Running an AFH · For owners & investors
Hiring a Management Company for Your Washington Adult Family Home
What a management company can do for a Washington adult family home, what stays with you as the licensed owner, and the DSHS filing that has to come first.
The short answer
Yes. Washington allows an adult family home to hire a management company under a written agreement. The licensed owner stays responsible for the home and its residents, must meet with the manager every month and visit the home at least every quarter, and must file the agreement with DSHS 60 days before it starts. A company can manage many homes, but each home still needs its own on-site person in charge.
Two jobs called "manager"
Most confusion starts here. The rules use "manager" for a company you hire under a management agreement, and "resident manager" for the person in charge inside the home. They are different jobs with different limits.
Can one person manage more than one home? As a resident manager, no: each home has its own person in charge, designated for one home at a time. As a management company, yes: a company can hold agreements with several homes and owners. Each of those homes still needs its own on-site person in charge.
The live-in rule has one exception: no one has to live in the home if it has staff 24 hours a day and someone who can make decisions is always present (WAC 388-76-10040). Whether that lets one resident manager oversee homes belonging to two different owners is not settled by the rules. Ask DSHS before planning around it.
What a management company can do
Whatever the written agreement assigns to it, acting as your agent. Typically:
- Recruit and schedule staff and run payroll, as the owner's agent
- Bill residents and payers, and keep records the rules require
- Prepare for DSHS inspections and track training and certifications
- Sign resident agreements on the home's behalf, if the agreement authorizes it; the agreement itself is always between the home and the resident
- Handle residents' personal funds, but only with a bond or insurance covering those funds and a monthly accounting to the home
What stays with you, the licensed owner
Hiring a manager does not hand over the license or the responsibility. Every management agreement must leave you with:
- Ultimate responsibility for daily operations and for residents' care, services and safety
- Ultimate responsibility for personnel, staffing plans, and staff training
- Monthly oversight meetings with the manager, and on-site visits at least every quarter
- Appointing the entity representative (for a home owned by a company), through its own board or owners
- Reviewing and signing license applications, including a change of ownership
- Making sure the manager follows the agreement and never presents itself as the provider
The line you cannot cross. If you give a manager so much that you are no longer running the home day to day, DSHS treats it as a change of ownership and may take action against the license (WAC 388-76-11055). "A management company can run the home for me" is exactly the arrangement the rules do not allow.
Filing with DSHS: the 60-day clock
Before a management agreement starts, the home files a packet with DSHS:
- The written management agreement
- An organizational chart showing the home, the manager, and any related companies and staff
- A copy of the notice to residents
- Form DSHS 27-226, the attestation, signed by both the home and the manager
Timing: 60 days before the agreement takes effect, and residents and their representatives get written notice 60 days ahead. Changes to an existing agreement are filed 30 days ahead. A new applicant includes the agreement with the license application. DSHS can ask for more information or require changes (WAC 388-76-11050, 11065).
Where it goes: licensed homes email the form and attachments to RCSBOA@dshs.wa.gov, as the form itself directs. Open form DSHS 27-226.
Still to confirm with DSHS
Can the management company be the resident manager's employer? The rules do not say. They keep ultimate responsibility for "all personnel issues" with the licensed home (WAC 388-76-11060), so whoever signs the paycheck, the owner has to remain in charge of who is placed in the home. Ask DSHS before setting it up with the company as employer. We will update this page when DSHS answers in writing.
Questions to ask a management company
- 1.Do you file the management agreement and form 27-226 with DSHS for each home, 60 days before you start?
- 2.Who will be the on-site person in charge of my home, and who employs them?
- 3.How do you handle residents' money, and what bond or insurance covers it?
- 4.What do you report to me each month, and how do you prepare for our monthly meeting?
- 5.How many homes do you manage now, and may I speak with two of those owners?
- 6.How are you paid, and what happens to staff and records if either of us ends the agreement?
Finding a management company
AFH Club lists an adult family home management company the site owner has met in person, in the Operate row of AFH Club Featured Professionals. No one pays to be listed, and Real Property Planning receives nothing if you hire them.
Thinking of owning more than one home yourself? That is a separate path. A second license needs 24 months on the first with no enforcement actions for significant violations; later ones need 12 months since the last (WAC 388-76-10037). See Buying as an Individual or Through an LLC.
Sources
Each rule was read in full on the Washington State Legislature's site on October 10, 2026.
- WAC 388-76-11050: Management agreements — general
- WAC 388-76-11055: Management agreements — adult family home
- WAC 388-76-11060: Terms of the management agreement
- WAC 388-76-11065: Management agreements — department review
- WAC 388-76-11070: Management agreements — resident funds
- WAC 388-76-10036: Multiple adult family home management
- WAC 388-76-10040: Qualified person must live in or be on-site
- WAC 388-76-10130: Qualifications — provider, entity representative, and resident manager
- WAC 388-76-10037: Multiple adult family homes — additional homes
- Form DSHS 27-226: Management Agreement: Attestation Information and Attachments
This page is general educational information for adult family home owners, buyers and investors. It is not legal advice, and it does not describe any particular company's services. Rules change; confirm current requirements with DSHS Residential Care Services.
Frequently Asked Questions