Tenant Screening in Washington

FCRA-compliant tenant screening for landlords in Washington — serving Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue and every other Washington market. Reports start at $24.99 with no subscription. Washington-specific reporting-law overlays are applied automatically before the landlord sees any record.

What landlords in Washington can include in a screening report

• Credit report and score — TransUnion VantageScore plus tradeline detail.
• Criminal background — nationwide criminal record search with Washington-specific look-back limits applied.
• Housing records — sealed, dismissed, and time-barred housing-court records filtered before they reach you.
• Income verification — optional payroll + bank-link verification via Pinwheel.
• AI landlord reference call — optional AI agent calls the applicant’s prior landlord and produces a structured summary.

Housing records reporting in Washington

Washington RCW 59.18.367 caps housing-records reporting at five years and requires dismissed and sealed cases be excluded.

Statutory citation: RCW 59.18.367

How reporting limits interact with what you may lawfully consider is covered in what landlords can screen for and the investigative consumer report explainer.

Criminal-record reporting in Washington

Washington Fair Tenant Screening Act limits criminal-record use; Seattle has Fair Chance in Housing.

Fair housing in Washington

The Washington Law Against Discrimination, RCW 49.60 applies in addition to the federal Fair Housing Act. Source of income is a protected class statewide in Washington — landlords may not refuse to consider an applicant solely because they intend to pay with a housing-choice voucher or similar lawful source.

Notable Washington considerations

Source of income is a protected class statewide. Seattle has additional tenant protections.

What Washington law limits when you screen and rent

These are the statutory limits most likely to affect a Washington landlord at the application stage, compiled from state statutes and reviewed August 2026. Where a limit could not be tied to a specific statute it is left out rather than estimated. Statutes change and local ordinances often add limits your state does not — this is a starting point for your own check, not legal advice, and not a substitute for counsel licensed in Washington.

Rental application / screening fee

Washington limits a tenant screening charge to the landlord's actual cost, and a landlord who screens in-house may not charge more than the customary cost charged by screening services in the general area. Citation: RCW 59.18.257

Security deposit limit

Washington sets no statewide cap on security deposits for conventional rentals, but 2025's HB 1217 caps move-in fees plus deposit at one month's rent (two months with pets) for manufactured-home tenancies. Citation: RCW 59.18.260 (no cap on amount); RCW 59.20.170 (one-month cap, manufactured/mobile home tenancies, 2025 Wash. Laws ch. 209); cf. RCW 59.18.253 (hold fee capped at 25% of first month's rent)

Criminal history (fair-chance housing)

Washington has no statewide fair-chance housing law — state law requires only disclosure of screening criteria — but Seattle's Fair Chance Housing Ordinance restricts criminal-history screening. Citation: No statewide statute; RCW 59.18.257 (disclosure of criteria only); Seattle Mun. Code ch. 14.09

Local ordinances frequently add limits your state statute does not — check your city and county before you set an application fee or a deposit.

How RentalApplication.ai works for Washington landlords

1. You start a screening at rentalapplication.ai/apply. Enter the applicant’s name and email; pick the reports you want.
2. The applicant gets an email with a secure link, completes the application, and authorizes the screening (FCRA § 1681b(b)(2)).
3. The applicant pays at the moment of submission (or you can land-lord-pay).
4. Reports are delivered to you in minutes (credit) to a few hours (housing/criminal). State-law overlays are applied before the landlord sees any record.
5. If you decline based on the report, we generate the FCRA § 1681m adverse-action notice for you.

This page is an informational summary, not legal advice. State and local landlord-tenant law changes frequently — verify against current statute and local counsel before relying on this content. RentalApplication.ai is a reseller of consumer reports under FCRA § 1681a(u) and does not make tenancy decisions. The landlord (the “end user”) is the party who decides whether to approve or deny an application.