This is the part worth understanding before you negotiate with anyone, because most deposit disputes are lost by tenants who did not know the rules rather than by tenants who left a dirty apartment.
Ordinary use is not chargeable
The controlling statute is RCW 59.18.280, and it says plainly that a landlord may not charge a tenant for wear resulting from ordinary use of the premises, or for damages that are not substantiated by documentation. Traffic patterns in carpet, faded paint, and the ordinary softening of a unit over a tenancy are not deductible. Grease baked onto an oven floor is a different category, and that is the category a move out clean removes.
There is a second half to that provision worth knowing. Unsubstantiated charges also may not be reported to a consumer reporting agency, a tenant screening service, or a prospective landlord, or sent to collections.
The statement and the deadline
Within 30 days of the tenancy ending and the unit being vacated, the landlord has to give you a full and specific written statement of the basis for keeping any part of the deposit, along with copies of the estimates or paid invoices that substantiate the charges, and any refund owed. Some older tenant guides still say 21 days. The statute text says 30, so work from the statute.
If the landlord does not comply, the statute makes them liable for the full deposit, and a court may award up to two times the deposit where the refusal to provide the statement or refund was intentional. The prevailing party can also recover costs and reasonable attorney fees.
Carpet cleaning is not automatic
A landlord cannot deduct for carpet cleaning as a matter of routine. It has to be documented wear beyond ordinary use, like any other charge. A blanket carpet cleaning fee taken out of every departing tenant's deposit is exactly the kind of charge the documentation requirement exists to stop.
What "professionally cleaned" means, and what it does not
Washington does not define a professional cleaning standard that a landlord can hold you to, and no statute requires you to hire a company or produce a receipt. What the law actually cares about is condition and documentation. A lease clause demanding professional carpet cleaning does not override the statute's ordinary use protection.
The practical defense is a record. The Attorney General's guidance on deposits and move in condition checklists makes the point that the checklist signed by both parties at move in is what a condition claim gets measured against later. Photograph the unit after the clean, date stamped, every room.
