Unlawful detainer

Key Takeaways

• Unlawful detainer names two things at once: a tenant wrongfully staying past the end of the right to be there, and the court case a landlord files to get the property back.
• A Washington landlord may not remove or exclude a tenant except under a court order (RCW 59.18.290). Changing the locks is a violation, not an eviction.
• Notice periods track the cause. Unpaid rent under chapter 59.18 RCW gets 14 days to pay or vacate, a lease violation gets 10 days to cure, and waste or nuisance gets 3 days to quit (RCW 59.12.030).
• For a residential tenancy the landlord needs one of the causes listed in RCW 59.18.650 first. No listed cause means no eviction.

What It Means

Unlawful detainer is what Washington calls a tenant's wrongful continued Possession of property after the right to be there has ended. It is also the name of the court action a landlord files to get the property back. Both meanings are in daily use, so context tells you whether someone means the tenant's conduct or the lawsuit itself.

The conduct comes first. A landlord who wants possession serves a written notice matched to the cause: pay the rent or move out, cure the lease violation or move out, or quit outright for waste or nuisance. The tenant gets to choose which side of the alternative to satisfy. If the tenant complies inside the notice window, the matter ends there. If the window closes and the tenant is still in the unit, the holdover becomes an unlawful detainer and the landlord may file.

What a landlord may not do is take the property back personally. Locking the tenant out, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities is unlawful in Washington no matter how obvious the Default is. Possession is decided by a court, and if the landlord wins the court issues a writ of restitution that the sheriff executes.

How It Works in Washington

The definition is statutory. RCW 59.12.030 sets out when a tenant of real property for a term less than life is liable for unlawful detainer, and its subsections carry the notice periods:

• three days to quit for waste, nuisance, or an unlawful business on the premises
• ten days to perform a lease condition or covenant, or surrender the property
• fourteen days to pay the rent or vacate, for a tenancy under chapter 59.18 RCW

That section opens by deferring to RCW 59.18.650 for residential tenancies. RCW 59.18.650 is the just cause statute. A landlord may not evict a tenant, refuse to continue a tenancy, or end a periodic tenancy except for the causes enumerated there. A notice that names no listed cause, or that uses the wrong period for the cause it cites, leaves the landlord nothing to file on.

RCW 59.18.290(1) closes the loop. It is unlawful for a landlord to remove or exclude a tenant from the premises except under a court order. A tenant removed in violation may recover possession, or terminate the Lease Agreement, and either way recover actual damages. The prevailing party gets costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. When the landlord does win, RCW 59.18.312 picks up at the execution of a writ of restitution by the sheriff. One Washington wrinkle sits after a Foreclosure. Under RCW 61.24.060, the buyer at a trustee's sale is entitled to possession on the twentieth day following the sale, as against the borrower and grantor and anyone holding a junior interest. The buyer waits out that period before the unlawful detainer process is available.

Example

Dana owns a duplex in Spokane Valley and rents unit B to Trevor for $1,475 a month, due on the first. March 1 comes and goes with nothing paid. On March 6 Dana has a 14-day pay-or-vacate notice served on Trevor, naming the $1,475 owed and giving him until March 20 to pay it or move out.

Trevor does neither. On March 21 Dana files an unlawful detainer action in Spokane County Superior Court. She does not change the locks and does not shut off the water, because RCW 59.18.290 makes both unlawful and would expose her to Trevor's damages and attorneys' fees on top of losing her own. At the show cause hearing Trevor claims he paid in cash; Dana produces her ledger and proof of service. The court awards possession to Dana and issues a writ of restitution. The sheriff posts it, and Trevor moves out April 9. From missed rent to keys returned is about five and a half weeks, and every step of it ran through a written notice and a judge.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• Holding over is not automatically unlawful detainer for a residential tenant. RCW 59.12.030 defers to RCW 59.18.650, so the landlord still needs one of the enumerated just causes.
• The three-day notice is for waste, nuisance, or an unlawful business on the premises, not for unpaid rent. Unpaid rent in a chapter 59.18 RCW tenancy carries a fourteen-day pay-or-vacate notice.
• An unlawful detainer action decides who gets possession. It is not a foreclosure and it is not the way to settle who owns the property.
• Serving a valid notice is not the eviction. The notice only starts the clock; nobody is removed until a court awards possession and a writ of restitution issues.