Find the latest summaries and policy updates for all multifamily housing regulations and policies.
Dear WMFHA members, Today, Governor Inslee announced a statewide eviction moratorium. The Governor's order prohibits rental housing providers from serving a 14-day notice to pay rent or vacate for default payment of rent. Housing providers are also prohibited from issuing a 20-day notice to... Continue Reading
An update on the coronavirus-related government actions. ***update March 18, 2020 - The WA Supreme Court has ordered a stay of all Writs until April 27, 2020. The following cities have enacted eviction moratoria - Seattle, Kenmore, Everett, Woodinville, and King County (sheriff -... Continue Reading
Support for King County Renters Impacted by COVID-19 King County is experiencing the highest rate of COVID-19 illness in the country and the disease is impacting many elements of daily life. Decisions to cancel or postpone public events or institute building closures are done in the interest of... Continue Reading
Tuesday, March 10, is the Washington Presidential Primary. Your vote matters! Regardless of whether you have voted, housing remains a critical issue for any candidate running for any elected position in Washington. As we move forward to the November election, I strongly encourage you to... Continue Reading
On Tuesday, the House and Senate voted on three landlord-tenant bills. For all intents and purposes, this is the final hurdle for these legislative proposals before they will become law. With all proposals that are considered in Olympia, there is a lot of give and take between stakeholders and... Continue Reading
The 2020 legislative session is “half over.” There are two weeks left and the pace at which legislation moves increases a lot. About last week... This legislative session the WMFHA lobby team has defeated efforts to implement rent control and defeated efforts to prohibit... Continue Reading
Last Wednesday, the House and Senate began marathon floor sessions to vote on policies that survived the first policy and fiscal cut-offs. The floor sessions will continue until Wednesday, February 19. During this time, the full chamber considers any bill that moved out of its policy committee or... Continue Reading
Yesterday, by a 7-0 vote, the Seattle City Council passed a law that allows a tenant to say: “It’s winter. You can’t evict me.” The law applies to certain evictions between December 1 and March 1, every year. This is the first major action taken by the new Seattle City... Continue Reading
Four things to know about Week 4 of the legislative session. 1. Any proposal that did not receive a hearing or a vote by its policy committee is considered dead for the legislative session. A bill that would implement rent control in Washington, among other strict provisions is dead. We... Continue Reading
This Friday marks the first significant deadline of the 2020 legislative session when bills must be voted out of their policy committee. If a bill is not voted out of its policy committee it is considered dead for this session. We expect several rental housing bills to move out of their policy... Continue Reading
HUD recently released guidance clarifying the terms under which a tenant may request a reasonable accommodation to keep an animal as a service animal or assistance animal. The guidance is available here. It is also available on the HUD website. Below is a summary of the law and should not be... Continue Reading
In this session, policymakers in Olympia are considering Senate Bill 6490, legislation intended to limit the use of criminal history in tenant screening. Criminal history is important for resident screening. An individual’s criminal history is an additional data point that provides context... Continue Reading
