Washington · Real estate contractsWashington real estate contract forfeiture: the notices, the 90-day cure and what the buyer loses

Under a Washington real estate contract the seller keeps title until the buyer pays, and the buyer's rights can't be forfeited except as the Real Estate Contract Forfeiture Act provides – by giving and recording the required notices; at the seller's option the contract may instead be foreclosed like a mortgage, though the two can't be pursued at the same time (RCW 61.30.020). The notices must go to each purchaser last known to the seller and to the last holder of record of the purchaser's interest – or the forfeiture is void – and, for their interests to be forfeited, to subordinate lienholders of record and reasonably discoverable occupants (RCW 61.30.040). The notice of intent to forfeit identifies the contract, the property and each default, and states that the contract will be forfeited unless all defaults are cured by a date at least ninety days after the notice is recorded, or any longer period in the contract, and what forfeiture means: the purchaser's rights end, payments stay with the seller, improvements go to the seller, and occupants must surrender possession (RCW 61.30.070). Even if the contract has an acceleration clause, the seller can't require accelerated payments as a condition of cure, except for a valid due-on-transfer clause, and the purchaser, subordinate lienholders, occupants and guarantors may cure before the deadline (RCW 61.30.090). Once a sworn declaration of forfeiture is recorded, the purchaser and those given notice have no further rights and no right to redeem, and the seller keeps the sums paid (RCW 61.30.100).