New laws aim to keep people from losing their homes in Washington
New tenant protections
Renters will also have new protections going forward.
Macri, the Seattle lawmaker, said she and other legislators have been worried about landlords evicting tenants after the state’s eviction moratorium ends June 30.
Many people have fallen behind on rent during the pandemic, an issue likely to come to a head when landlords can once again tell people to pay or vacate, Macri said.
To soften the impact on struggling renters, the Legislature approved a bill to ban landlords from imposing late fees for rent not paid during the pandemic. Senate Bill 5160 also requires landlords to offer repayment plans to tenants, so they can pay back rent gradually instead of all at once.
Other parts of the bill will provide attorneys for low-income renters facing eviction and expand a mediation program that seeks to resolve issues between landlords and tenants.
Macri said those changes are designed to go hand in hand with a new law that restricts landlords from evicting people without just cause. The new just-cause eviction law, House Bill 1236, bans landlords from evicting people who are renting month to month in most circumstances, unless the landlord can cite one of 16 reasons allowed in the law. Previously, landlords could evict month-to-month renters with 20-days notice, without providing a reason.
Macri said without the change in law, housing advocates were worried that landlords might evict people who were down on their luck during the pandemic, even if those tenants have since brought themselves up to date on rent payments.
“Maybe they were behind on rent a year or six months ago, and they got caught up,” said Macri, the sponsor of HB 1236.
Under the old law, landlords could say, "I don’t want to be bothered and have the risk that could happen again,” Macri said. That has changed now, she said.
For the full article, see https://crosscut.com/politics/2021/05/new-laws-aim-keep-people-losing-their-homes-washington
