The recently passed Federal Way “Stable Housing” initiative limits the grounds upon which landlords may evict tenants. These limits apply even if the tenant is month-to-month. The eviction grounds include non-payment of rent and other breaches of the rental agreement, or the tenant commits waste or nuisance. Some eviction grounds require 120-day notice. These grounds include 1) that the landlord or immediate family member intends to reside in the rental, 2) the landlord seeks to convert the property to a condominium, 3) the landlord seeks to demolish or substantially rehabilitate the rental, 4) a governmental entity has prohibited rental to […]
Yearly Archives: 2019
12 posts
The controversial Seattle First in Time law was recently upheld by the Washington Supreme Court. Under the First in Time law, Seattle landlords seeking to fill vacant residential tenancies must provide notice of their rental criteria, screen applications in chronological order, and offer the tenancy to the first qualified applicant, subject to certain exceptions. Notice of rental criteria. The landlord must first “provide notice to a prospective occupant” of “the criteria the owner will use to screen prospective occupants and the minimum threshold for each criterion,” as well as “all information, documentation, and other submissions necessary for the owner to […]
Washington landlords can terminate a month-to-month tenancy with a notice to the tenant requiring the tenant to vacate at the end of a month, served at least twenty days in advance. No notice is required at the end of a fixed-term lease unless the lease contract terms require notice or automatically trigger a month-to-month tenancy at the end of the lease term. This is the law even in Seattle, where a residential landlord is required to have just cause to end any tenancy. Tacoma has a different set of rules under laws enacted in 2019. Landlords must give sixty days […]
New laws recently went into effect that make important changes to residential landlord-tenant law. These changes are too numerous and nuanced to exhaustively cover here. Some of the more important changes are highlighted below. 14-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Vacate There is no longer a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent for residential tenancies. Notices now require a 14-day cure period and must have specific statutorily mandated language. Definition of Rent “Rent” is now defined by statute to mean recurring periodic payments, including utilities. Deposits may be included only if the initial rental agreement terms allow the tenant to […]
A new law recently went into effect that requires a 14-day notice to pay rent or vacate for all Washington residential tenancies. The landlord must use statutorily mandated language. There is no longer a 3-day notice for residential tenants in Washington. The 14-day notice form is available for download on our site. Additional documents must be served on Tacoma residential tenants. For commercial tenants, the 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate still applies.
The Washington state legislature has passed sweeping changes to residential landlord-tenant laws. These new laws go into effect July 28, 2019. Rent increases. Effective July 28 of this year, rent increases will require 60 days notice for most tenants (currently 30 days). Different rules apply for Section 8 tenants. Other rule changes will still require 30 days notice. Landlords must apply all payments towards rent first, before applying payments to non-recurring charges such as late fees, deposits, and other charges. 14-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Vacate Form. A pay rent or vacate notice will require a 14-day cure period, […]
The Washington State Court of Appeals recently ruled in our client’s favor. The tenant’s attorney appealed the trial court rulings, arguing error by the trial court on various points. We obtained a ruling from the Court of Appeals in our client’s favor on all issues, and got an award for attorney fees for the appeal.
Swiping legislation that will make major changes to landlord-tenant law will be enacted soon. Some of the key provisions include: notice to Pay Rent or Vacate extended from 3 days to 14 days; expansion of public funds to pay landlords past due rent; expanded discretion for courts to reinstate the tenancy, conditioned on payment of rent and in some cases court cost. While the eviction process will take longer, more landlords will actually get the rent they are owed, and in many cases the court costs as well. We have gotten thousands of judgments for residential landlords over the years […]
Sometimes tenants fail to respond to an eviction summons, or fail to appear for a hearing only to later appear in court and ask the court to give them another hearing date and to stay the eviction in the meantime. Landlords and their attorneys often get little or no notice of the stay until it is granted. A Court of Appeals decision had required tenants to give the landlord notice that they were seeking a stay, and required the tenant to post a bond. No longer. The state Supreme Court last week ruled that tenants are not required to give […]
A new eviction law has passed the state Senate. A companion bill is in committee in the House. If enacted the law would go into effect later this year. The two bills differ in some respects. To become law, the same bill must pass both chambers and be signed by the governor. Here is a quick summary of the changes to the eviction process in the proposed bills. the notice to pay rent or vacate cure period is changed from 3 days to 14 days rent may not include late fee or utilities, or other non-rent items notices must be […]