[WSBARP] Landlord/Tenant Legislation

Tue Apr 27 10:24:57 PDT 2021

Here is what has passed on LLT and Homesteads (these summaries were not written by me)

·       E2SSB 5160 (Sen. Kuderer) – Landlord-tenant relations
Status: E2SSB 5160 passed both bodies with bipartisan support and has been signed into law.
E2SSB 5160 provides protections to both tenants and landlords and was introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. E2SSB 5160 requires landlords to offer tenants a reasonable schedule for repayment of any unpaid rent accrued during the public health emergency (PHE) (not to exceed monthly payments of one-third of the monthly rental charges during the period of accrued debt) and expands eligibility for claim reimbursement to include unpaid rent accrued during the eviction moratorium and PHE periods and the tenant vacated or abandoned the tenancy and any remaining unpaid rent after the tenant defaults on a repayment plan.

E2SSB 5160 requires the court to appoint counsel for indigent tenants at the initial hearing and at trial, requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to contract with dispute resolution centers to establish a two-year, statewide eviction resolution pilot program, and requires the Department of Commerce to authorize landlords an opportunity to apply to certain state rental assistance programs. E2SSB 5160 eliminates the optional notice for landlords to use in nonpayment cases that instructs tenants to pay into the court registry the rent allegedly owed or file a statement denying rent is owed.

·       ESSB 5408 (Sen. Stanford) – Homestead exemption Status: ESSB 5408 passed both the Senate and House with broad bipartisan support. It is on the Governor’s desk.
ESSB 5408 increases the homestead exemption to either $125,000 or the county median sale price of a single-family home in the preceding calendar year—whichever is greater—and allows appreciation of the property to be included in the exemption after a bankruptcy filing, even if it exceeds the statutory limit. In a bankruptcy case, the debtor’s exemption shall be determined on the date the bankruptcy petition is filed. If the value of the debtor’s interest in homestead property on the petition date is less than or equal to the amount that can be exempted under the homestead law, then the debtor’s entire interest in the property, including the debtor’s right to possession and interests of no monetary value, is exempt. Any appreciation in the value of the debtor’s exempt interest in the property during the bankruptcy case is also exempt. This language is to address the case of Wilson v. Rigby (In re Wilson), 909 F.3d 306 (9th Cir. 2018).

Catherine “Cat” Clark
Law Office of Catherine C. Clark PLLC
2200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1250
Seattle, WA 98121
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From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Roger Moss
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2021 9:40 AM
To: RPPT Section <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBARP] Landlord/Tenant Legislation

The Rental Housing Association of Washington has undertaken a significant highly organized campaign in connection with the legislation. https://www.rhawa.org/.

Chris Benis and Christopher Cutting serve on the RHA board and can provide the latest harrowing detail on developments.

Roger A. Moss
Managing Director
Rincon Resolutions LLC
206.790.1971 Seattle
415.371.9724 San Francisco
RinconResolutions.com<http://RinconResolutions.com>

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On Apr 26, 2021, at 9:00 AM, Timothy Lehr <timothy at stileslaw.com<mailto:timothy at stileslaw.com>> wrote:

Happy Monday All,

Does anyone know the status of the bill(s) in Olympia regarding the RLLTA? Is there a good resource online for updates on these? I’m giving a talk to some realtors/property managers and looking to see what types of resources are out there that I can look at and point them towards.

Thank you,
Tim

Timothy C. Lehr
Attorney at Law

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