In Washington, there is sometimes confusion about how many days notice a landlord is required to give a commercial tenant to end a month-to-month tenancy. One statute requires thirty days, while a different statute requires only twenty days. The answer requires a short history lesson.
More than a century ago, when Washington was still a territory, a law was passed allowing either party to terminate a month-to-month tenancy with thirty days’ notice. This applied to all tenancies, whether commercial or residential. This law is still in effect, but would only apply to non-residential tenancies today.[1]
A few decades later the legislature passed the unlawful detainer statute which only requires twenty days’ notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy.[3] Until recently this applied to both commercial and residential tenancies, but today only a commercial landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy with twenty days’ notice (with very narrow exceptions for residential tenancies).
Under the unlawful detainer statute only requires twenty days’ notice is required for commerical tenancies. As the older statute that requires thirty days was never repealed, the safer practice is to serve formal legal notice of at least thirty days.
Residential tenancies cannot be terminated by the landlord without cause except under narrow exceptions.
The parties should check the lease (even if the tenancy is now month-to-month). Some leases require more notice than the minimum notice required by statute.
Any notice terminating a tenancy must be served in a formal legal manner and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.
[1] RCW 59.04.020; RCW 59.18.650.
[2] RCW Chapter 59.12.
[3] RCW 59.12.030(2).