6 Repairs a Washington Landlord Has to Make Within Days

When something breaks in your rental, the waiting can feel worse than the problem.

Washington law gives landlords set deadlines to get started, and how fast depends on what broke.

Here are the repairs that can’t wait more than a few days.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Rental rules and notice periods are subject to change, so confirm the current requirements with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

1. No Heat

When a defective condition leaves you without heat, the landlord has no more than 24 hours to begin work.

The 24 hours cover when work starts.

The statute’s wording is “commence remedial action,” so your heat doesn’t have to be back within that window.

The count starts when the landlord receives your written notice, except where circumstances are beyond the landlord’s control.

So when your heat stops working, put the problem in writing that day.

2. No Hot or Cold Water

Your landlord has the same 24 hours when a defective condition deprives you of hot water or cold water.

Losing only the hot water is enough, since the statute says hot or cold.

If your water heater stops working and you lose the hot water, the 24-hour limit applies.

That’s one day, not 10.

3. No Electricity

Electricity repairs get the same 24-hour limit as heat and water.

Keep a copy of your notice and the date the landlord received it.

The 24 hours run from that date.

4. Dead Refrigerator

Refrigerator repairs get a longer window than heat, water or electricity.

The statute allows not more than 72 hours to begin the repair when a defective condition deprives you of the use of a refrigerator.

That’s three days instead of one.

The 72 hours cover a refrigerator your landlord supplies, so one you brought with you falls outside it.

5. Range and Oven

Range and oven repairs share the 72-hour category with the refrigerator.

The 72 hours apply when a defective condition deprives you of the use of the range and oven, and the landlord must have supplied them.

6. Major Plumbing Fixture

When a defective condition deprives you of the use of a major plumbing fixture, the landlord has 72 hours to begin work.

The statute doesn’t define “major plumbing fixture.”

Write down which fixture failed and when.

If a plumbing defect is also imminently hazardous to life, the 24-hour category applies instead.

Start Versus Finish

Once a landlord starts work, the statute puts the burden on the landlord to see that your repair gets done promptly.

Write down each visit and each reply if the work drags on.

If circumstances beyond the landlord’s control delay the work, including unavailable financing, the landlord still has to fix the problem as soon as possible.

10-Day Default

Everything outside the 24-hour and 72-hour lists gets not more than 10 days to begin work.

The statute’s list of landlord duties includes reasonably adequate locks and a dwelling in reasonably weathertight condition.

A defect in either that doesn’t fit the shorter wording gets the 10-day limit.

The 10 days run from the day the landlord receives your notice.

When the Deadline Passes

If a landlord misses the deadline and doesn’t fix the problem within a reasonable time, you can end your rental agreement with written notice.

From the day you leave, you owe no more rent.

You also get a pro rata refund of any prepaid rent.

Court is another option.

The statute lets you bring an action in court, or at arbitration if you and the landlord agreed to it.

Repair-and-Deduct Option

Before you hire anyone, you give the landlord a good-faith estimate of the repair cost, and you can send it with your repair notice.

If the landlord hasn’t begun work by the deadline, you can hire a licensed or registered repair person, or a responsible person where no license is required.

For a 10-day repair, you can’t hire anyone until 10 days after notice or two days after the landlord receives your estimate, whichever is later.

After the repair and a chance for the landlord to inspect it, you can deduct the cost from your rent.

Hang on to every bill.

The deduction can’t exceed two months’ rent, and your total deductions in any 12-month period have the same cap.

Repair and deduct isn’t available for a landlord’s failure to keep the dwelling reasonably weathertight.

You also have to be current on rent, including any utilities you agreed to pay, before you use any remedy in Washington’s landlord-tenant law.

Inspection Route

When a landlord fails to fix a condition that substantially endangers your health or safety, a separate path opens through an inspection by local government.

The statute’s list of conditions includes lack of water, hot water included, and heating or ventilation that isn’t functional.

Electrical service counts too.

You start with written notice, and if the landlord doesn’t fix the condition within a reasonable time, you can ask your local government to inspect.

The local government or its designee has no more than five days from your request to inspect and certify.

Paying Rent Into Escrow

Even after a local government certifies a landlord’s failure, you have to determine in good faith that repair and deduct can’t fix the condition before you use escrow.

After certification, you can deposit your rent with a person authorized by law to hold escrow accounts, such as an escrow company, an attorney or the court clerk.