Court action is required to evict any tenant who refuses to vacate.
A landlord who has the right to possession is required to go through the eviction process to remove a tenant who wrongfully refuses to leave. A landlord must go through the eviction process even if the landlord just wants the property back, the tenant is clearly in violation of the lease, the lease has expired, or there never was a written rental agreement.
Self-help eviction is illegal in Washington. A landlord may not force a tenant out by changing locks, turning off utilities, or other strong-arm measures. The eviction process is also known as an unlawful detainer action.
All Washington tenants have a legal right to no-cost legal counsel.
Repayment plans.
Washington landlords are required to offer a reasonable repayment plan to all residential tenants for rent that accrued through April 2023. The plan must comply with statutory requirements. This is legally required even though the Eviction Resolution Pilot Program (ERPP) has ended.
Eviction notice.
Evictions require just cause under state law. The landlord must have grounds and serve a proper eviction notice, such as a notice to pay rent or vacate, a notice to comply or vacate, or a notice to terminate a tenancy. There is no longer an option to serve a no-cause “20-day” notice. The lease expiring is not, by itself, grounds for eviction.
Note that for each type of notice, you must go through the same court process. Court action is always required if a tenant or other occupant does not voluntarily vacate.
Some cities and counties require additional documents and/or additional mandatory language for residential eviction notices. This is true for Seattle, Tacoma, Burien, Kirkland, Federal Way, unincorporated King County, and many other jurisdictions.
Landlords are well advised to have an attorney handle the eviction case from the very beginning, including the initial notice. Far more often than not we end up advising clients who have served a notice themselves that this needs to be done over.
CARES Act.
The federal CARES Act and/or other federal law may impose additional requirements. This is a rapidly evolving legal issue triggered by recent legislation and subsequent Court of Appeals and other court decisions. Whether the CARES Act applies and what it requires is not always clear under current law. Consult with an attorney for advice about your circumstances.
Eviction summons and complaint.
The next step is serving a summons and complaint. These legal pleadings must be served by a disinterested person—not the landlord. The summons informs the tenant to answer the complaint in writing. The mandatory summons form was changed (again) in 2021. Use of the wrong summons may result in having to repeat the entire eviction court process.
Default or hearing.
If the tenant does not respond the landlord may move for default without further notice. By local rule in some counties, all cases must be set for a hearing.
The tenant must be served notice of the hearing. Formal rules of evidence apply in show cause hearings. The court may refuse to consider, for example, a police report (no matter how egregious the actions described in it may be) because the report is hearsay. Residential tenants throughout Washington are legally entitled to an attorney at no cost and are almost always represented.
Landlords are encouraged to retain an attorney at the earliest stage of the process.
The sheriff.
If the court rules in favor of the landlord the clerk will issue a writ of restitution. The writ is served by the sheriff. If the tenant still does not vacate the landlord may not change locks, or take other self-help eviction action—even though the writ was issued and served. Instead, if the tenant remains in the property after the writ is served and the move-out deadline passed the landlord must schedule a physical eviction with the sheriff.
This is a quick summary of the residential eviction process in Washington and is not a substitute for legal advice. For further advice about the residential eviction process consult with a landlord attorney.
