Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in Washington?

No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest. Deposits "shall promptly be deposited by the landlord in a trust account, maintained by the landlord for the purpose of holding such security deposits for tenants of the landlord, in a financial institution ... or licensed escrow agent located in Washington" (RCW 59.18.270). The landlord must give the tenant a written receipt for the deposit and written notice of the depository's name, address and location, and of any later change.

What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in Washington?

No penalty attaches to interest itself; the remedies run to the deposit. A landlord who does not deliver the required statement, the supporting documentation and any refund within thirty days is liable to the tenant for the full amount of the deposit, and the court may award up to twice the deposit for an intentional refusal, unless circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented compliance or the tenant abandoned the premises (RCW 59.18.280(2)).

Does a landlord have to pay interest on a security deposit in Washington?

Verified August 28, 2026 All Washington topics →

Washington's rule is a default the parties can change in writing: interest on a security deposit goes to the landlord "unless otherwise agreed in writing."

Cited to RCW 59.18.270 (moneys paid as deposit; landlord's trust account; the interest default) second sentence and 1 more cited source · Verified August 28, 2026

RCW 59.18.270 requires the landlord to place every deposit promptly in a trust account maintained for holding tenants' deposits, at a financial institution or licensed escrow agent located in Washington, and then provides that "[u]nless otherwise agreed in writing, the landlord shall be entitled to receipt of interest paid on such trust account deposits." So a written agreement assigning the interest to the tenant is effective and governs; without one, the interest belongs to the landlord. The trust-account duty is not an interest-bearing-account duty — the statute says where the money must be held, not that the account has to pay anything, so in many tenancies there is no interest to allocate at all. The tenant must get a written receipt and written notice of where the deposit is held and of any change of depository, the money follows the tenancy into a successor landlord's equivalent trust account, and the tenant's claim to it ranks ahead of the landlord's creditors even if the funds were mixed with other money.

Washington deposit interest at a glance

Interest owed to the tenant	No — the statute addresses the interest and does not give it to the tenant
How the rate is set	No rate exists — there is no interest duty
Current figure	No published figure exists
Rate rules	No rate rules — no duty exists
Accrual and payment	No payment duty exists
Who and what is covered	No statutory conditions stated — see the summary and notes
Statute controls where or how the deposit is held	Yes
Interest-bearing account required	No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest
Custody rules	Deposits "shall promptly be deposited by the landlord in a trust account, maintained by the landlord for the purpose of holding such security deposits for tenants of the landlord, in a financial institution ... or licensed escrow agent located in Washington" (RCW 59.18.270). The landlord must give the tenant a written receipt for the deposit and written notice of the depository's name, address and location, and of any later change. If the tenancy passes to a new landlord, the money must move at the same time into an equivalent trust account of the successor, who must promptly tell the tenant where it now sits. The tenant's claim to the money ranks ahead of any creditor of the landlord, including a trustee in bankruptcy or a receiver, "even if such moneys are commingled." What the section does not require is that the trust account bear interest. It says where the money goes, not what it must earn.
Penalty for violation	No penalty attaches to interest itself; the remedies run to the deposit. A landlord who does not deliver the required statement, the supporting documentation and any refund within thirty days is liable to the tenant for the full amount of the deposit, and the court may award up to twice the deposit for an intentional refusal, unless circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented compliance or the tenant abandoned the premises (RCW 59.18.280(2)). Separately, a foreclosed-upon owner who neither immediately refunds the deposit nor transfers it to the successor is liable for damages up to twice the deposit (RCW 59.18.270). In any action brought by the tenant to recover the deposit, the prevailing party is entitled to the costs of suit or arbitration, including reasonable attorney fees.
Local rules	None noted for this state

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Washington Security Deposit Interest Laws (verified August 28, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/deposit-interest/washington/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Check the verified Washington answer — and every state and city that differs — in the deposit interest calculator — free, no signup, built on the same verified Washington law as this page.

City and county deposit-interest pages in Washington

Seattle — a verified answer to a circulating local-interest claim

Notes and caveats

A default rule, not "landlords keep the interest" — The sentence opens with the words "Unless otherwise agreed in writing." A written agreement can send the interest to the tenant, and where the parties have written one, it governs. Charts that flatten this into a flat statement that Washington landlords keep the interest drop the words the legislature put first, and mislead a tenant who has such a clause in the lease.
A trust account is not an interest-bearing account — RCW 59.18.270 requires a trust account. It does not require that account to bear interest, and it allocates only "interest paid on such trust account deposits" — whatever the account happens to pay. Where the account pays nothing, the allocation has nothing to work on. Two separate questions, and Washington answers only one of them.
The depository definition carries a stale cross-reference — The section defines the financial institution by reference to RCW 30.22.041, and the Code Reviser's note printed with the section records that RCW 30.22.041 "was recodified as RCW 30A.22.041 pursuant to 2014 c 37 s 4, effective January 5, 2015." Quote the section as printed, and follow the recodified number to reach the definition.
One interest rule in the whole Act — The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act addresses what a deposit earns in exactly one place, the second sentence of RCW 59.18.270. No other section of chapter 59.18 creates an interest duty or allocates deposit earnings, and there is no separate rule for particular unit counts, deposit sizes or lease lengths.
The text has stood since 2011 — RCW 59.18.270's history line ends at 2011 c 132 s 14, after earlier amendments in 2004, 1975 and 1973. The chapter's table of contents lists the section once, with no future-effective version waiting to replace it, and the disposition table shows it has been neither repealed nor recodified.

Common questions: Washington deposit interest

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

What is the Washington security deposit interest rate right now?: No published figure exists.
When must a landlord pay or credit deposit interest in Washington?: No payment duty exists.
Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in Washington?: No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest. Deposits "shall promptly be deposited by the landlord in a trust account, maintained by the landlord for the purpose of holding such security deposits for tenants of the landlord, in a financial institution ... or licensed escrow agent located in Washington" (RCW 59.18.270). The landlord must give the tenant a written receipt for the deposit and written notice of the depository's name, address and location, and of any later change.
What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in Washington?: No penalty attaches to interest itself; the remedies run to the deposit. A landlord who does not deliver the required statement, the supporting documentation and any refund within thirty days is liable to the tenant for the full amount of the deposit, and the court may award up to twice the deposit for an intentional refusal, unless circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented compliance or the tenant abandoned the premises (RCW 59.18.280(2)).
Do any cities or counties in Washington have their own deposit-interest rules?: None noted for this state.

Citations

RCW 59.18.270 (moneys paid as deposit; landlord's trust account; the interest default) · second sentence (verified 2026) Official source
RCW 59.18.280 (deposit return deadline, statement and documentation, remedies) · (1)(a), (2) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of RCW 59.18.270 and RCW 59.18.280 on the Legislature's published Revised Code of Washington, including both section history lines and the Code Reviser's note recording the recodification of RCW 30.22.041. The full text of chapter 59.18, the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, was read for any other provision allocating what a deposit earns, with every occurrence of "interest" near a deposit, trust, account or escrow term examined in context — the second sentence of RCW 59.18.270 is the only one. The chapter's table of contents was read for any enacted-but-not-yet-effective version of RCW 59.18.270, and the disposition table for any repeal or recodification of it; there is neither.