The Washington Property Producer License
Washington's Property line is "insurance coverage for the direct or consequential loss or damage to property of every kind" (RCW 48.17.170(1)(c)). It is offered as a standalone exam and line - you are not forced into the combined Property and Casualty paper.
Three routes exist and they are genuinely different products. Property alone ($38) writes property risks, personal and commercial. Property and Casualty combined ($55) adds liability. Personal Lines ($38) is narrower than either - property and casualty coverage "sold to individuals and families for primarily noncommercial purposes" (RCW 48.17.170(1)(f)). If your book will be commercial property, Personal Lines is the wrong door.
No pre-licensing course since July 23, 2023. Apply through NIPR for $55 after you pass, then get fingerprinted - in that order, because the OIC will not release you to IdentoGO until it has the application.
Three Ways Into Washington's Property Market
PSI administers all three, and the timings are not uniform - Personal Lines is the one row in the bulletin's fee table that breaks the pattern.
The Property Producer exam is 100 questions in 150 minutes for $38. The Property and Casualty Producer Combo is 150 questions in 195 minutes for $55. Personal Lines Producer is 100 questions in 135 minutes - fifteen minutes shorter than the other 100-question papers - also for $38.
Unscored items are administered "in addition to" the printed count: one to ten of them, about 10%, not graded but counted against the clock. Your 100 is the scored number.
Passing is 70% correct - a raw percentage. Attempts are unlimited, with no waiting period beyond the same day, and each attempt is a fresh $38.
The economics favour the combo if there is any chance you will write liability: $55 now against $38 plus another $38 later.
Most Tested Topics on the Washington Property Exam
Washington keeps several property rules in places a candidate would not think to look - the fire policy is in a regulation, the FAIR Plan is in a regulation, and the rate-filing system changes depending on whether the risk is personal or commercial. From the TESTivity Washington regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The Washington rule |
|---|---|
| Standard fire policy | Prescribed by rule: no company may issue a basic fire contract "other than on the form known as the 1943 New York Standard Fire Insurance Policy," with narrow modifications - and plain-language forms allowed only if they are equal to or better than the standard policy (WAC 284-20-010(3)) |
| FAIR Plan, existence | Washington has one - the Washington Essential Property Insurance Inspection and Placement Program, whose stated purpose includes "to establish a FAIR plan (fair access to insurance requirements), an industry placement facility and a joint reinsurance association" (WAC 284-19-020(5)) |
| FAIR Plan, what it writes | "Essential property insurance" - the standard fire policy and extended coverage endorsement plus vandalism and malicious mischief, and builder's risk; automobile and farm or manufacturing risks are excluded (WAC 284-19-050(2)) |
| Personal-lines rate filings | Prior approval with a deemer. RCW 48.19.060 is the general filing track rather than a personal-lines section - personal lines land on it because commercial property casualty is carved out elsewhere. No filing takes effect within 30 days, extendable by up to 15, and a filing is "deemed to meet the requirements" of the chapter unless disapproved inside that window (RCW 48.19.060(2)(a), (2)(b)) |
| Commercial property casualty rate filings | Use and file. The policy "may be issued prior to filing the rates," with the rates filed within thirty days after issuance - but medical malpractice and portable electronics are carved back out of the definition (RCW 48.19.043(2), (5)) |
| Policy form filing | Filed and approved before use, and deemed approved after 30 days - unless the filing carries a certification by the insurer's chief executive officer or an actuary who is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, which permits immediate use (RCW 48.18.100(1)-(3)) |
| Credit history in underwriting | An insurer may never cancel or nonrenew personal insurance on credit history or an insurance score, and may deny only "in combination with other substantive underwriting factors" (RCW 48.18.545(3), (4)) |
| Credit data that may never be used | The absence of credit history where the consumer gave complete information, the number of inquiries, collections carrying a medical industry code, the new loan from a first purchase or finance of a vehicle or house, the type of card held, and the total available line of credit (RCW 48.18.545(5)(a)-(f)) |
| Surplus lines, the prerequisite | A resident surplus line broker "must have and maintain" a resident producer licence with property and casualty lines of authority - and must pass a separate examination (RCW 48.15.070(1), (2); WAC 284-15-010) |
| Surplus lines, diligent effort | A search of "a majority of the insurers authorized to transact that kind of insurance in this state." Washington sets no numeric declination count. The broker certifies the facts under penalty of licence suspension and files within 60 days of procuring the coverage (RCW 48.15.040(2), (5)(b), (5)(d)) |
| Surplus lines premium tax | 2%, remitted by the broker to the state treasurer through the Commissioner on or before March 1 for the preceding calendar year (RCW 48.15.120; RCW 48.14.020(1)(a); WAC 284-15-110) |
The FAIR Plan is the single most likely place for a Washington property candidate to be wrong, because so much secondary material says Washington has none. It does. The reason for the confusion is structural: Washington built it as a regulation under the Commissioner's general rulemaking power in RCW 48.02.060, not as a chapter of the insurance code, so anyone searching the RCW alone comes up empty. Chapter 284-19 WAC has been on the books since 1969 and carries the whole machinery - inspections and reports, distribution and placement, a joint reinsurance association, a right of appeal, and its own cancellation rules.
The rate-regulation split is the second reliable point, and it is a two-part answer. Do not memorise "Washington is a prior-approval state" - memorise that commercial property casualty is carved out onto a use-and-file track, and everything else, personal lines included, stays on the general prior-approval track, and that the definition of "commercial property casualty" in RCW 48.19.043(5) excludes medical malpractice and portable electronics, which therefore go back to prior approval. The 30-day deemer is the same length in both systems, but in one it runs before the policy issues and in the other after.
On credit scoring, be careful about which era an item is testing. The Commissioner adopted an emergency rule in 2021 banning credit-based scoring outright in personal auto, homeowners and renters. A Thurston County court held he had exceeded his authority, final judgment was entered in August 2022, and the Commissioner did not appeal - so the total ban is gone. What survives is the statutory scheme: an absolute bar on cancelling or nonrenewing on credit, a conditional bar on denying, and the six categories of data at RCW 48.18.545(5) that may never be used at all.
Where to Take the Exam in Washington
PSI prints eleven Washington locations in the candidate bulletin with full street addresses, spread either side of the Cascades. Scheduling is through the PSI portal at test-takers.psiexams.com/waoic or by phone on 855-205-5825.
| Location | Address |
|---|---|
| Arlington | 18810 59th Dr NE, Bldg 44A, Arlington, WA 98223 |
| Bellevue (Seattle area) | Newport Place, 4122 Factoria Blvd SE, Suite 303, Bellevue, WA 98006 |
| Bremerton | Avian Flight, 8900 State Hwy 3 SW, Suite 101, Bremerton, WA 98312 |
| Ellensburg | Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Bouillon Hall Rm 125, Ellensburg, WA 98926 |
| Everett | 1010 SE Everett Mall Way, Suite 208, Everett, WA 98208 |
| Olympia | 3435 Martin Way E, Suite I, Olympia, WA 98501 |
| Richland | 3100 George Washington Way, Suite 135, Richland, WA 99354 |
| Spokane Valley | 920 N Argonne Road, Suite 202, Spokane Valley, WA 99212 |
| Tacoma | Tacoma Community College Testing Center, 6501 S 19th St, Building 6, Tacoma, WA 98466 |
| Vancouver | 11818 SE Mill Plain Blvd, Suite 402, Vancouver, WA 98684 |
| Yakima | 3611 River Rd, Suite 120, Yakima, WA 98902 |
Three of these are not ordinary PSI storefronts, and it matters for scheduling. Ellensburg sits inside Central Washington University's Bouillon Hall, Tacoma inside Tacoma Community College's testing centre, and Bremerton at a flight school. Campus testing centres keep academic hours and close for breaks and holidays; do not assume a Saturday slot exists because one exists in Bellevue.
Geography. Most of them are west of the Cascades, with Spokane Valley, Richland, Yakima and Ellensburg carrying the whole eastern half of the state. If you live in the northeast corner, Spokane Valley is effectively your only option; if you are in the Olympic Peninsula, Bremerton and Olympia are the realistic pair. That is a real argument for the remote-proctored route, which Washington still offers - the Health guide covers it, including the smartphone-second-camera requirement PSI added on August 3, 2026.
You can also test out of state. The bulletin notes that "PSI has examination centers in many other regions across the United States," so a Washington exam taken while you are travelling is a normal thing to book.
Rescheduling. "You may cancel and reschedule the same examination without forfeiting your fee if your cancellation notice is received 2 days before the scheduled examination date." Miss that window, or simply not turn up, and the fee is gone - WAC 284-17-120 requires a new date and a new fee, with the single escape being that the Commissioner may waive repayment where "a serious emergency prevented the applicant's attendance."
On the day itself, arrive 30 minutes early; the bulletin warns that a late candidate "may not be admitted to the examination center and you will forfeit your examination registration fee." The Life & Health guide walks check-in, identification and the prohibited-items rules in full.
What It Costs
Three payments to three payees, and no course fee. If surplus lines is in your future, note that it is a separate licence with its own exam, a $200 fee, and two bonds under RCW 48.15.070(5) and (6) - not an endorsement on this one.
Eligibility Requirements
At least 18, no act committed that is a ground for denial under RCW 48.17.530, RCW 48.14.010 fees paid, and the exam passed for the lines applied for (RCW 48.17.090(2)). Resident applicants are fingerprinted; non-residents are not.
One Washington-specific duty starts the day you are licensed and catches people out later: premiums are held in a fiduciary capacity and must sit in a separate account from all other business and personal funds (RCW 48.17.600(1), (2)). Your own money may go into that account to advance premiums or to reserve for return premiums (RCW 48.17.600(3)); premium money may never come out into your own. Each willful violation is a misdemeanour, and diverting fiduciary funds is theft under chapter 9A.56 RCW (RCW 48.17.480(4)).
Keeping the License
Important CE details: 24 credit hours of OIC-approved CE per license continuation period, three of them ethics (WAC 284-17-224), flat regardless of how many lines you hold and with no carryover. One product gate applies on this side of the business: selling a federal flood policy takes a one-time NFIP course of at least three credit hours, and requires the property AND casualty lines of authority.
24 credit hours per licence continuation period, three of them ethics (WAC 284-17-224). Flat regardless of lines held; no carryover (WAC 284-17-252); credit counts only if earned inside the current cycle.
Providers and courses are approved by the OIC directly - applications go to the education mailbox at insedu@oic.wa.gov, and a new course must be submitted at least 20 days before it is first offered for credit. Standards, approval, audit and revocation all sit with the Commissioner under WAC 284-17-270 through -299. Providers report your completions within 10 days.
There is one product-specific gate on this side of the business, and it is easy to miss. To sell a federal flood insurance policy you must hold a producer licence with the property and casualty lines of authority and complete a one-time flood insurance course of at least three credit hours meeting National Flood Insurance Program guidelines. It works exactly like the annuity and long-term care gates that bind the life and disability lines - a prerequisite before you may sell the product - and WAC 284-17-224(3) names it in the same breath as them, requiring the certificate to be kept for as long as you transact the product and in any event not less than three years. Note the lines requirement: Property alone is not enough.
Renewal mechanics, the late-fee tiers and the reinstatement window are in the Property & Casualty guide.
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