September 2026: reverified the current text of RCW 59.04.010 and RCW 64.04.010 and the King County Recorder’s fees, counter hours, and recording cutoff, and added the residential cross-reference the amendment wrote into RCW 59.04.010. July 2026: first publication. Statutory text verified against RCW 59.04.010 and RCW 64.04.010 as published by the Washington State Legislature, and against the enrolled session law.
There is a version of this article that tells you Washington law changed, that the change is important, and that you should call a lawyer. That version is not useful to you. What you need is the sentence that came out of the statute, the sentence that went in, and the one place where a notary still matters.
Search results on this question are wrong in both directions right now. Some pages still tell Washington landlords that a commercial lease running longer than a year has to be notarized to be valid. Others read the change as taking acknowledgment out of leasing altogether. Neither is what happened.
At a glance
- Washington law does not condition the validity of a lease on acknowledgment. RCW 64.04.010 provides that leases do not require acknowledgment, witness, or seals.
- Substitute Senate Bill 5840, Chapter 27, Laws of 2024, amended RCW 59.04.010 and RCW 64.04.010 and took effect June 6, 2024.
- Acknowledgment survives as a recording requirement. Under RCW 64.04.010, a lease and a memorandum of lease must carry the lessee’s and lessor’s acknowledged signatures to be recorded.
- RCW 59.04.010 abolishes tenancies from year to year in Washington except where they are created by express written contract, and its current text says nothing in the section conflicts with or supersedes RCW 59.18.210.
- As of September 2026, the King County Recorder’s Office charges $303.50 for the first page of a document in its all other documents fee category, plus $1 for each additional page.
Does a Washington commercial lease over one year need to be notarized?
No. Washington law does not make acknowledgment a condition of a lease’s validity, whatever the term. RCW 64.04.010 provides that leases do not require acknowledgment, witness, or seals.
- Washington law places leases in a proviso to the general rule that conveyances of real estate must be by deed. RCW 64.04.010 provides that leases do not require acknowledgment, witness, or seals.
- The current text of RCW 59.04.010 contains no acknowledgment requirement. It provides that leases may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print.
- Washington law still requires a written instrument for a tenancy from year to year. RCW 59.04.010 abolishes tenancies from year to year except where they are created by express written contract.
- If either party intends to record the lease or a memorandum of it, acknowledgment is required for that purpose under RCW 64.04.010.
- The change applies statewide. Substitute Senate Bill 5840, Chapter 27, Laws of 2024, amended both RCW 59.04.010 and RCW 64.04.010.
Exception: A lender, a title company, or an escrow instruction can require acknowledgment as a condition of funding or insuring, and those requirements sit outside the statute entirely.
According to RCW 64.04.010, Washington State Legislature, as of September 2026.
Landlords and brokers still ask this question because the answer used to be different, and the old answer is what most of the internet still repeats. The statute used to give leases a safe harbor only for terms of one year or less, which left everybody assuming that anything longer had to go in front of a notary. That assumption is now backwards. What matters is not how long the term runs. It is whether anyone intends to put the document on record.
Term length is one of several points worth settling before anyone signs, and our commercial leasing practice covers how the rest of the document divides cost and risk between the parties.
What exactly did the 2024 amendment change?
Substitute Senate Bill 5840 struck the acknowledgment language from RCW 59.04.010 and rewrote the lease proviso in RCW 64.04.010. The bill took effect June 6, 2024.
- The bill was titled Acknowledgment of leases and amended RCW 59.04.010 and RCW 64.04.010.
- It struck the phrase reading, and shall be legal and valid for any term or period not exceeding one year, without acknowledgment, witnesses or seals, from RCW 59.04.010.
- It rewrote the proviso in RCW 64.04.010 to state that leases do not require acknowledgment, witness, or seals, but that to be recorded, a lease and a memorandum of lease must have the lessee’s and lessor’s signatures acknowledged.
- It added a sentence to RCW 59.04.010 stating that nothing in that section is to be construed to conflict with or supersede RCW 59.18.210, the residential provision. As of September 2026 the section history reads 2024 c 27 s 1.
- The Senate passed the bill on February 2, 2024, and the House passed it on February 27, 2024. The Governor approved it on March 13, 2024, and it was enacted as Chapter 27, Laws of 2024, with an effective date of June 6, 2024.
Exception: The amendment speaks only to acknowledgment. It does not change the separate writing requirements that apply to conveyances of real estate under chapter 64.04 RCW, and the sentence it added to RCW 59.04.010 leaves the residential rule in RCW 59.18.210 where it was.
According to RCW 59.04.010 and its 2024 session law history, Washington State Legislature, as of September 2026.
Reading an enrolled bill is nobody’s idea of a good afternoon, and the operative part here is one struck phrase buried inside a sentence about print and writing. What it comes down to: the one-year line that everyone built their signing checklist around is gone from the statute, and the acknowledgment question moved from validity over to recording. Those are two different questions. They used to share an answer by accident, and now they do not.
Do you still need acknowledgment to record a memorandum of lease?
Yes. RCW 64.04.010 requires that a lease and a memorandum of lease carry the lessee’s and lessor’s acknowledged signatures in order to be recorded.
| What the parties intend to do with the lease | Acknowledgment required under RCW 64.04.010 | Source of the requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Sign it and hold it, with no recording | No | Leases do not require acknowledgment, witness, or seals |
| Record the lease document itself | Yes, lessee and lessor signatures | Recording proviso in RCW 64.04.010 |
| Record a memorandum of the lease | Yes, lessee and lessor signatures | Recording proviso in RCW 64.04.010 |
Exception: The statutory sentence reaches a lease and a memorandum of lease together, and that phrasing can be read to call for acknowledgment on both documents even when only the memorandum goes on record. We treat that reading as unsettled and acknowledge both.
According to RCW 64.04.010, Washington State Legislature, as of September 2026.
The number of commercial leases that get signed, filed in a drawer, and never looked at again is larger than most owners would guess, and that is fine right up until the building sells. Recording is not about making the lease real. It is about whoever buys the property next being unable to say they did not know. That is the entire function, and it is why an acknowledgment requirement survived a bill whose stated purpose was removing acknowledgment requirements.
Recording questions tend to surface late, usually during diligence, which is why we cover them alongside the rest of a commercial purchase and sale transaction.
What does King County require to record a memorandum of lease?
A memorandum of lease recorded in King County must carry acknowledged signatures and meet the state document formatting standards set by chapter 65.04 RCW.
As of September 2026, the King County Recorder’s Office charges $303.50 for the first page of a document in its all other documents fee category, plus $1 for each additional page.
- The King County Recorder’s Office states that Washington law sets its formatting standards at chapter 65.04 RCW and its fee authority at chapter 36.18 RCW.
- As of September 2026, the Recorder charges an additional $50 to record a non-standard document, meaning one that does not meet margin and format requirements.
- As of September 2026, a cover sheet counts as an additional page and carries the $1 per page fee.
- A document carrying two or more transactions in its title is charged for each title or transaction, though the Recorder’s Office states that additional page fees do not apply again in that situation.
- The King County Recorder’s Office is at 201 S. Jackson St., Suite 204, Seattle. As of September 2026 the counter is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and recording ends at 3:30 p.m.
- The Recorder’s Office states that most documents are viewable through its online records search within seven to ten business days of being deposited.
Exception: These figures are King County’s. A memorandum recorded in another Washington county follows that county’s own published fee schedule, which should be checked with that county directly.
According to the King County Recorder’s Office document recording page, King County Records and Licensing Services, as of September 2026.
Whether a memorandum is worth recording at all is a different decision from whether it can be recorded, and every deal answers it differently. It depends on the term, on whether the tenant holds an option or a right of first refusal worth keeping enforceable against a future buyer, on whether the lender wants the interest on record, and on how much of the economics either side is willing to make public. A recorded memorandum puts the world on notice, which is the point when a tenant wants security and the problem when a landlord wants privacy.
Landlords and tenants weighing that trade-off can see how we handle it across a portfolio on our commercial real estate services page.
Where this actually matters in a Seattle deal
Most of the commercial leases crossing our desk were drafted before June 2024 and still carry notary blocks. Leaving them in costs nothing. Stripping them out without first asking whether either party intends to record is how a memorandum gets rejected at the counter three weeks later.
K&S Canon handles commercial leasing and real estate matters for landlords, tenants, and investors in Seattle and King County. To have a lease or a memorandum reviewed before signature, contact K&S Canon or call (206) 507-4009.