Under current Washington law for month-to-month tenancies either the landlord or tenant can end the tenancy with written notice given the last day of the rental period (usually but not always the last day of a calendar month) served at least 20 days in advance. In Seattle residential landlords must have just cause to evict, even if the tenant is month-to-month. Without just cause, the landlord has a perpetual tenant. A Seattle residential tenant meanwhile can still terminate the tenancy on 20 days notice. If a lease provision calls for more than 20 days, the parties must give the longer […]
Monthly Archives: December 2017
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The purchaser at a trustee’s sale foreclosure is required to serve on all occupants a notice to vacate. The former owners and other non-tenant occupants must vacate within twenty days of the foreclosure auction. The new owner must give tenants in the foreclosed property 60 days notice to vacate. No 20-day notice to terminate tenancy or other type of pre-eviction notice is required.[1] In a recent Court of Appeals case the foreclosure sale purchaser served a notice naming a former owner. The former owner’s wife had already moved out, so the new owner did not name her in the notice […]
Some leases have provisions that stipulate that if the tenant hold over a periodic month-to-month tenancy results. Such lease provisions may not be in the landlord’s interests. Automatic month-to-month lease provisions are not necessary. The rule in Washington is that if a tenant holds over after expiration of a lease term, pays rent, and the landlord accepts the rent, a month-to-month tenancy results as a matter of law.[1] No language in the lease is necessary. The month-to-month tenancy is created by the conduct of the parties. The bottom line—if the landlord wants to keep the tenant and the tenant wants […]