Security Deposit Alternative in Washington
Washington gives you 30 days after a resident moves out to return the deposit, and the statement you send has to carry copies of estimates or invoices substantiating each damage charge. You also cannot collect a deposit at all unless there is a written lease and a signed move-in checklist describing the condition of walls, flooring, appliances and furnishings. Collect one without that checklist and you are liable to the resident for the full amount, whatever the unit looks like at move-out.
What Washington law says about security deposits
Read from the Washington statute on 2026-09-09. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Washington resident?
Washington has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, but it has a rule that decides how one has to be papered. RCW 59.18.285 says no money that is nonrefundable may be designated a deposit or part of a deposit, that a nonrefundable fee requires a written rental agreement clearly specifying the fee is nonrefundable, and that where the agreement fails to say so the fee is treated as a refundable deposit. A penalty comes with it: no written agreement at all and you are liable to the resident for every nonrefundable fee you collected. Lease language is not housekeeping in Washington. It is what stops the fee turning into money you have to give back.
Fee-in-lieu provision: RCW 59.18.285, read on 2026-09-09.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Washington
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Washington property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Washington security deposit alternative FAQs
Washington has no statute answering that either way, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. What the state does regulate is the paperwork. Under RCW 59.18.285 a nonrefundable fee has to sit in a written lease that clearly says it is nonrefundable, or it is treated as a refundable deposit, which makes the lease language matter more here than the mandatory question.
See it on your Washington units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.