Paying rent by credit card in WA: Do you have to pay a processing fee, too?

Seemingly every renter these days knows the experience. You go to your landlord’s online portal to pay your rent for the month, and you notice an added fee for paying online or by credit card.

While these fees might be negligible for some, for people already struggling to pay rent, an added fee can be significant.

But does adding a credit card fee mean you are being forced to pay a higher amount than your agreed-upon rent, or is it considered a reasonable way for rental companies to deal with fees imposed on them by banks and credit card companies?

Here’s what Washington state law has to say about the topic.

Landlords are required to accept checks

Even if all of your only payment options carry some sort of processing fee, under state law, your landlord has to accept other payment methods.

2022 legislation amended state law to protect tenants from landlords requiring them to pay online.

RCW 59.18.063 requires landlords to accept rent payments made by personal check, cashier’s check or money order. Landlords have to accept payments sent in the mail, unless they specify an easily accessible location where tenants can drop off a check. Landlords are allowed to reject rent payments made in cash.

But what if your lease requires you to pay through an online portal? That’s not allowed under RCW 59.18.230, after an addition to the law created by the same 2022 legislation.

According to the law, a lease isn’t allowed to contain a clause under which the tenant “agrees to make rent payments through electronic means only.”

What if a rent check bounces?

There’s an exception to the law requiring landlords to accept rent payments by check. If the tenant has attempted to make a rent payment by personal check and had that check bounce within the previous nine months, a landlord is allowed to require payment through a different method. However, the tenant can still pay with a cashier’s check or money order. After the nine-month mark, landlords are once again required to accept personal checks.

Can a landlord charge a fee for accepting a check?

While state law requires landlords to accept rent payments made by check, it doesn’t explicitly prohibit them from charging a processing fee on payments made by check. That said, the purpose of a processing fee is typically to offset the fee that the credit card company charges your landlord, or the fees associated with using a third-party website to pay rent.

Since banks typically won’t charge fees for depositing a check unless you’re not an account holder, it’s unlikely that a landlord would charge a check-processing fee.

If you think you’re being charged a fee even after paying by check, you can review the terms of your lease or ask your landlord for clarification. If you still believe you’re being wrongly charged, contact local and statewide tenants’ rights resources in Washington, such as the Tenants Union of Washington State.

2025 changes to WA landlord-tenant law

RCW 59.18.230, which governs which provisions a lease can and can’t contain, is set to change July 27, 2025. While none of the changes affect a landlord’s ability to charge processing fees, there are some notable updates.

Under the updated law, a rental agreement that contains any of the following provisions will be considered unenforceable:

• A tenant waives their right to bring legal action against the landlord

• The tenant signs a nondisclosure agreement relating to the lease

• Agrees that disputes will be arbitrated, unless the landlord agrees to pay all related fees

Another notable change to Washington’s landlord-tenant law is a new cap on rent increases. Under the new law, landlords aren’t allowed to increase rent by more than 10%, or 7% on top of inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, in a given year.

In addition to state law, some cities have looked into ways to protect renters from added fees. In 2024, Olympia passed an ordinance targeting excessive fees imposed on renters. Later in the year, Bellingham’s city council considered limiting landlords’ ability to impose “junk fees” on tenants.

WashingtonLawHelp.org and the National Low Income Housing Coalition both maintain resources on the different renter protections in place in cities across the state.

A previous version of this article was originally published in September, 2024.