Washington Landlord Tenant Law

Archive for the ‘Government Sites’ Category

The budget shortfall has led to changes at the courthouse in King County that will impact anyone seeking access to the ex parte department. This will impact all unlawful detainer (eviction) cases as unless an eviction case is set for trial – and very few are – the entire case is determined from start to finish in ex parte.

There are three common scenarios in which a landlord as plaintiff in an eviction action will need a court order in ex parte, aside from at a scheduled show cause hearing.

Unlike most other causes of action, in an eviction case a court order is required to set a hearing date. The order must be served on the tenant (which can be done by mail if the tenant has already been served a summons and complaint). RCW 59.18.370.

Another is a court order to post and mail the summons and complaint. While no court order is necessary to post and mail notices, the summons and complaint can only be served in such manner after diligent attempts at personal service. Then the landlord may seek a court order to allow service by posting and mailing. RCW 59.15.055.

Finally, if a tenant is served a summons and complaint and does not respond the landlord can seek by default and without notice a writ of restitution and (as long as the summons and complaint were served personally) a judgment. RCW 59.12.120; RCW 59.18.365. The writ is then delivered to the sheriff for service.

As it stands now any of these three matters can be presented in person on a walk-in basis and the attorney for the landlord can walk out with the order signed. In taking a default the writ can be turned in to the sheriff the same day the case is filed and the default presented.

This all changes January 1^st. Under the new procedure for all ex parte orders the proposed order will be left with the court clerk and a new $30.00 fee will have to be paid. Several times a day the clerk’s office will take all proposed ex parte orders to the ex parte courtroom and pick up those that have already been considered. There will be no opportunity to present the order in person and walk out with it.

This particularly impacts taking a default. The clerk’s office will issue the writ but will not deliver the writ to the sheriff. The clerk’s office understandably wants neither to be responsible for handling the writs or the funds that must be paid to the sheriff, nor to use staff time to deliver writs.

That means the landlord or the landlord’s attorney will have to send someone to the courthouse when the writ is ready and courier it from the 6^th floor to the 1^st in Seattle, or from the 2^nd to the 1^st in Kent. This of course will only add expense and delay.

While the new process is untested and the exact ramifications unknown, it is clear that because of the budget crisis landlords and other litigants will pay more and get less.