Washington Tenants Can Install Portable Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps

That extra layer reflects window units' particular risk profile; a unit wedged into a window frame raises fall-hazard and emergency-exit concerns that a floor-standing, window-vented unit typically doesn't carry in the same way, which is why the statute singles out window-mounted devices for this additional scrutiny.

5. Why the 2-day notice requirement applies only to window-mounted installations

A tenant installing a window-mounted device has to give the landlord at least 2 days' notice before doing so; the statute doesn't require that same advance notice for saddle-mounted or floor-standing units.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

That asymmetry tracks the same risk distinction; since window units carry fall-hazard, egress, and structural considerations the other types generally don't, the landlord gets a brief advance window specifically for those installations to flag a conflict, like an insurance restriction, before the unit actually goes in.

6. Why landlords can inspect window units but can't charge for that inspection

A landlord may require inspection or servicing of a window-mounted unit, but can't charge a fee for use, inspection, or installation of any tenant-installed cooling device.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

A landlord exercising that inspection right needs to treat it as a verification step, confirming the installation doesn't create one of the statute's listed problems, rather than as a revenue opportunity; the fee prohibition applies regardless of how the inspection is framed.

7. Why damage charges and deposit retention remain available despite the fee ban

While use, inspection, and installation fees are off the table, a landlord can still charge for actual damage caused by a tenant-installed device, and can still retain security deposit funds to cover that damage.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

That distinction separates a flat fee for exercising the installation right itself, which the statute prohibits, from genuine cost-recovery for actual harm to the unit, which the statute still allows; a landlord shouldn't assume the fee ban eliminates all financial recourse for real damage.

8. Why the liability immunity matters for landlords concerned about tenant-installed equipment

A landlord has immunity from damages, injury, or death caused by a tenant-installed portable cooling device.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

That protection addresses a reasonable landlord concern; without this immunity, a landlord might feel pressure to restrict installations more aggressively than the statute actually requires, out of liability worry over equipment the landlord didn't select or install.

9. Why evaporative coolers fall into a genuine gap in this statute's coverage

The statute's installation right covers air conditioners and portable heat pumps specifically; an evaporative cooler, commonly called a swamp cooler, doesn't fit either category and isn't covered by this particular right.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

A tenant or landlord discussing a swamp cooler specifically should recognize this statute doesn't govern that device the same way; whatever the lease itself says about evaporative coolers, or whatever a landlord's general policy covers, controls that situation instead of this installation right.

10. Why lease language written before June 2026 needs a fresh look

A lease clause flatly banning portable AC or heat pump installation, drafted before this statute took effect, is now superseded by the tenant's statutory right wherever the two conflict.

[Cite: ESSB 6200]

A landlord relying on older lease templates should update that language to reflect the actual statutory conditions under which installation can be restricted, rather than leaving an outdated blanket prohibition in place that the statute no longer supports.

11. What property managers should do now

The practical starting point is updating lease templates to remove any blanket cooling-device prohibition and replace it with language reflecting the statute's actual, narrower conditions.

Building a short internal checklist, matching a tenant's installation request against the heat-pump exception, the general restrictions, and the window-unit-specific restrictions, helps staff respond consistently rather than defaulting to an outdated blanket "no" that the law no longer supports.