[WSBARP] Growing marijuana a breach of lease?

Wed Nov 24 10:17:29 PST 2021

I agree with Mr. Glasson.  But here is an observation.  This summer I defended against an UD arguing that the federal moratorium applied (the state moratorium did not.) Two different Skagit judges had no difficulty recognizing the federal moratorium, despite OC's forceful arguments.  You could conclude either that these judges were respectful of federal law, or that they were not interested in evicting my client.  I don't know which conclusion is the correct one, and maybe both are.  But I do think judges are much more open to tenants' arguments than they once were, at least in this neck of the woods.  Have an enjoyable TG.Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
-------- Original message --------From: Maxwell Glasson <max at glassonlegal.com> Date: 11/24/21  9:53 AM  (GMT-08:00) To: WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com> Subject: Re: [WSBARP] Growing marijuana a breach of lease? 

Tim,

My view is that the failure to comply with laws would be grounds for the 10-day notice and for UD if they do not comply.  Unless the tenant has a cultivator's permit (a commercial use which would also likely be a violation) or is a medical
 patient who voluntarily joined the state database (doubtful), they really don’t have any valid objections.  For the latter objection, they would likely need to have made a request for reasonable accommodation anyhow. 

Regards, 

Maxwell B. Glasson 
Glasson Legal, PLLC 
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N, #659
Seattle, Washington, 98109
206-627-0528
max at glassonlegal.com
www.glassonlegal.com

WA# 51948  NV# 13339  CA# 292356
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS TRANSMISSION IS CONFIDENTIAL AND MAY BE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED. THE INFORMATION IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO WHOM OR THE
 ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING IT TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY USE, DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS
 STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS IN ERROR, PLEASE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY US AND DELETE THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE.

From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>
On Behalf Of Timothy Lehr
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 8:59 AM
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBARP] Growing marijuana a breach of lease?

All,

Landlord has an issue that I have yet to run into. LL is career military and lives in Virginia. He has a rental in WA where the two tenants have a small marijuana grow operation in the garage. LL is worried because of violations of federal
 law and doesn’t want to be associated with that to protect his career. The lease states that tenants must comply with all federal, state and city laws, including the illegal use, possession and sale of illegal drugs.

I haven’t researched the whole state vs. federal law question as it applies to marijuana. Does LL have a basis for serving a 10-day notice based on the violation of federal law (and in turn violation of lease) when marijuana is legal in
 WA? Even if he does, what are the chances a court would actually evict based on that?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Tim 
Timothy C. Lehr
Attorney at Law

p:   360.855.0131
e:   timothy at stileslaw.com
w:  www.stileslaw.com

NOTICE: The information contained in this email is proprietary and/or confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, you are hereby notified to : (i) delete the email and all copies;
 (ii) not disclose, distribute or use the email in any manner; (iii) notify the sender immediately. Thank you.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20211124/7bff1354/attachment.html>