Tacoma rent-increase packets after the 2026 amendments

What is clear

Tacoma's rental-housing guidance describes changes effective January 1, 2026, including a 180-day rent-increase notice, use of a city notice form, and relocation-assistance information for significant increases. Washington's statewide cap, first-year, form, and service rules also apply where the tenancy is covered.

The free checker can still calculate the statewide percentage, review dates, and identify the local relocation issue. That information has value to both sides as long as it is not presented as a complete Tacoma service packet.

What changed, and what remains

Earlier Tacoma materials associated with TMC 1.95 and TMC 1.100 described overlapping notice concepts, including an earlier 210-to-180-day notice and a later reminder. Ordinance 29086, effective January 1, 2026, removed that two-notice sequence: a rent increase now needs one 180-day notice on the City form, together with the City's relocation-assistance information.

Relocation assistance is available on request after an increase of 5% or more within 12 months: two months' rent up to 7.5%, two and a half months above 7.5%, and three months above 10%, with no income test. The free checker applies the 180-day period and these tiers now. Paid Tacoma packets will reopen once counsel approves the updated City-form template.

Why a disclosure alone is not enough

A disclaimer at the bottom of an automatically generated notice does not cure a known gap in the workflow. The product would still be taking money for a bundle whose central promise is a notice the user can print and deliver. The uncertainty belongs before payment, not inside the archive after checkout.

This is also why RentCap distinguishes a free informational check from a paid document. The calculation can be useful while the packet remains inappropriate. Users should not have to infer that distinction from a disabled button.

What Tacoma users can do now

Landlords can run the free check to see the 180-day date and relocation tier. The paid packet includes a Tacoma attachment explaining the City form, the relocation-assistance notice, and the tier for the planned increase. Serve on the current City form; do not substitute a Washington-only notice.

Renters can compare the amount, effective date, city form, relocation information, and delivery evidence with the official materials. Preserve every notice because multiple documents and dates may be important to the sequence.

How checkout was reopened

RentCap reopened Tacoma packet sales only after the city code supported a specific implementation and the packet, instructions, tests, and disclosures were updated together. The source and review date are recorded in the changelog.

That is a narrower promise than saying the law will never change. If Tacoma amends its rules again, the same standard applies: the product changes in one reviewed release, not through a quiet checkout toggle.

How RentCap handles uncertainty elsewhere

The Tacoma decision reflects a general product rule: missing user facts are labeled as needs-facts, but a known gap in the product's legal implementation can disable the paid output. Those are different problems. The user can supply a certificate date; the user should not be asked to resolve contradictory source interpretation hidden inside the software.

Source review is also dated. Tacoma's 2026 code revisions resolved the sequence, and the reopening is visible in the law timeline, changelog, tests, packet language, and readiness checks—not only in marketing copy or a checkout flag.

How to evaluate a future Tacoma update

A reliable update should cite the controlling city code and any official implementing guidance, identify its effective date, describe which properties and increases it covers, and explain the timing and contents of every required notice. It should also resolve how the city steps interact with Washington's form and service rules.

RentCap would then update the jurisdiction data, notice documents, delivery instructions, result copy, checkout eligibility, sample packet, and tests in one release. A manual toggle without those coordinated changes would reopen the same risk that caused the pause.

Users can monitor the public changelog and this guide for future Tacoma changes. The city source stays linked from every Tacoma result and packet.

For a Tacoma increase today, the practical sequence is: run the free check with the actual delivery date and rent-due day, note the 180-day effective date and relocation tier, complete the current City form with the amount and date from the packet, attach the City's relocation-assistance and resource notice, and keep the proof-of-service log with the calculation worksheet. Renters should compare each of those items with the notice they received and request relocation assistance in writing before the increase takes effect if the increase is 5% or more.