washington landlord tenant law

4 posts

Washington Rent Control Proposals

There are two bills being proposed in the Washington legislature that if enacted into law would impose strict rent controls in Washington. The proposals’ terms vary, but both would essentially peg rent increases to inflation, with a cap of seven percent. The bills are HB 1388 and HB 1389. HB 1389 has numerous provisions absent from HB 1388. Landlords could “bank” unused rent increase capacity if the landlord does not increase rent in a 12-month period. To preserve banked capacity the landlord would have to serve a statutory notice form and serve in the same formal legal manner as a […]

Washington Just Cause Eviction Law

Yesterday Governor Inslee signed a bill that establishes a just cause eviction law throughout Washington state. The Washington just cause eviction law is largely similar to just cause eviction laws in Seattle, Federal Way, and Burien. Washington residential landlords may no longer serve a “20-day” no-cause notice to terminate a tenancy. There is an exception when the landlord shares housing with the tenant. Landlords may terminate a tenancy and the end of the initial lease term with 60 days’ notice. To evict because the landlord wishes to sell or if the landlord or an immediate family member intends to live […]

Court Makes it Easier for Tenants to Delay Eviction

Sometimes tenants fail to respond to an eviction summons, or fail to appear for a hearing only to later appear in court and ask the court to give them another hearing date and to stay the eviction in the meantime. Landlords and their attorneys often get little or no notice of the stay until it is granted. A Court of Appeals decision had required tenants to give the landlord notice that they were seeking a stay, and required the tenant to post a bond. No longer. The state Supreme Court last week ruled that tenants are not required to give […]

Applying Tenant Payments

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 […]