Tenants and rental property owners across Okanogan County ask some version of this question every time a refrigerator quits in August or a furnace dies in January. The short answer under Washington law is that a landlord must maintain the appliances they supplied, not every appliance in the unit, and the clock for making that repair depends on which appliance broke. Clients who come to Ken Miller & Associates, PLLC with a repair dispute are usually surprised by how specific the statute is once they see the actual deadlines.
Which appliances does a Washington landlord have to maintain?
Under RCW 59.18.060, a landlord must keep all electrical, plumbing, heating, and other facilities and appliances supplied by the landlord in reasonably good working order. The operative phrase is “supplied by the landlord.” If the stove came with the unit, the owner is on the hook for it. If the tenant hauled in their own chest freezer, the owner is not.
That duty sits alongside several others in the same statute: keeping the structure weathertight and in reasonably good repair, maintaining common areas, controlling infestation, and providing facilities adequate to supply heat, water, and hot water. Heating is not optional the way a dishwasher is. Most Washington jurisdictions have adopted property maintenance code provisions requiring that habitable rooms can be heated to roughly 68 degrees, so a furnace that cannot reach that level is a habitability problem, not a comfort complaint.
Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms occupy their own category. Washington requires the landlord to provide working smoke detection devices at the start of a tenancy, with the tenant generally responsible for batteries afterward, and state law has required carbon monoxide alarms in residential units for more than a decade.
Does a landlord have to provide a refrigerator, stove, or washer and dryer?
No. Washington does not require a landlord to furnish a refrigerator, range, dishwasher, microwave, washer, dryer, or air conditioner in the first place. Those are amenities, and a unit rented without them is not automatically substandard.
The obligation attaches the moment the landlord provides the appliance or promises it in the lease. Advertising a rental as including a washer and dryer, or listing appliances on a move-in condition checklist, converts an amenity into a maintenance duty. This is where disputes tend to start. A landlord who removes a broken dryer and never replaces it may be fine under the statute but in breach of the rental agreement, which is a separate claim with its own remedies.
How fast does a landlord have to fix a broken appliance?
RCW 59.18.070 sets tiered deadlines that begin when the tenant delivers written notice of the defect. The landlord must begin remedial action as soon as possible but no later than:
- 24 hours when the condition deprives the tenant of hot or cold water, heat, or electricity, or is imminently hazardous to life
- 72 hours when the tenant loses the use of a refrigerator, range and oven, or a major plumbing fixture supplied by the landlord
- 10 days for everything else
Two details get missed constantly. The deadline is to commence repairs, not finish them, though the work still has to be completed promptly. And the statute carves out circumstances beyond the landlord’s control, which in a rural county can legitimately include parts backorders or contractor availability. Documenting those delays matters if the dispute ends up in front of a judge.
What does proper written notice look like?
Written notice under the statute must identify the premises, name the owner if known, and describe the nature of the defective condition. It goes to the person designated in the rental agreement or the person who collects the rent.
Practical version: date the notice, describe the specific appliance and symptom rather than saying “kitchen problems,” keep a copy, and use a delivery method you can prove. Verbal complaints to a property manager do not start the clock. Neither does a text message that the tenant later cannot produce.
Can a tenant repair the appliance and deduct the cost from rent?
Yes, within limits set by RCW 59.18.100, and only after following the procedure. The tenant submits a good faith repair estimate to the landlord. If the landlord still fails to commence repairs within the applicable window, the tenant may hire a licensed or registered person and deduct the cost, capped at two months’ rent for that repair. A tenant who performs the work personally, where no license is required, is capped at one month’s rent per repair and one month’s rent total across any twelve-month period.
Withholding rent outright is a different thing and a much riskier one. Tenants who simply stop paying, rather than using repair and deduct or the rent escrow process available when a local agency certifies a unit as unfit, hand the landlord grounds for an eviction action.
Who pays when the tenant caused the damage?
The landlord’s repair duty does not extend to damage caused by the tenant, their household, or their guests beyond normal wear and tear. A dishwasher that fails after eight years is the owner’s problem. A dishwasher that failed because someone ran it with a dish towel jammed in the door is not.
Appliance disputes rarely turn on the law alone. They turn on what the lease said, what was documented at move-in, and whether notice was given in a form that holds up. Whether you are a property owner facing a repair demand or a tenant living without a working stove, an early conversation with Ken Miller & Associates, PLLC can keep a fixable maintenance issue from becoming a court file.
