Revised Code of Washington
Wash. Rev. Code § 59.04.010 (2026)
Tenancies from year to year abolished except under written contract
✓ current as of May 2026
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Tenancies from year to year are hereby abolished except when the same are created by express written contract. Leases may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print. Nothing in this section shall be construed in any manner to conflict with or supersede RCW 59.18.210.
[ 2024 c 27 s 1; Code 1881 s 2053; 1867 p 101 s 1; RRS s 10619.]
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 15
cases, 1960–2018 · leading case: W. Plaza, LLC v. Tison, 364 P.3d 76 (Wash. 2015).
W. Plaza, LLC v. Tison, 364 P.3d 76 (Wash. 2015). “” 7 Though neither is called a statute of frauds, these statutes govern the formal requirements for creating a valid lease.”
Tiegs v. Watts, 135 Wash. 2d 1 (Wash. 1998). “68 RCW 59.04.010 provides that “[Leases may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print, and shall be legal and valid for any term or period not exceeding one year, without acknowledgment, witnesses or seals.”
Tiegs v. Watts, 954 P.2d 877 (Wash. 1998). “[68] RCW 59.04.010 provides that "[l]eases may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print, and shall be legal and valid for any term or period not exceeding one year, without acknowledgment, witnesses or seals.”
Stevenson v. Parker, 608 P.2d 1263 (Wash. Ct. App. 1980). “020, a lease for over 1 year must be in deed form, i.e., written, signed by the landlord, and acknowledged.”
Matter of Marriage of Irwin, 822 P.2d 797 (Wash. Ct. App. 1992). “In addition, Jere contends that Diane's expert assumed the lease was illusory when he calculated the value of IRAD based on capitalization of earnings.”
Sound Built Homes, Inc. v. Windermere Real Est./South, Inc., 72 P.3d 788 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003). “2d 242 , he or she also may not warrant the genuineness of the principal's non-notarized signature; and also because, if Washington wanted to insure the genuineness of a signature on an earnest money, it could require (which it does not) that the signature be notarized. See RCW…”
Sound Built Homes, Inc. v. Windermere Real Est./South, Inc., 118 Wash. App. 617 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003). “2d at 72, 77-78 , he or she also may not warrant the genuineness of the principal’s nonnotarized signature; and also because, if Washington wanted to ensure the genuineness of a signature on an earnest money, it could require (which it does not) that the signature be notarized.”
Tiegs v. Boise Cascade Corp., 922 P.2d 115 (Wash. Ct. App. 1996). “Tiegs and the Olberdings had no cause of action based upon the option to renew the lease for the 1992 growing season.”
Friedl v. Benson, 609 P.2d 449 (Wash. Ct. App. 1980). “3 Also pertinent to the lease is RCW 59.04.010: "Tenancies from year to year are hereby abolished except when the same are created by express written contract.”
Corson Corp. v. Frontier, Inc., 349 P.2d 424 (Wash. 1960). “It is a statutory (RCW 59.04.010) prerequisite to the creation of a tenancy of real estate for a longer period than from month to month that the lease be in writing and acknowledged before a notary public, and, therefore, the ten-year lease under which the appellant held the…”
W. Plaza, LLC v. Tison (Wash. 2015). “As discussed in greater detail below, RCW 59.04.010 creates an exception to, and takes the place of, RCW 64.”
Panorama Residential Prot. Ass'n v. Panorama Corp., 627 P.2d 121 (Wash. Ct. App. 1981). “While plaintiifs in their brief on appeal urge that the corporation's actions resulted in a permanent modification of the leases, a number of their affidavits assert there was no modification in the original lease.”
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