How to Request Repairs in Spokane So the Clock Actually Starts

Call the office if you want, but follow it with a text or email that says what is broken, where, and when you first noticed it. That message is what starts the statutory clock under RCW 59.18.070.

Keep the thread. Do not delete it when the repair happens — a fixed problem that took six weeks is evidence in a later dispute.

24 hours: no hot water, no heat, no water, or a condition that is imminently hazardous to life.

72 hours: refrigerator, range and oven, or a major plumbing fixture supplied by the landlord.

10 days: most other repairs the landlord is responsible for.

The clock runs from when the landlord receives your written notice — another reason the date on your message matters.

Photos and short videos with dates. A video of a running faucet with no hot water says more than a paragraph.

Note the effects: rooms you cannot use, days without heat, money spent on a hotel or space heater.

If a maintenance tech visits and tells you something — "the whole unit needs replaced, ownership won't approve it" — write it down the same day with the time and their name.

Washington gives tenants specific remedies when a landlord misses the deadline, which can include repair-and-deduct, rent escrow, or terminating the tenancy — each with its own procedural requirements you have to follow exactly.

For habitability problems inside city limits, the City of Spokane's code enforcement can inspect the property. An inspection report is strong third-party evidence.

Talk to Northwest Justice Project's CLEAR line before withholding rent. Doing it the wrong way can expose you to an eviction case.

Washington law presumes retaliation when a landlord raises rent, cuts services, or moves to evict shortly after you assert a repair right (RCW 59.18.240 and .250).

That presumption is only useful if you can show the order of events. Keep the repair request and whatever came after it in the same file, with dates.