Landlord-Tenant Blog

149 posts

Landlord-Tenant Disputes Subject to Mandatory Arbitration

A tenant and her landlords disputed certain conditions in the property. The landlords believed the tenant was allowing damage to the property by improperly leaving windows open.   When the tenant requested certain repairs, the landlords while in the property making the unrelated repairs nailed a window shut and disabled another window so that it could only be opened a few inches. Eventually, the landlords brought an eviction against the tenant. The tenant made counterclaims.   The tenant moved out while the eviction was pending. The trial court moved the case to the Mandatory Arbitration calendar. The landlords’ attorney withdrew, […]

Court of Appeals Upholds Eviction of Residential Tenant

After several unsuccessful attempts to personally serve a tenant with a summons and complaint, the landlord got a court order allowing service. The landlord then had a process server post and mail the summons and complaint along with a notice requiring the tenant to either pay rent into the court registry or serve a sworn statement that no rent is owing. The tenant served the landlord attorney’s office with a response to the eviction complaint, but did not deny rent was owed and did not pay rent into the court registry. The landlord moved for a writ of restitution. The […]

Dueling Landlord and Tenants

Court of Appeals rules on commercial lease dispute. Commercial tenant Outloud Entertainment Group, Inc. rented two spaces from its commercial landlord Group 44, Inc.—one rental space in Seattle and the other in Tacoma.   Tenant Outloud operated dueling piano bars in the spaces. The commercial lease required tenant Outloud to pay base rent plus monthly assessments for taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Ebony Keys, LLC entered into an agreement to buy the piano bar in Tacoma from Outloud.  As part of the business purchase, Outloud provided a copy of its lease with landlord Group 44—but did not include the addendum referencing the […]

Commercial Lease Co-Signer Not Liable

A landlord and tenant entered into a commercial lease. The landlord required an additional signer as security. The lease expired. The tenants were current on the rent at the time the lease expired. The tenants stayed in possession and began a month-to-month tenancy. The tenants soon fell behind on rent, a moved out after several months, owing $8,709.12 in unpaid rent. The landlord assigned its right to the delinquent rent to a collections agent, who in turn sued the co-signer. In a bench trial, the trial court ruled in favor of the co-signer. The collections agent appealed. The Washington State […]

New Law Clarifies Process for Tenants who Avoid Service

To start an eviction lawsuit in Washington (a.k.a. an unlawful detainer action) the landlord must first serve applicable notices such as a notice to pay rent or vacate, comply or vacate, or a notice to terminate a month to month tenancy. Next, the landlord must serve a summons and a complaint. The same type of documents are the starting point in any lawsuit—although the exact content of course varies in evictions from other types of lawsuits. The same strict rules about how to serve the summons and complaint applies in evictions as in other lawsuits, essentially requiring that a disinterested […]

No Attorney Fees for Eviction after Foreclosure

The buyer of a house at a foreclosure auction is generally entitled to possession twenty days after the foreclosure sale, but with protections of tenants of the former owner under both state and federal laws.   If the occupants to not vacate, the buyer may evict via an unlawful detainer action the occupants of the foreclosed property. A recent Washington Supreme Court case clarified that attorney fees are not available in a post-foreclosure eviction action.[1] If you have purchased a foreclosed property that has occupants, and have questions about obtaining possession – contact our law firm for a free initial […]

Landlord Duties Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

Landlords often use a consumer report to screen new tenant applicants. The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that a landlord who uses a consumer report make certain disclosures when the landlord takes an action adverse to a new tenant. Consumer report. A consumer report contains information about a person’s credit characteristics, character, general reputation, and lifestyle.  Examples include credit reports and  reports from tenant-screening or reference-checking services. The FCRA applies even if the landlord relies on the consumer report only as one reason for an adverse action. The information in the consumer report does not have to be […]

Innocent Washington Tenants get Blacklisted

Ignacio and Norma had a valid lease and did nothing to warrant eviction. They renewed their lease for an additional year. One month later a new landlord bought the apartment building. The new landlord asked them to sign a new month-to-month rental agreement. The tenants refused, because the landlord was subject to the lease signed with the previous landlord. The new landlord sued Ignacio and Norma for eviction (“unlawful detainer” in legal-speak.) The parties settled. Nevertheless, because their names showed up in an eviction in court records and consequently on credit reports, they had a hard time finding a new […]

Seattle Landlord-Tenant Packet Updated

Seattle residential landlords should take note. All residential landlords in Seattle are required to give a tenant at the beginning of a tenancy a landlord-tenant information packet published by the city. The Seattle information packet until recently contained an error. The former version of the packet incorrectly informed tenants that rent increases of more than 10% require 60-days notice by the landlord. In fact, the law in Seattle requires 60-days notice of a rent increase of 10% or more, not only for rent increases of more than 10%. Seattle residential landlords should download and use the new packet. At the time […]