A tenant may terminate a lease if the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking and the tenant or household member has obtained a protection order or has reported the matter. The tenant must present a copy of the protection order or written record of a police report to the landlord and request termination of the lease within ninety days of the event.

A landlord may neither terminate, refuse to enter into a lease, nor refuse to renew a tenancy based on the status of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

We are here to help you and your clients comply with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

A recent Washington State court case ruled that if a rental cap wasn’t imposed in the original CC&Rs, that an amendment to apply one requires a 90% vote by all owners. In the Filmore vs. Centre Pointe Condominium case the Court of Appeals ruled that the Centre Pointe’s rental restriction was not valid as it was not passed by 90% of membership. Some homeowners’ associations are suspending their rental cap until this case is appealed.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

The Seattle Office of Civil Rights is investigating whether discounts given exclusively to employees of certain companies is discriminatory.  Some landlords give discounts to employees of companies like Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon.  Equally qualified tenants who work for “non-preferred” employers are charged higher rent and/or deposits.  Critics, including the NAACP, claim the practice is discriminatory because the companies receiving the discounts are primarily “white and male.”The general rule of thumb is be consistent in all policies and to document everything.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance.

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

Washington State has a free advice and referral service for low-income people for civil matters, including Landlord-Tenant issues.  CLEAR has limited resources, but may:

• Give verbal or written advice that may help solve the problem;
• Send written legal information and/or forms to help solve the problem;
• Try to resolve the problem through negotiation;
• Referral to another provider of legal aid.

Contact information:

• Outside King County: Call 1-888-201-1014 weekdays 9:15 a.m. until 12:15 p.m.
• King County: Call 211, 206-461-3200 or 1-877-211-WASH for information and referral to an appropriate legal services provider weekdays 8:00 am – 6:00 pm. Information on legal service providers in King County may also be accessed through 211’s website at www.resourcehouse.org.
• Persons 60 and Over: Persons 60 or over may call CLEAR*Sr at 1-888-387-7111, regardless of income.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters

* http://harvard-cga.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=0ffea521479a4585b383169bf00e2aa9

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

If a tenant vacates prior to the end of the lease term the landlord is required to make a good faith effort to re-rent the property. The courts will not compensate a landlord for damages that could have been avoided by reasonable effort or expenditures.  The courts usually interpret this requirement as meaning that the property must be marketed for rent under the same terms – such as rent and deposits – as the vacating tenant had.  If the landlord decides to sell the property instead of renting it again, s/he has not complied with this requirement and probably cannot charge the tenant for lost rent.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.

If a tenant is not complying with a term of the lease, the tenant can be served with a Ten Day Notice to Comply.  This notice is given to a tenant who is violating a term of the lease, for example, to a tenant who has an unauthorized pet on the property. A specific clause of the lease must be referenced in the notice.  However, it is often difficult to prove a Ten Day violation.  Whether or not rent has been received is (typically) easily documented; whether or not the tenant is maintaining the yard is a matter of opinion.

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

There are no warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, made with respect to this communication. Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should obtain the advice of an attorney well versed in these matters.