Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan yet again extended both the Seattle residential and commercial eviction moratoriums which are now set to expire January 15, 2022. Seattle residential tenants may only be evicted if actions by the tenant constitute an imminent threat to the health or safety of neighbors, the landlord, or to household members. The commercial eviction moratorium applies to small businesses and nonprofits. Small businesses are defined as having fifty or fewer employees. The commercial moratorium and separate Seattle laws require repayment plans for small businesses and nonprofits.
Seattle Landlord Tenant Law
21 posts
There is much confusion over the Seattle eviction moratorium. The confusion stems from the history of the Seattle moratorium and changes made to them, and additional separate laws passed by the City creating a new inability-to-pay defense and imposing payment plans. Confusion may be in part also due to the fact there are various federal, state, and local moratoria, and sometimes people confuse and conflate their various terms. On March 14 the Mayor issued a residential eviction moratorium that prohibited eviction for non-payment of rent. She later issues a broad small business and non-profit eviction moratorium that prohibited almost all […]
Seattle Payment Plan Laws In response to the COVID economic fallout, the City of Seattle enacted several measures including mandatory payment plans for both residential and commercial tenancies. Both the residential and commercial payment plan laws apply to tenants who fail to pay rent during or within six months after the state of emergency declared by the mayor. The residential and commercial payment plan ordinances are separate laws with different terms, summarized below. Residential payment plans. Residential tenants who fail to pay rent during or within six months after the state of emergency declared by the mayor may pay in […]
Seattle passed a law that provides a defense of inability to pay for evictions based on non-payment of “rent due during, or within six months after the termination of, the Mayor’s residential eviction moratorium”, currently set to expire December 31, 2020. Not all evictions are for non-payment of rent. Note also that the Seattle ordinance may not apply to tenants who were well behind with rent when the moratorium was enacted, and the landlord is evicting only for the pre-moratorium rent. Once the eviction moratorium ends, this law would not prohibit landlords from serving a notice to pay rent or […]
Seattle has passed new tenant protection laws in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Inability to pay defense. For a six-month period after the mayor’s residential eviction moratorium ends, tenants may raise an inability to pay as a defense. This law does not prevent landlords from starting an eviction action, and the tenant must come to court and raise the defense. This ordinance requires language in the 14-day notice. It is a defense to eviction if this language is not included. Payment plans. For the duration of the state of emergency declared by the mayor, Seattle residential tenants may pay overdue rent […]
The Seattle City Council passed a law banning residential evictions between December 1 and March 1. The law does not apply to landlords who own fewer than five rental units within Seattle. The winter eviction ban does not apply when the owner or an immediate family member intends to move into the rental as their primary home; when the owner intends to sell a single family home; if the tenant creates a nuisance or engages in drug activity; the owner seeks to discontinue sharing the owner’s own housing unit with the tenant; and a few other narrow exceptions. The law […]
The City of Seattle is expected to vote on February 10 a new law to would ban evictions every year from November through April. There is a proposed state law that would prohibit this type of local law. If the law passes it will almost certainly be challenged in court as unconstitutional.
A Seattle ordinance limits move-in costs landlords may demand for residential tenants. The ordinance places caps on fees, and allows tenants to pay fees and pre-paid rent, such as last months rent, in installments. The Rental Housing Association (RHA), a landlord industry association, challenged the validity of the law. RHA argued that the ordinance violated state law prohibiting rent control by local government, and violated the takings and due process provisions of the Washington state and federal constitutions. King County Superior Court Judge Susan Amini recently upheld the Seattle ordinance. She held that security deposits and other costs regulated by […]
Seattle passed a law in 2017 requiring landlords to accept the first financially qualified rental applicant who applies. The law took away any discretion on the part of the landlord, required the landlord to keep detailed records of when rental inquiries were received, and threatened landlords with hefty penalties for failing to comply. The law is known as the Fist-in-Time Ordinance. A King County Superior Court judge ruled the Fist-in-Time Ordinance unconstitutional. The case is now pending with the state Supreme Court. The City has filed a brief. The landlords brief is due soon. Oral argument has yet to be […]
A couple own a triplex. They live in one unit with their young children and rent out the other two units. The family frequently interacts with the tenants, and shares a yard. Landlords in that situation might feel it important to have a good gut feeling about an applicant before renting to them. Such a couple was among plaintiffs who challenged a Seattle law that took away essentially all landlords’ rights to use any discretion in renting. Under Seattle’s First-in-Time ordinance landlords are required to post criteria for renting vacant units and to accept the first tenant that met these […]