The Tacoma Rental Housing Code, Explained for Landlords
Tacoma applies two separate rental codes to the same property at the same time, and they are enforced in two completely different ways. This guide covers both, what changed on January 1, 2026, and the checklist that keeps you on the right side of each.
This page is general information, not legal advice. We are property managers, not attorneys. Rental law in Washington and in Tacoma changes often, and the answer for your property can depend on facts this page does not know. Use this as a starting point, then confirm anything that matters with a Washington attorney or with the City of Tacoma before you act on it.
Reviewed: September 2026.
Tacoma has two rental codes, not one
Two separate bodies of local rental law apply to your property at the same moment.
TMC 1.95, the Rental Housing Code. The City’s own ordinance, enforced by the City. It covers business licensing, unit registration, the tenant information packet, screening limits, late fees, rent increase notices and relocation assistance.
TMC 1.100, the Landlord Fairness Code Initiative. Tacoma voters passed this in November 2023. Here is the part that catches people: the City does not enforce it. TMC 1.100 is enforced only through private lawsuits, brought by a tenant or by an organization acting on a tenant’s behalf.
Ordinance 29086 passed on December 9, 2025 and took effect January 1, 2026. It amended both codes.
Why complying with TMC 1.95 alone is not enough
This is the most important idea on this page, so we will say it plainly.
The two codes do not always agree. Where they set different limits, the City will only hold you to TMC 1.95. That does not make TMC 1.100 go away. It means the consequence arrives from a different direction, as a lawsuit rather than a code enforcement letter.
Late fees are the clearest example. TMC 1.95.065 allows 1.5 percent of the unpaid monthly rent. TMC 1.100 caps late fees at $10 per month. Charge 1.5 percent and the City has no problem with you, while your tenant can still sue for the difference.
Rent increase notices are the second example. Serving only the City’s 180 day notice under TMC 1.95.060 satisfies the City and still leaves you exposed under the two-notice rule in TMC 1.100.050.
Our practical advice throughout this guide: when the two codes disagree, follow the stricter one. It is almost always cheaper than being right in the wrong forum.
What changed on January 1, 2026
| Rule | Before January 1, 2026 | On and after January 1, 2026 | Code section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent increase notice, City requirement | 120 days written notice | 180 days written notice on a City form | TMC 1.95.060 |
| Leasing fee | 100% of one month’s rent | 50% of one month’s rent | Commonly 45% to 100% of one month’s rent, sometimes with a dollar minimum |
| Late fee limit under the City code | $75 cap | 1.5% of the unpaid monthly rent, the $75 cap was removed | TMC 1.95.065 |
| Cold weather eviction restriction | November 1 through April 1 | November 15 through March 15 | TMC 1.100.063 |
| Cold weather exemption | Not in this form | Owners of four or fewer rental units in Tacoma | TMC 1.100.063 |
Two things did not change, and they are the two most commonly missed rules in the city. TMC 1.100 still caps late fees at $10 per month and is still privately enforceable. TMC 1.100.050 still requires two rent increase notices, separate from the City’s 180 day notice.
Stale information about Tacoma rental law is everywhere online, including on pages that look official. If a source still says 120 days, a $75 late fee cap, or November 1 through April 1, it predates Ordinance 29086.
The Tacoma landlord compliance checklist
Work down this list in order. Steps 1 and 2 are gatekeepers: until they are done, some later steps are not legally available to you.
Get a Tacoma business license first
A Tacoma business license is required for all rental activity inside city limits. There is no unit threshold. One rental house counts.
This is a gatekeeper, not paperwork. Under TMC 1.95.060.E and TMC 1.95.070.B, no landlord may issue a notice to increase rent or a notice to vacate unless they hold a current Tacoma business license under TMC 6B and have registered each unit with certification of code compliance. Without it you cannot lawfully raise rent or begin to end a tenancy.
The annual fee runs from $37 to $2,000 by worldwide gross income, through FileLocal. Full fee table and steps are on our Tacoma landlord business license page.
Register each unit and certify code compliance
Registration is per unit and comes with a certification that the unit complies with code. It is the second half of the same gatekeeper. A license without unit registration does not unlock rent increases or notices to vacate.
Deliver the required tenant information packet
TMC 1.95.030.B requires you to give tenants City-prepared summaries of TMC 1.95, TMC 2.01, TMC 1.29 Tacoma Fair Housing, RCW 59.18 and RCW 59.12. The timing matters as much as the documents:
At application.
At lease offer or renewal, with a signed acknowledgment.
To existing tenants within 30 days of a City update to the packet.
Separately, a City “Notice of Resources” form must accompany any rent increase notice or any notice to vacate. A notice served without it is not a complete notice.
Screen within Tacoma’s income-to-rent limits
TMC 1.95.035.C caps your income-to-rent ratio, and the cap depends on where your rent sits relative to HUD Fair Market Rent.
Rent below Fair Market Rent: you may require no more than 3 times the rent.
Rent at or above Fair Market Rent: you may require no more than 2.5 times the rent.
A blanket “3x income” rule applied to every Tacoma unit will be unlawful on any unit priced at or above Fair Market Rent. Screening also has to satisfy state disclosure rules and fair housing law. See Washington fair housing rules.
Keep total move-in cost at or below one month’s rent
TMC 1.100.040 caps the total move-in cost at the first month’s rent. Total means the security deposit plus non-refundable fees plus screening fees, added together.
This surprises owners who have always charged a deposit of one month plus a few hundred dollars. Inside Tacoma city limits, that structure does not work. TMC 1.100.040 also caps a pet damage deposit at 25 percent of one month’s rent, refundable to the extent it exceeds actual pet damage. Because TMC 1.100 is privately enforceable, the consequence here is a lawsuit, not a letter. More on our Washington security deposit law page.
Keep late fees at $10 a month
TMC 1.95.065 permits 1.5 percent of the unpaid monthly rent. TMC 1.100 caps late fees at $10 per month and lets the tenant sue over the difference.
The stricter number is $10. Charge that.
Fix habitability problems before you raise rent
Rent may not be raised while the unit has habitability violations. This is an affirmative defense in an eviction case, so a tenant can raise it to defeat your case even if everything else was correct.
The practical version: an open repair issue is a legal block on your next rent increase and a hole in your next eviction filing. Washington’s repair timelines run 24 hours, 72 hours or 10 days depending on the problem, and are covered on our Washington landlord tenant law page.
Serve rent increase notices on Tacoma’s schedule
Tacoma stacks its own notice rules on top of the state’s, and you have to satisfy all of them.
TMC 1.95.060: 180 days written notice, on a City form, stating the new rent, the percentage, the effective date and a description of the relocation assistance program.
TMC 1.100.050: two notices. The first at 210 to 180 days before the increase. The second at 120 to 90 days before.
RCW 59.18.140: 90 days statewide, substantially following the form in RCW 59.18.720.
Send both Tacoma notices. The full worked calendar is on our Washington rent increase law page.
Budget for relocation assistance
Tacoma has two relocation assistance programs, triggered by different things and often confused.
Rent increase relocation assistance. Triggered by an increase of 5 percent or more in a 12 month period where the tenant elects to move. The tenant requests it, you pay within 30 days, and the tenant repays you within 10 days if they do not actually move.
| Size of the increase | What you pay |
|---|---|
| 5% up to 7.5% | Two months rent |
| Over 7.5% up to 10% | Two and a half months rent |
| Over 10% | Three months rent |
Displacement relocation assistance, TMC 1.95.080.B. Triggered by demolition, substantial rehabilitation or a change of use, for tenants at or below 50 percent of Pierce County median income. The base amount is $2,000 per eligible unit, CPI adjusted annually, split half landlord and half City.
The current adjusted figure changes every year. Confirm the current amount with the City of Tacoma before you rely on it.
Notice what this does to the arithmetic. A 12 percent increase on a $1,800 unit is $216 a month. If the tenant elects to move, you owe three months rent, which is $5,400. That is 25 months of the higher rent just to break even, before any vacancy. It is why we usually recommend smaller, better-timed increases inside Tacoma.
Check the eviction calendar before you serve a notice to vacate
Tacoma restricts when a tenant can be made to leave, on top of the statewide just cause rules.
School year restriction, TMC 1.100.060(2). No eviction requiring a tenant to vacate during the Tacoma Public Schools year where the tenant, another resident, or a household guardian is a student, a guardian of a child, or an educator. Exceptions include owner or family occupancy, condemnation, roommate removal, sexual harassment, drug nuisance, unlawful business, and threats to health or safety.
Cold weather restriction, TMC 1.100.063. No evictions from November 15 through March 15. Owners of four or fewer rental units in Tacoma are exempt.
Both live in TMC 1.100, so both are enforced by private lawsuit. Statewide notice types and periods are on our page on eviction notices and the unlawful detainer process.
Check whether you are exempt from TMC 1.100
Most of TMC 1.100 does not apply to the Tacoma Housing Authority, to nonprofits, or to deed-restricted affordable housing. The exemption takes effect 30 days after written notice to tenants, so if you qualify, that written notice is not optional. It is what starts the exemption.
What it costs to get this wrong
Under TMC 1.100.080(2), penalties are not less than $500 and up to five times the monthly rent per violation, plus injunctive relief. Tenants may sue, and so may organizations acting on their behalf.
Five times the monthly rent on a $1,800 unit is $9,000 per violation. Penalties run per violation, so a fee structure that is wrong at move-in and wrong again on every late payment does not stay a single problem for long.
A note on the rest of Pierce County
Tacoma’s rules stop at the city line. Unincorporated Pierce County has no general business license and no rental registration that our research found, although a state Business License with a UBI number is still required. Puyallup and University Place have a general business license only. Lakewood is the strictest jurisdiction in the county and runs a full Rental Housing Safety Program with mandatory inspections, so if your property is there, start with our Lakewood Rental Housing Safety Program guide instead.
The rest of this guide
Each of these goes deeper on one piece of it.
01
Washington landlord tenant law: the complete plain-English guide to RCW 59.18.
02
Washington rent increase law: HB 1217, the annual cap, the notice form and the Tacoma stack.
03
Eviction notices and the unlawful detainer process: notice types, service and the court steps.
04
Washington security deposit law: the 30 day rule, the checklist requirement and the Tacoma caps.
05
Washington landlord tenant law: the complete plain-English guide to RCW 59.18.
06
Tacoma landlord business license: the fee table and the FileLocal application.
07
Lakewood Rental Housing Safety Program: registration, inspection and the Certificate of Compliance.
08
Current Tacoma rent data: median and average rent by bedroom, with sources and dates.
Reading this and realizing your setup does not match it is common, and it does not mean you did anything wrong. Tacoma changed the rules on January 1, 2026, and most of the guidance online has not caught up.
If you would like a second set of eyes on your own property, we manage inside Tacoma city limits every day. Book a property management consult, or call 253.222.3387. No charge, no pressure.
Tacoma rental law questions we get asked
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Yes. A Tacoma business license is required for all rental activity inside city limits, with no unit threshold, so a single rental house counts. It matters more than most owners expect. Under TMC 1.95.060.E and TMC 1.95.070.B, a landlord without a current license and unit registration with certification of code compliance cannot lawfully raise rent or serve a notice to vacate.
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TMC 1.95.060 requires 180 days of written notice on a City form, raised from 120 days on January 1, 2026. TMC 1.100.050 separately requires two notices, the first at 210 to 180 days before the increase and the second at 120 to 90 days before. Statewide, RCW 59.18.140 requires 90 days. Send both Tacoma notices to satisfy all three.
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It depends on which code you are asked about. TMC 1.95.065 allows 1.5 percent of the unpaid monthly rent after the $75 cap was removed on January 1, 2026. TMC 1.100 caps late fees at $10 per month and is enforced by private lawsuit. Because the tenant can sue over the difference, the safe number is $10 per month.
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No more than the first month’s rent in total. TMC 1.100.040 adds the security deposit, non-refundable fees and screening fees together and caps the sum at one month’s rent. A pet damage deposit is separately capped at 25 percent of one month’s rent, and it is refundable to the extent it exceeds actual pet damage.
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Not between November 15 and March 15, under TMC 1.100.063, unless you own four or fewer rental units in Tacoma. Ordinance 29086 narrowed that window from the previous November 1 through April 1. A separate restriction in TMC 1.100.060(2) blocks evictions during the Tacoma Public Schools year for households with a student, a guardian of a child, or an educator, with listed exceptions.
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The City will be satisfied and your tenant can still sue you. TMC 1.95 is enforced by the City. TMC 1.100 is enforced only through private lawsuits brought by tenants or organizations. Penalties under TMC 1.100.080(2) run from not less than $500 up to five times the monthly rent per violation, plus injunctive relief. Where the codes disagree, follow the stricter one.
Have a question about your own property?
Tacoma is one of the most regulated rental markets in Washington, and the rules moved again on January 1, 2026. Most owners we talk to are not cutting corners. They are working from information that used to be right.
If you want to talk through how any of this applies to your address, we are here Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm, and we reply within 24 hours.
Red Roof Rentals & Real Estate, 14208 Pacific Ave., Unit #2, Tacoma, WA 98444. 253.222.3387. support@redroofrentals.com.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and rental law changes. Confirm anything that matters with a Washington attorney or with the City of Tacoma.