Washington residential landlords must accept all income sources when screening tenants under a new law that goes into effect September 30, 2018. Under the new law, Landlords must accept all sources of income, including Section 8 housing vouchers, public assistance, emergency rental assistance, veterans benefits, social security, and SSI benefits. The source of income may be from government or non-profit organizations. If a landlord requires an income threshold, any rent subsidy must be subtracted from the monthly rent before calculating whether the prospective tenant meets the income threshold. Landlords may not refuse to rent to new or current tenants based on […]
Landlord-Tenant Blog
157 posts
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 […]
Landlord-tenant attorney Travis Eller will be presenting a three-hour session at the 2018 Rental Housing Association Spring Workshop + Tradeshow April 11. Travis Eller’s presentation is entitled “Avoiding Pitfalls in Landlord-Tenant Law from Move-in to Move-Out.” Topics include: traps for the unwary in evictions, tenants with disabilities, storage of tenant’s belongings, new Seattle landlord-tenant laws, and more. Property mangers and landlords can register on the RHA website.
Sometimes a tenant owes the landlord for more than just the current month rent. If a tenant offers money short of the total amount owed, it is important that the landlord apply the payment to the oldest month first. Otherwise, in an eviction or civil action the court might hold that the landlord waived the prior months. For example, if the current month is February and the tenant has not paid any rent this year, then offers the amount of one month rent, the landlord should apply the payment to January, not February. If the tenant notes on the payment […]
This year bills have been introduced in both the Washington State House and Senate that would allow local governments in Washington to impose rent control on residential tenancies. Under current law local governments in Washington are prohibited from imposing rent control. The deadline for bills to pass out of committee and be presented to the house of origin was February 2. As this was not done with either the House or Senate versions of the rent control proposal, rent control appears dead for this legislative session. Doubtless battle lines have been drawn and rent control will be an issue in […]
The summons and complaint must be served by a non-party (someone other than the landlord) and served into the hands of a tenant or other resident of the rental unit. This is in contrast to the initial eviction notices. A 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate, 10-day notice to comply or vacate, or 20-day notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy may be served by the landlord. These notices may be served by the landlord themselves, and on anyone, whether they reside in the rental or not, as long as copies are also mailed to the rental property. If no […]
Seattle has had a just cause eviction ordinance for years. A recent proposal would impose a state-wide just cause eviction law for all residential tenancies in Washington.[1] The new law would make it impossible for Washington landlords to evict residential tenants—including month-to-month tenants—except for one of a few enumerated causes. The proposed just cause eviction law would extend the cure periods for non-payment of rent and other breaches of the tenancy terms to fourteen days. Current law allows the landlord to serve a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent, and a 10-day notice for any other breach of the tenancy […]
Marijuana has been and remains illegal under federal law, even Washington and a growing number of states have passed laws making marijuana legal under state law. Marijuana businesses and their landlords are subject to criminal prosecution under federal law. Landlords of marijuana businesses may also lose their property in civil forfeiture actions. US Attorney General Jeff Session last week announced new guidelines for expanded prosecution of marijuana businesses, even in states where the businesses are legal under state law. This is an ominous threat to both marijuana businesses and their landlords. Washington marijuana businesses are regulated and must be licensed. […]
Under current Washington law for month-to-month tenancies either the landlord or tenant can end the tenancy with written notice given the last day of the rental period (usually but not always the last day of a calendar month) served at least 20 days in advance. In Seattle residential landlords must have just cause to evict, even if the tenant is month-to-month. Without just cause, the landlord has a perpetual tenant. A Seattle residential tenant meanwhile can still terminate the tenancy on 20 days notice. If a lease provision calls for more than 20 days, the parties must give the longer […]
The purchaser at a trustee’s sale foreclosure is required to serve on all occupants a notice to vacate. The former owners and other non-tenant occupants must vacate within twenty days of the foreclosure auction. The new owner must give tenants in the foreclosed property 60 days notice to vacate. No 20-day notice to terminate tenancy or other type of pre-eviction notice is required.[1] In a recent Court of Appeals case the foreclosure sale purchaser served a notice naming a former owner. The former owner’s wife had already moved out, so the new owner did not name her in the notice […]