[UPDATE NOTE: This bill ultimately did not pass.]
A bill is being considered in Olympia that may limit landlord’s access to complete and accurate information and drive up the costs of obtaining tenant screening reports.
The proposed law imposes new credit reporting obligations on tenant screening services. The new law would require them to issue only one complete screening report per tenant per sixty days and to issue a correction if information changes.
The screening service can charge only one fee per tenant per sixty days. This is true no matter how many landlords request a copy or whether updates are made to the report. One result could be that screening services simply raise the rates for reports.
Also, landlords will be prohibited from charging a screening fee if a tenant provides a copy of a report less than sixty days old. The landlord then must either accept the report provided directly by the tenant (the dubiousness of the reliability of which is obvious) or conduct its own background check.
Tenants will be able to seek sealing of court records. The grounds for sealing court records are quite liberal. For example, the court must seal records if the tenant prevailed on any counterclaim or offset. So, if the tenant was awarded a dollar in offsets the court is compelled to seal the tenant’s eviction file. Sealing the file is not within the court’s discretion, but is mandatory.
Liability is imposed on landlords who disclose information sealed by a court. Damages include actual damages plus attorney’s fees and costs and a mandatory $1,000.00 award per willful violation.
The upshot is likely to be higher fees from screening services for less complete reports and potential exposure to liability for landlords.
The bill is Senate Bill 5922 (SB 5922).
It is sponsored by Senators Kohl-Welles, McDermott, Kline, and Fairley. It is currently in the Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance. To find your representative see http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx.
Travis Scott Eller is an experienced landlord attorney serving Seattle/King County, Tacoma/Pierce County, and Everett/Snohomish County Washington.
He gives lectures at landlord-tenant seminars to rental property owners, managers, and other attorneys.
