Our law firm was not involved in the lawsuit described in this article. In a recent unpublished opinion Division III of the Washington Court of Appeals held that despite the acceptance of rent the occupants of certain rental property were merely tenants at sufferance and subject to eviction via an unlawful detainer action.[1]
Yearly Archives: 2009
15 posts
A lease expires upon end of term. This applies in a Seattle residential lease, the local just cause eviction ordinance notwithstanding. Carlstrom v. Hanline, 98 Wn. App. 780 (2000).
Generally, no. But, both residential and non-residential leases must be notarized and contain a legal description if the term exceeds a year.[1] In general an unacknowledged lease for a term exceeding one year is effective only as an oral lease and results in a tenancy from month to month.[2] Courts may under the doctrine of part performance enforce a lease that does not satisfy the statute of frauds if equity and justice so require.[3] It should be noted that the statute of frauds (a legal rule requiring certain contract to be written) affects only the validity of the lease term. […]
Many assume that in a lease to own housing transaction it is a simple matter to regain possession if the potential buyer fails to close and/or fails to pay rent. Not so fast. A landlord may bring either an unlawful detainer action or ejectment action to evict a tenant. It is far preferable for the owner to bring an unlawful detainer action. An unlawful detainer action is an expedited form of litigation narrowly tailored to the issue of possession. Counterclaims are only proper if they relate to the issue of the right of possession. However, unlawful detainer actions can only […]
[UPDATE NOTE: This bill ultimately did not pass.] A bill is being considered in Olympia that may limit landlord’s access to complete and accurate information and drive up the costs of obtaining tenant screening reports. The proposed law imposes new credit reporting obligations on tenant screening services. The new law would require them to issue only one complete screening report per tenant per sixty days and to issue a correction if information changes.