The legislature has passed and Governor Gregoire is expected to sign Monday, March 17, 2008, a new law that changes the landlord’s obligations to store a tenant’s belongings when a tenant is evicted.
Washington Landlord Tenant Law
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[IMPORTANT UPDATE: The law has changed since this article was published. See article on new law regarding storing tenant property.] Abandonment is an absolute relinquishment of a known right. The landlord must be prepared to prove abandonment with clear and convincing evidence. In the event of such abandonment the landlord may immediately enter and take possession of any property of the tenant found on the premises and store it in any reasonably secure place.
On June 8, 2006 I wrote in an article posted on this site about the new summons for residential unlawful detainer actions in Washington. In that article I wrote: Amendments to the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act went into effect yesterday….It is unclear what…courts will do when inevitably many landlord plaintiffs – acting pro se or with attorneys not familiar with the new law – come into court having served the old eviction summons. A decision published last month by Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals held that a landlord had wrongfully evicted a tenant because the landlord’s attorney […]
Amendments to the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act went into effect yesterday. The new law changes mandatory language in one form of eviction summons.
It is legal in Washington to possess and use marijuana for medicinal purposes with the approval of a doctor. Recently in King County a landlord attempted to evict a tenant because of drug possession and use. At a show cause hearing the court set the matter for trial, rather than granting the landlord the eviction. The tenant did not deny possession or use of illegal substances, but cited medical use as a defense. The court reasoned that the issue of whether the amounts of marijuana in question were appropriate for personal medicinal use should be heard at a trial, […]