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Hello WLA Members:
Below is the Call to Action on our opposition of HB 1904, protecting tenants from excessive rent and related fees by providing at least six months' notice for rent increases over a certain amount, allowing tenants the right to terminate a tenancy, and limiting late fees. The bill is schedule for a hearing on Tuesday, January 18 at 8:00 a.m. in the House Housing, Human Services Veterans Committee. We need all our members to sign in OPPOSE on the bill.
Currently there are over 400 people signed up PRO. We need our members to take action right away. Thanks, Chester Baldwin, Attorney at Law Public Affairs Consulting, LLC chet@lobbywa.com Cell: (360) 688-4588 Fax: (360) 841-7062 Please Note: You cannot sign up to provide verbal testimony after 7:00 a.m. on January 18th. You can provide written testimony up to 24 hours after the hearing concludes. HB 1904 - Bill Summary: · Requires housing providers to give between 180 and 220 days notice for all rent increases over 3% · The bill specifies the increase notice applies to "base rent" and does not apply to utility costs. · Requires housing providers to inform the tenant when they receive the notice of rent increase that they may terminate the tenancy at any time and cannot be held liable for rent after vacating. · Removes the 20 days notice requirement for a tenant to terminate a tenancy if a rent increase notice of 3% or more is given. · Allows a tenant who pays the increased rent after not receiving the proper notice to sue the housing provider for the excess rent, damages, and attorney's fees · Caps late fees at 1.5% of the monthly rent. Talking Points: · This bill puts an unreasonable expectation on housing providers to predict the rental housing environment over 180 days in advance. · The bill incentivizes housing providers to regularly increase their rents and punishes housing providers for not increasing rent each renewal. · Giving tenants the ability to terminate a lease at any point after receiving a rent increase steps between a private contract between two parties. Tenants would be able to violate or break the lease unilaterally which leaves housing providers concerned if their lease will be upheld. · Housing providers need time to find a new tenant once their current tenant decides to vacate. Allowing tenants to vacate, whether on month to month or a fixed term lease, without 20 days notice leaves housing providers liable for their own bills without the assurance of rent. More often then not they will be unable to find a new tenant before their bills are due the next month. · Late fees are designed to incentivize tenants to pay rent on time. A nominal fee provides little incentive and invalidates the purpose of the fee.
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I don't want to be a Grinch, especially so close to Christmas, but I've just heard about another landlord who is in trouble because they didn't have written criteria and the applicants are very annoyed to be denied. You are required by law, in both Oregon and Washington, to have written criteria. This criteria should inform the applicant about the requirements needed to be accepted for the property. It should also inform them about things that could result in a denial. Your criteria should have details about rent to income standards, credit standing, verification of employment and rental history and criminal history. Yes, you need to have written criteria even if you are not charging a screening fee. Otherwise you leave yourself open to disputes that could be costly. It's one piece of paper that should be included with every application, and one which will save you a lot of headaches! I suggest you have the applicant initial or sign the criteria sheet to signify that they have read it before completing an application. *Any Rental Owner's Association should have one you can purchase. Don't write your own; you could get yourself in trouble. If you need help finding a good Criteria Sheet, please call or email me and I'll be happy to direct you. Now I'm going to try to get rid of this angry green tinge I've got, and get back to my holiday happiness. Grrrrrrrrrrr! I mean, Merry Christmas! Marcia Gohman NTN - Northwest 503-635-1118 or 888-989-1686 mgohman@ntnonline.com *PLEAE NOTE: WLA has a Tenant Criteria Sheet that landlords can use. It is located under FORMS>Tenant Screening Forms. The PDF is titled: 2. Notice to Applicant for Tenancy Sample. You will need your 4-digit passcode to access the FORMS page. We are moving to a new software program for 2022. Currently, we are having a new website being built that is compatible with the new software. We appreciate your patience while we improve our services.
Dues renewal is around the corner! The Dues for 2022 will be $75. The dues renewal notices will be sent out via email in January of 2022. While the website it being worked on, you can contact any of the four WLA offices to make a dues payment. If you already made a dues payment for 2022, please disregard this message. Sincerely, The Washington Landlord Association A new state law says landlords must have a “good” or legal reason for not renewing a rental agreement, ending (terminating) a tenancy, or evicting a tenant. This new law (House Bill 1236) went into effect on May 10, 2021. The new law lists what counts as a “good” reason to ask a tenant to leave the rental unit or to evict a tenant.
Please see the PDF below to view the list of "good" reasons for asking a tenant to leave. "Good" Reasons for Ending a Tenancy - PDF LINK Web Link: WashingtonLawHelp.org | Helpful information about the law in Washington. After 19 months, the state’s pandemic-related eviction moratorium will end Sunday (October 31st, 2021). Gov. Jay Inslee confirmed Thursday there will be no more extensions.
“We’ve done about all we can do,” Inslee said during a news conference. “We’ve given [counties and cities] millions and millions of dollars of cash, and it’s up to them to get it distributed.” Some counties have done better at that than others, said Jim Henderson, lobbyist for the Rental Housing Association of Washington. For example, Pierce County has been touted at the federal level as one of the most efficient counties in the country at disbursing the rental assistance funds, he said. Many of the agencies distributing aid across the state have “picked up the pace,” Inslee said, adding that his bridge program will provide a right to counsel for tenants and prevents anyone from facing immediate eviction. Last month, Inslee extended the moratorium, which started in March 2020, through the end of October. At some point it needs to come to an end, he said. “We can’t have an economy, ultimately, where nobody pays rent,” he said. “You have to have some transition and we are moving to that transition.” That transition has yet to come for the renters in Seattle, where the moratorium has been extended through Jan. 15. It had been set to expire Sept. 30 after being activated over a year and half earlier, on March 14, 2020. Now that the state moratorium is over, Henderson said, landlords can begin the process of connecting delinquent renters to resources and information so they can get the assistance they need. Mediation and dispute resolution centers, which are part of the state's Eviction Resolution Pilot Program, connects tenants to resources who may have yet to navigate the assistance system. “This doesn't mean the assistance doesn’t go away,” Henderson said of the expiration. “When you have a resident that is unable to pay rent we can give them all this information which helps them get help." Source: Puget Sound Business Journal | Article Link: Washington state eviction moratorium set to end Sunday after 19 months - Puget Sound Business Journal (bizjournals.com) What to look out for when you are screening applicants during the Winter months!
by Marcia Gohman - Head of the tenant screening company, NTN-Northwest Greetings! I’m sending out this note because the “Silly Season” has kicked off EARLY!! In normal times we see maybe two or three sex offenders in a month. Today I encountered my FIFTH one for this week!! It’s crazy! Be sure you have written screening criteria, and make the applicants sign it. You can be fined if you fail to give the applicant written screening criteria. Criteria helps the applicants to know that you will be checking all of their information carefully. Now, back to our regular “Silly Season”… Trying to rent your place any time between Thanksgiving and the New Year? Be very careful! This is the time of year that we call, “The Silly Season”. If you think about it, who would want to move this close to Christmas? Nobody in their right mind! That's who! Many of us already have Christmas Decorations up; we have purchased a tree or lights and other assorted decor for our homes, front porches, and lawns. So why would someone be moving this time of year? Because they HAVE to! Typically the applications we see from December to January 1st have the most inventive information and the most interesting Criminal reports we see all year.
So what do we do? We take things very slowly. Pay more attention to how the application is filled out, check picture ID more carefully, and ask for a recent pay stub. If the applicant is in a BIG Hurry, you tell them it will take you five days to complete your verification process. And no matter how tempting, remember that almost everyone who offers to pay you six months’ rent in advance is a recreational pharmaceutical salesperson. (Drug Dealer) Verify all telephone numbers. Just today I have found that one phone number was a family member, and one was to a friend who runs a storage facility. The applicant listed that she lived in #6. How did I find that? Google Earth. It's a great tool for landlords! Plug in the address and see what comes up! Does it appear to be an apartment community? A house? Or is it a strip mall or office complex? If you are given what appears to be a single-family residence address, you can find the county tax assessor and get the owner's name and address. Many counties have a Tax Assessor web site where you can enter the address and find the owner. You still have to find the phone number; use Whitepage.com or Truepeoplesearch.com which might be even better, and I'm considering using them more than the other options. You can also just Google the phone number. If the applicant gives you a number for his/her employer, you can internet search it and see if the number belongs to the company or is a friend's cell phone number. After searching up the company info I call them directly rather than the number provided. Many employers also have an email for HR on their web site. One of my favorite tricks, when I know I’m going to talk to a friend or family member, is to call and ask about the rental I heard they have. The family member automatically says, “What?!? We don’t have rentals!”, and bingo. You have verified a fib on the application. I know, I know. This sounds like a LOT of extra work. But it will pay off in the end. You don’t want to start out your New Year looking for lawyers, or stuck with a bad tenant, because you didn’t verify that “One little Thing”.. There are good people moving, so don’t lose hope. Yes, we have all the COVID stuff, and we’re still working with people displaced from the fires last year. Just be careful and take things slowly. Once we get to January the company transfers go out and the better applicants re-appear. Until then, just remember. ‘Tis the Season!! For your general information, during a press conference Governor Jay Inslee updated the bridge proclamation and extended the eviction bridge transition to Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.
He stated that this extension will give time for local governments to distribute funding for rental assistance. The bridge was to expire on September 30, 2021 but the Governor stated that he has heard that more counties need additional time to distribute the funding. Practical advice in various languages to help pay your rent, to apply for rental assistance and other pertinent information can be found on the Attorney General’s website at: www.atg.wa.gov/landlord-tenant For further information, see attached proclamation, 21-09.01 Tenancy Preservation – A Bridge to E2SSB 5160. To view the press conference, click here. Thanks, Chester Baldwin, Attorney at Law Public Affairs Consulting, LLC chet@lobbywa.com Cell: (360) 688-4588 Fax: (360) 841-7062 Hello WLA Members:
For your general information, today, Tuesday, September 21 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced an extension of the Seattle’s eviction moratorium through January 15, 2022. This eviction moratorium includes “residential, nonprofit and small-business tenants, with small businesses defined as those with 50 or fewer employees. Most evictions are prohibited for those tenants, including evictions for nonpayment of rent, though tenants remain legally obligated to pay rent and can accumulate debt.” This is the sixth time since the pandemic that the Mayor has extended the city’s eviction moratorium. To view Mayor Jenny Durkans Executive Order, click here. To view further information see the following articles.
Thanks, Chester Baldwin, Attorney at Law Public Affairs Consulting, LLC chet@lobbywa.com Cell: (360) 688-4588 Fax: (360) 841-7062 HB 1236 – Mandatory Lease Renewal - Just Cause*
HB 1236, protecting residential tenants from the beginning to end of their tenancies by penalizing the inclusion of unlawful lease provisions and limiting the reasons for eviction, refusal to continue, and termination, Prime Sponsored by Rep. Nicole Macri (D-42) passed the Senate on April 8 with a vote of 28 yeas and 21 nays. On April 13, the House of Representatives concurred in Senate Amendments with a vote of 54 yeas, 44 nays, 0 absent and 0 excused. The bill is now on the way to the Governor’s office for his signature and potential veto of any portion of the bill. While we find the legislature’s choice of language troubling, we were able to get the bill modified to allow fixed-term leases to continue outside of Just Cause but they included additional restrictions and 60-day notice required to end the tenancy. To view the bill as passed the legislature: click here * A Note from WLA President & Attorney, Rob Trickler, concerning HB 1236: I need to inform you of some unfortunate news. HB 1236 is on its way to the governor’s desk for signature. That bill is set to become law immediately and does not provide the usual 90 day period to become effective. The bill does increase the time you must give to your tenant when you are terminating a tenancy for purposes for sale or owner occupying from the governor’s 60 days as required under the emergency proclamation 20.19.6 and previous versions, to 90 days. Unfortunately the legislators did not put any language in that would clearly make the notices to terminate that were previously issued with 60 days valid after the signing of HB 1236. This means, in my opinion and that of several other landlord attorneys, that if your case has not been filed in superior court by the time the governor signs HB 1236 your notice will have to be redone and terminating with an additional minimum of 90 more days and still have an effective termination date on the last day of the rental period. That means if the rent was due on the first of the month then notices served in April will terminate the last day of July and notices done in May will terminate the last day of August. I am sorry to be the one to have to bring this news that I know will be devastating to many. Sincerely, Rob W. Trickler Attorney and Counselor at Law The Law Office of Rob W. Trickler PLLC All County Evictions LLC 2302 Rucker Ave, Unit #4 Everett WA 98201 425-609-1876 425-303-8000 www.Allcountyevictions.com SB 5160 – Extending Eviction Moratorium SB 5160, addressing landlord-tenant relations by providing certain tenant protections during and after public health emergencies, providing for legal representation in eviction cases, and authorizing landlord access to state rental assistance programs, Prime Sponsored by Sen. Patty Kuderer (D-48), passed the House of Representatives on April 8 with a vote of 72 yeas, 26 nays, 0 absent, and 0 excused. On April 19 the Senate concurred in House Amendments by a vote of 27 yeas, 22 nays, 0 absent and 0 excused. The bill is now on the way to the Governor’s office for his signature and potential veto of any portion of the bill. The legislature came through at the end and set an end date for the Governor’s Moratorium which will terminate on June 30, 2021. Additionally, the bill increases from $5k to $15k the payments available to housing providers under the Landlord Mitigation Program for payment plans that are unsuccessful. To view the bill as passed the legislature, click here. Forthcoming we will send additional information on the final bill language for both bills. |
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