How much notice do tenants get when I sell my Tacoma rental?

Start by deciding which sale you’re making

In one kind of sale, the tenants stay. You sell to someone who wants a rental, the lease carries over, and the tenants never have to pack a box. In the other, you end the tenancy, the house sits empty for a while, and you sell to whoever wants it most, including people who plan to live there.

Each one costs something. An occupied sale limits you mostly to investors, and they price in the current rent, the lease terms and whatever they can’t see behind a tenant’s furniture. A vacant sale opens the door to every kind of buyer, but you give up rent during the notice period and the listing, and a house that’s just been moved out of often needs paint, cleaning and repairs before it shows well.

With a duplex or a small multifamily building, the first path is usually the natural one. Many buyers for a Tacoma duplex are investors, or owner-occupants who want to live in one side and rent the other, and an existing tenant can be exactly what they’re looking for.

Selling with the tenants staying

A sale doesn’t cancel a lease. The buyer takes the property subject to the existing rental agreement and steps into your role as landlord, with the same rent, the same term and the same deposit obligations. If your tenant has six months left on a lease, the new owner gets those six months too.

What buyers want from you is paper. A copy of every current lease and any amendments. A rent ledger showing what’s been paid. The move-in condition checklist, which Washington requires when a landlord collects a deposit. A list of deposits and any prepaid rent. Many buyers also ask the tenant to sign a short statement confirming the rent, the deposit and the lease dates, so nobody is surprised after closing.

This is the route where a cash sale often fits best. Cash buyers who purchase rentals directly are used to tenant-occupied houses, and many prefer a unit that’s already producing rent. A cash offer request through the Homexa® network goes to that kind of independent buyer, and you can compare any offer against what a vacant listing would net before you decide anything.

Ending the tenancy to sell: the state rule

Since 2021, Washington has required landlords to have one of the reasons listed in RCW 59.18.650 to end most residential tenancies. Selling is one of them, with conditions.

The owner has to elect to sell a single-family residence and give the tenant at least 90 days’ written notice. The statute then asks you to follow through. Within 30 days after the tenant moves out, you are expected to make reasonable attempts to sell, which at minimum means listing the house at a reasonable price with a real estate brokerage or on the multiple listing service. If you don’t list it in that window, or within 90 days you take it off the market or rent it to someone else, the law presumes you never really meant to sell, and that can expose you to a claim from the tenant.

Two details trip up small landlords. First, the sale reason is written for a single-family residence. If your rental is a duplex or has more than one unit, ask an attorney whether it applies before you rely on it. Second, a fixed-term lease that hasn’t ended is a separate question. A plan to sell doesn’t cut a lease short, and how the notice period lines up with the end of the lease is something to confirm before you serve a notice, since a notice that’s wrong on its face can reset the clock. Service rules are technical too, which is one more reason to have an attorney look at the notice before it goes out.

What Tacoma’s own code adds

Tacoma layers city rules on top of state law. The Rental Housing Code, Chapter 1.95 of the Tacoma Municipal Code, and the voter-approved Landlord Fairness Code, Chapter 1.100, both apply to most rentals inside city limits. The council has amended them more than once, most recently in December 2025 with changes that took effect in January 2026, and the city’s own summary says the rental code now spells out requirements for owners who elect to sell.

Before you call anyone, know these points:

• Any notice you serve under the state landlord-tenant act or the city codes has to go out with the city’s own Notice of Resources, a form that tells tenants where to find help. The city publishes a version for a notice to terminate tenancy. A notice that follows the state rule but skips the city’s form may not hold up.
• The rental needs a current City of Tacoma business license. The city says a landlord without one can’t pursue an eviction or raise the rent, so check the license before you plan around a notice.
• The Landlord Fairness Code limits evictions of households with students during the school year, and it bars most evictions from November 15 to March 15, though owners with four or fewer rental properties in the city are exempt from that winter rule. The city lists an owner selling the unit among the exceptions to both, but read the current text for how that applies to your situation.
• If you plan to renovate heavily or demolish before selling, a different set of rules applies. The rental code calls for a longer notice and relocation assistance for tenants displaced by significant rehabilitation, demolition or a change of use.

The city’s Housing Division fields these questions at TacomaRHC@tacoma.gov, through Tacoma FIRST 311 (253.591.5000 from outside city limits), and at the Tacoma Municipal Building at 747 Market Street. For anything beyond the basics, a landlord-tenant attorney who practices in Pierce County is the right call. These rules have changed several times in a short span, and the fix for a defective notice is usually starting over.

Showings, entry notice and keeping the tenants with you

Washington lets a landlord enter to show the home to prospective buyers with at least one day’s written notice, at reasonable times. Tenants can’t unreasonably refuse. That’s the legal minimum, and a listing run on the minimum tends to go badly.

A listing goes better when the tenants are on your side, and they have plenty of ways to make it harder without breaking any rule. Tell them about the sale before the sign goes up. Explain what it means for them, especially if they’re staying. Offer showing windows that fit their work schedule, a couple of set blocks a week. Ask permission before photographs are taken with their belongings in the frame. Some landlords offer a rent reduction or a cleaning service during the listing period in exchange for keeping the place ready to show. If you do, put it in writing.

A tenant-occupied house also argues for fewer, better showings. A cash buyer often needs only one walk-through. A listing on the open market can mean a steady stream of them.

Deposits, rent and the handoff at closing

When the sale closes with tenants in place, escrow handles most of the money, but check the list yourself:

• Security deposits and any prepaid last month’s rent are transferred to the buyer, usually as a credit on the settlement statement.
• Rent for the month of closing is prorated between you and the buyer.
• Tenants get written notice of the new owner and where to pay rent from now on.
• Keys, garage remotes, mailbox keys and any door codes go to the buyer, along with the move-in checklists and the leases.

If the house was vacated for the sale, the deposit is settled with the departing tenant under the usual state rules instead, with a written accounting of anything you keep. The settlement statement walk-through in what sellers pay at closing in Washington shows where prorations and credits land. For a rental in the North End or Ruston, buyers will also ask about soil, and disclosing the Tacoma Smelter Plume covers what to have ready.