Landlord-Tenant Law

Residential landlord-tenant law has been completely overhauled by new legislation at all levels of government.

Terminating a tenancy now requires legal grounds. There is no longer a no-fault termination notice for month-to-month tenants. All landlords must have legal good cause to evict.

Terminating a tenancy begins with a predicate notice (notice to pay rent or vacate, notice to comply or vacate, etc.). Landlords must comply with laws requiring mandatory language, additional documents, specificity requirements, property registration, and various other requirements.

Tenants have many defenses to eviction. Bringing an eviction action against a tenant is froth with risk. Landlords should retain an attorney from the beginning of the eviction process.

Good Cause Eviction

All residential landlords must have good cause to evict a tenant. There is no longer an option to serve a 20-day notice to terminate a tenancy (with the sole exception of an owner who shares housing with a tenant).

Nonpayment

Nonpayment of rent is good cause for eviction. Federal and/or local law may require a longer notice cure period than the state-law 14-day period.

Breach of Lease

A tenant material breach of lease terms or tenant nonmonetary legal obligations is good cause for eviction. If the breach substantially affects health or safety state law requires 30 days' notice, rather than 10. Federal and/or local law may also require a longer notice cure period than the state-law 10-day period.

Intent to Sell

Intent to sell a single-family dwelling is grounds for ending a tenancy. This requires 90 days' formal legal notice. Per case law an owner may not enter into a purchase and sale agreement before serving the notice (and arguably not afterwards). Some local laws require listing the property, even though per case law the owner may not enter into a sale contract and enforce the notice.

Intent to Occupy

Intent to occupy as the primary residence of the owner or owner's immediate family member is grounds for ending a tenancy.

These are the most common but various other grounds are good cause for eviction.

Lease Expiring

The lease expiring is usually not a good cause to evict under state law. The lease term expiring only ends a tenancy under certain circumstances.

If there is an automatic month-to-month provision then the landlord can end the tenancy at the end of the term only if it is the initial lease. If the lease is a fixed term with no automatic month-to-month provision, then the landlord can end the tenancy at the end of the term.

Under either scenario, the tenant must have never been month-to-month (with a very narrow exception for leases entered into in certain months in 2021, assuming the tenant has never gone month-to-month since).

Either scenario requires the landlord to serve notice in a strict legally required manner no later than 60 days before the end of the lease term.

Proper Legal Notice

Service of any predicate notice not in compliance with statutory time and manner requirements is not valid. Email, for example, would not count. The contents of the notice must meet specificity requirements. Many predicate notices must have language and/or must include additional documents as mandated by federal, state, and/or local law.

Many local governments in Washington have enacted landlord-tenant/eviction laws. The jurisdictions are numerous, the laws are complex and varied, and they frequently change. Some of the key concepts frequently presented in local landlord-tenant laws are summarized below.

Additional Cure/Termination Periods

Some local laws require landlords to give tenants longer cure periods or termination periods than under state law.

Additional Mandatory Language

Some local landlord-tenant laws require additional language on predicate notices. Often these laws even dictate the font size and style (bold, etc.). Courts may dismiss the eviction if the mandated language is not in the notice or not in a size/style manner consistent with local law.

Additional Resource Documents

Additional resource documents are required with the predicate notice in many local jurisdictions. Failure to include the required resource documents may lead to the dismissal of the eviction case, even if the same information is provided in other documents.

Winter/Cold Weather Eviction Bans

Seattle and Tacoma both ban evictions during specified cold weather months. There are some exceptions to these laws, such as intent to occupy. In Seattle landlords with four or fewer units are exempt. There are other nuances in both Seattle and Tacoma.

School Year Eviction Bans

Seattle and Tacoma both ban evictions during the school year if a child or student, or educator resides in the rental unit. The terms educator is and student are broadly defined to include far more than K-12 schools and teachers. There are exceptions and nuances to both laws.

Business License/Property Registration

Failure to have a current business license and/or register the rental property may lead to the dismissal of an eviction case in some locations. Some local laws allow the landlord to ask the court for a continuance to obtain the required licensing or registration. Under some local laws, this must be done before serving the predicate notice.

Rent Increase Laws

Many localities impose longer notice periods, require mandatory language, require additional resource documents, and/or impose strict time and manner service requirements for rent increase notices. Failure to adhere to any of these rent increase requirements may lead to the legal argument that the rent increase is not valid and therefore less rent--or no rent--is owed.

CARES Act

Washington courts have ruled that the federal CARES Act requires 30 days' notice to pay or vacate. Some local courts impose this requirement for all types of eviction, not just nonpayment cases. The CARES Act applies if the tenant is Section 8, the landlord has a federally-backed loan (FHA, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, etc.), and may apply in other scenarios.

Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act requires additional documents to be served with any predicate eviction notice. The law applies to Section 8 tenants and various other scenarios.

Section 8

There are various Section 8 programs each with its own set of rules. For voucher tenants, these requirements include sending a copy of any eviction predicate notice to the housing authority.