While the eviction and landlord-tenant statutes do not generally apply to hotel or motel guests, longer-term guests may be treated as tenants. “Residence in a hotel, motel, or other transient lodging” is specifically exempted from the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act. Nevertheless, courts have treated longer-term guests as tenants. There historically has been no bright-line test. Rather, the courts look at the facts of a given case, taking into consideration such things as how long the resident has occupied the space, payment terms, and services provided. Some local laws create a presumption that a guest is a tenant after a specified […]
Yearly Archives: 2021
15 posts
Governor Inslee announced the extension of the residential eviction moratorium through June 30. Governor Inslee’s moratorium allows eviction when the owner seeks to sell or occupy the rental property as a primary residence. However, three cases are pending in the state Supreme Court on whether the CDC moratorium prevents evictions under these exceptions. Oral argument on those cases is set for May 13.
A new bill in Olympia would impose a state-wide just cause eviction law for residential rentals.[1] Landlords would not be allowed to terminate a tenancy or evict a tenant except for certain enumerated grounds. These would include failure to pay rent, material breach of the rental contract terms, creating waste or nuisance, the owner seeking to sell, the owner seeking to live in the property, and various other specified grounds. The law would require landlords to offer payment plans for tenants with rental debt due to COVID-19 hardship. The payment plan must be “based on the tenant’s finances” and other […]
Residential rent increases are not allowed under the Washington eviction moratorium. A bill in Olympia if passed into law would ban rent increases for six months after the end of the eviction moratorium.[1] Rent increases for an additional six-month period would be limited to three percentage points above the consumer price index. This is one of several sweeping proposals to change landlord-tenant laws in the wake of the pandemic. _____ [1] http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5139.pdf?q=20210115084249
A bill the Washington legislature is considering would require all residential landlords to offer a payment plan before engaging in any collection efforts for rent that was due during the pandemic state of emergency.[1] “Collection efforts” would be statutorily defined to include eviction or any court action, use of collection agencies, any threats to collect, and even withholding from a security deposit. The payment plan would have to be reasonable solely from the tenant’s—but with no consideration of the landlord’s— “financial, health, or other circumstances.” A landlord’s failure to offer a payment plan would be defense to eviction. For two […]