the landlord charge costs incurred in obtaining a tenant screening report. The timing rule is therefore keyed to obtaining information, not merely to when the applicant hands over money.
Amount and permitted self-screening costs
RCW 59.18.257(1)(b) does not supply a flat dollar maximum. For a report obtained from a screening provider, the charge is limited to costs incurred. When the landlord performs the screening, only actual costs may be charged, and those costs cannot exceed what screening services customarily charge in the general area.
For self-screening, the statute expressly includes long-distance telephone costs and time spent calling landlords, employers, and financial institutions. It does not state an annual adjustment formula.
Reusable reports
A comprehensive reusable tenant screening report under current RCW 59.18.030(4) must be prepared by a consumer reporting agency at the applicant's direction and expense and made directly available to the prospective landlord at no charge. It must contain a credit report from the past 30 days, criminal and eviction histories, employment verification, and address and rental history.
Acceptance is elective: RCW 59.18.257 requires the landlord to say whether it will accept the report. If the landlord says yes, it may still obtain its own screening report, but it cannot charge the applicant for that second report. A landlord website used to advertise a dwelling or inform tenants must state the reusable-report policy on the property's home page.
Adverse action and remedy
RCW 59.18.257(1)(c) requires a written notice when the application is rejected or approved with conditions such as an increased deposit, guarantor, last month's rent, or increased monthly rent. The notice must state the reasons. If a consumer report contributed, it must identify the consumer reporting agency by name, address, and telephone number.
Under subsection (3), a violation of subsection (1) can create liability up to $100. The prevailing party may also recover court costs and reasonable attorney fees. That express remedy is tied to subsection (1); the section does not state a separate damages formula for a website-only violation.
What trips people up
No flat cap does not mean an unlimited screening charge. A third-party charge is confined to costs incurred. A landlord's own screening charge is confined to actual costs and the customary local screening-service ceiling.
The disclosure comes before any information is obtained. Giving the notice only after a report has already been requested is too late under the statutory sequence.
Reusable does not mean mandatory. The landlord chooses whether to accept a qualifying report. The no-charge consequence applies when the landlord has indicated that it will accept one.
The January 1, 2027 change does not repeal reusable reports. 2026 Wash. Laws ch. 55, §§ 1, 5 adds smart-access definitions and renumbers the reusable-report definition from RCW 59.18.030(4) to subsection (6), while reenacting the same substantive definition.
The reenacted text begins: (((4))) (6) "Comprehensive reusable tenant screening report" means a tenant screening report prepared by a consumer reporting agency at the direction of and paid for by the prospective tenant.
State law is not the whole screening file. RCW 59.18.257 contains no first-in-order process, itemized-receipt duty, landlord-delivered report-copy duty, fee-refund rule, or local-preemption clause. Federal consumer-reporting law is separate, and any applicable city rule must be checked independently.
Common questions
Can a landlord charge before ordering the report? The required written or posted disclosures must come first. The charge may follow when it represents the costs permitted by RCW 59.18.257(1)(b).
Must the landlord give me the screening report? RCW 59.18.257 does not require the landlord to deliver the report itself. If a consumer report will be used, the pre-screen notice must explain the right to obtain a free copy after denial or other adverse action and the right to dispute inaccuracies.
Does conditional approval require notice? Yes. The statutory adverse-action form covers both rejection and approval conditioned on such items as a larger deposit, a guarantor, last month's rent, or higher monthly rent.
Statutes and sources
- RCW 59.18.030(4), (16), (24)-(25), (36)-(37) — reusable-report and party
definitions.
“Comprehensive reusable tenant screening report” means a tenant screening report prepared by a consumer reporting agency at the direction of and paid for by the prospective tenant and made available directly to a prospective landlord at no charge ...
Official source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.030 (accessed 2026-07-20) - RCW 59.18.040 — excluded living arrangements.
The following living arrangements are not intended to be governed by the provisions of this chapter, unless established primarily to avoid its application, in which event the provisions of this chapter shall control ...
Official source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.040 (accessed 2026-07-20) - RCW 59.18.257(1)(a)-(b) — disclosures, charge timing, and cost limits.
The landlord may charge a prospective tenant for costs incurred in obtaining a tenant screening report only if the prospective landlord provides the information as required in (a) of this subsection. ... The amount charged may not exceed the customary costs charged by a screening service in the general area.
Official source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.257 (accessed 2026-07-20) - RCW 59.18.257(1)(c) — adverse-action form.
If a prospective landlord takes an adverse action, the prospective landlord shall provide a written notice of the adverse action to the prospective tenant that states the reasons for the adverse action.
Official source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.257 (accessed 2026-07-20) - RCW 59.18.257(2)-(4) — website disclosure and remedy.
Any landlord or prospective landlord who violates subsection (1) of this section may be liable to the prospective tenant for an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars. The prevailing party may also recover court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.
Official source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.257 (accessed 2026-07-20) - 2026 Wash. Laws ch. 55, §§ 1, 5 — future renumbering and effective date.
(((4))) (6) “Comprehensive reusable tenant screening report” means ... NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. This act takes effect January 1, 2027.
Official source: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/Senate/5937-S.SL.pdf (accessed 2026-07-20)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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