Seattle passed a law that provides a defense of inability to pay for evictions based on non-payment of “rent due during, or within six months after the termination of, the Mayor’s residential eviction moratorium”, currently set to expire December 31, 2020.
Not all evictions are for non-payment of rent. Note also that the Seattle ordinance may not apply to tenants who were well behind with rent when the moratorium was enacted, and the landlord is evicting only for the pre-moratorium rent.
Once the eviction moratorium ends, this law would not prohibit landlords from serving a notice to pay rent or vacate, even if the notice demands rent due during and/or within six months after the moratorium ends. The landlord may start an eviction, and then it is on the tenant to come to court and offer proof of an inability to pay.
Moreover, it remains to be seen how the courts will interpret ‘inability to pay.’ The inability to pay is a relative concept. What if the tenant has some income and has the financial ability to pay, say, two-thirds of the rent owed? Will courts require that they have to pay according to their current ability? Does their inability to pay by definition include only that portion they lack the financial ability to pay? These are legal arguments we will not know the answers to until the eviction moratorium ends and the law is litigated.
There is a Seattle payment plan law and other laws that come into play as well.
Consult with an attorney before proceeding.
