Travis Scott Eller will chair and present at a seminar entitled “Residential Eviction” on April 2, 2026. The Seminar Group, an accredited sponsor with the Washington State Bar, sponsors the seminar. The seminar is pending approval for continuing legal education credit with the Washington State Bar and for real estate clock hours with the Department of Licensing. Mr. Eller’s topic is “Cutting Edge Issues in Landlord-Tenant Law.”
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Update (as of 1/16/26): After this case note was posted, attorneys representing the tenants filed a motion to reconsider and requested oral argument. The attorney representing the landlord filed a response. The court’s ruling could (obviously) change the holding summarized in this article. Residential unlawful detainer filings (eviction cases) have seen record volume in Washington in recent years. Most residential unlawful detainer actions proceed no further than a statutory show cause hearing. But what is a show cause hearing? Is it a preliminary injunction hearing? A summary judgment hearing? A hybrid? What burden must the plaintiff meet to gain […]
A new law enacted by the City of Tacoma exempts public housing and low-income rental housing providers from the winter eviciton ban and school year eviciton ban. The law also exempts owners of four or fewer units from the cold weather eviction ban (but not from the school year eviction ban). The fewer than five units exemption matches Seattle’s winter eviction ban exemption. All owners may petition a court for relief from various provisions upon demonstrating undue hardship. Some of the changes of broader application are summarized below. This short summary is not a substitute for legal advice. If you […]
Attorney Travis Scott Eller will present at a King County Law Library Landlord-Tenant Q&A session June 18, 2025. Registration is free but limited. For more details or to register go the King County Law Library website.
Washington has a new rent control law that went into effect immediately. The law caps rent increases at the lesser of 7% plus inflation or 10%. Rent increases must be in a form with mandated language and must give the tenant at least 90 days’ notice. The notice must be served in accordance with RCW 59.12.040, which is the same statute defining how pay or vacate and similar notices are served. This statute has also been changed recently. If a landlord serves a notice that increases the rent beyond the rent cap, the tenant must provide the landlord with an […]
Landlords must serve predicate eviction notices (notice to pay rent or vacate, notice to comply or vacate, notice of intent to sell, etc.) in strict compliance with statutory time and manner requirements. Even if the tenant receives the notice, failure to serve strictly in a legally correct manner will result in the court’s dismissal of the eviction case. Service of the notice requires someone to go to the property and knock or ring. In some scenarios, mailing is required in addition to service at or on the door. The manner of mailing changes under the new law. Under previous law, […]
Attorney Travis Eller chaired a legal education seminar on March 27, 2025, for the Seminar Group. In addition to acting as chair for the seminar, Travis Eller presented on Federal and State Updates. Attendance was roughly double compared to recent years, and feedback on both the seminar and Mr. Eller’s presentation was generally very positive. The seminar is approved for legal education credits in both Washington and California, and for real estate clock hours in Washington. The Residenital Evictions seminar is available for download on the Seminar Group website.
Landlord-tenant Attorney Travis Scott Eller is set to chair a continuing legal education seminar on March 27, 2025. The Seminar Group is offering the landlord-tenant law seminar which is approved by the Washington State Bar Association for continuing legal education credit. An accomplished panel will present on landlord-tenant law and related subjects. For more information see the Seminar Group website.
Attorney Travis Scott Eller presented a lecture at the National Business Institute’s “Washington Landlord-Tenant Law 2024” seminar on October 22, 2024. Mr. Eller’s topic was “Terminating Tenancy.” The seminar is now available on demand. See at https://nbi-sems.com/products/99100. Mr. Eller has presented on landlord-tenant law for other organizations for containing legal education credit and for real estate clock hour credit for decades. He has participated in online seminars hosted by the King County Law Library featuring landlord attorneys, tenant attorneys, and judicial officers. Travis Eller is slated to chair a continuing legal education seminar on landlord-tenant law in March.
Settled law breeds few appeals for the simple reason that if the law is settled there are fewer issues to appeal. When new laws are passed, they can be interpreted in different ways, leading to more appealable issues. Landlord-tenant law was once well settled but is now with a plethora of new laws it is the opposite extreme. In the past, there were only a handful of landlord-tenant appellate cases each year. Now there are sometimes a handful of appellate developments in a single day. This week there were two important appellate decisions and oral arguments on another case with […]