Periodic tenancy

Key Takeaways

• A periodic tenancy renews itself at the end of each rental period, so it has a fixed interval but no fixed ending date.
• Month to month is the common form, but a periodic tenancy can also run week to week, quarter to quarter, or year to year.
• A Washington tenant ends a month-to-month tenancy with written notice of 20 days or more before the end of a rental period (RCW 59.18.200).
• A Washington landlord cannot end a periodic tenancy by notice alone, because RCW 59.18.650 requires one of the causes the statute lists.

What It Means

A periodic tenancy is a leasehold estate that renews on its own at the end of every rental period until one of the parties stops it. The period is whatever the parties agreed to, most often a month, and each time rent comes due the tenancy rolls into a new period on the same terms. There is a defined interval and no defined end date.

That is what separates it from an estate for years, which states a fixed beginning and a fixed ending date and simply expires when the date arrives. A periodic tenancy never expires on its own. It stops only when a party ends it in the way the law requires, or when the parties replace it with a new agreement.

Periodic tenancies often begin by accident. A one-year Lease Agreement runs out, the tenant stays, the landlord keeps depositing the rent, and the parties are now month to month on the old terms. The tenant still holds exclusive Possession and the same right of Quiet Enjoyment the written lease carried. Only the duration changed, along with the notice rules for ending it.

How It Works in Washington

Washington treats a periodic tenancy as a durable housing interest rather than something a landlord can end at will. Under RCW 59.18.200, a residential tenancy from month to month or from period to period ends by written notice of 20 days or more preceding the end of any of the months or periods of tenancy, given by the tenant to the landlord. That is the tenant's exit, and the notice must land before the 20-day mark, not on the last day.

The landlord's side is different, and this is where licensees go wrong. RCW 59.18.650(1)(a) says a landlord may not evict a tenant, refuse to continue a tenancy, or end a periodic tenancy except for the causes enumerated in that statute. There is no matching bare-notice route for the landlord. A landlord who wants the unit back has to fit one of the listed causes and give the notice that cause requires.

Rent changes run on their own clock. RCW 59.18.140(3)(a) requires a minimum of 90 days' prior written notice of a rent increase, and RCW 59.18.140(3)(b) sets a 30-day minimum for subsidized tenancies where rent is based on the tenant's income. During a fixed-term lease the rent generally cannot be changed at all, which is why increases surface in month-to-month arrangements.

Example

Renee rents a two-bedroom in Vancouver, Washington under a 12-month lease at $1,750 a month that ends August 31. She stays past that date, sends the September rent, and the landlord deposits it. They are now in a month-to-month periodic tenancy on the old terms at $1,750, with rental periods running the first through the last day of each month.

The owner wants $1,900. She mails written notice of the increase on October 1, so the new rent can take effect no earlier than January 1, which is more than 90 days out. Renee decides $1,900 is more than she wants to pay. To end the tenancy effective December 31, she has to deliver written notice by December 11, which is 20 days before the end of that rental period. She hands the landlord written notice on December 5, pays December rent at the old $1,750, and moves out December 31 owing nothing for January.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• An estate for years has a fixed ending date and expires by itself. A periodic tenancy has no ending date and must be ended by notice, which is why a tenant who holds over usually creates a periodic tenancy rather than a new estate for years.
• An estate at will is not a periodic tenancy. An estate at will has no set rental period, so it lacks the recurring interval that gives a periodic tenancy its notice deadlines.
• Twenty days is the Washington tenant's notice under RCW 59.18.200, not the landlord's. A landlord needs one of the causes enumerated in RCW 59.18.650.
• A periodic tenancy is a leasehold, which is a non-freehold estate. The tenant has possession and use, not an ownership interest in the land.