The Washington State Legislature, has recently enacted significant changes to the Washington Residential-Landlord Tenant Act (RTLA). Many of those changes are outlined below.
Changes in Washington Landlord Tenant Laws:
ESHB 1440: Providing Longer Notice of Rent Increases – Requires a landlord to provide a tenant at least 60 days’ prior written notice of an increase in rent, except in the case of rental agreements governing subsidized tenancies where the rental amount is based on the income of the tenant or circumstances specific to the subsidized household.
ESSB 5600: Concerning Residential Tenant Protections – Makes a number of changes to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, including: affording tenants 14 days (up from three days) to comply with a notice to pay rent or vacate prior to commencement of an unlawful detainer action; and authorizing the use of judicial discretion to issue a stay in unlawful detainer proceedings. Authorizes landlords in certain circumstances to seek payment of a judgment from the Landlord Mitigation Program Account. Some bullet point takeaways:
- Extends the 3-day notice to pay and vacate for default in rent payment to 14 days notice for tenancies under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.
- Creates a uniform 14-day notice to pay and vacate that includes information on how tenants can access legal and advocacy resources.
- Requires the Attorney General’s Office to provide translated versions of the uniform 14-day notice on its website in at least the top 10 languages used in the state.
- Requires a landlord to first apply any tenant payment to rent before applying the payment toward other charges.
- Requires a tenant to pay into court or to the landlord upon judgment for default in the payment of rent within five court days any rent due, any court costs incurred at the time of payment, late fees that may not exceed $75 in total, and attorneys’ fees if awarded, to be restored to his or her tenancy.
- Provides requirements and limitations on the award of attorneys’ fees under unlawful detainer actions, based on the amount of rent awarded in the judgment and on whether the tenant or landlord prevails at a hearing where judicial discretion is exercised.
- Provides the court with discretion to provide relief from forfeiture or to stay a writ of restitution based upon the required consideration of certain factors and with the burden of proof for relief on the tenant.
- Expands eligibility of the Landlord Mitigation Program to include landlord claims for reimbursement in unlawful detainer cases where judicial discretion is exercised and there is an unpaid judgment for rent, late fees, attorneys’ fees, and costs.
While the full ramifications will be discovered only through future litigation, one thing that will certainly change is the predictability on the award of attorney fees and the amount of judicial discretion will play in the execution of unlawful detainers (the eviction process). In these uncertain times, it is critical you hire experienced legal counsel who has years of experience navigating the unlawful detainer process.
For a legal Consult, reach out to Late Knight Legal to help you in this process.