Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

I downloaded a month-to-month lease agreement that says at the end: "This is an important LEGAL document...you are giving up certain important rights." It's supposed to conform to Washington State Landlord-Tenant Law, yet that law states that a landlord can't require a tenant to give up waive his/her legal rights - so is it even legal to have that statement in a lease agreement?


Asked on 2/14/12, 4:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathan Baner Baner & Baner

It would depend on the rest of the lease - the particular phrase you're talking about doesn't bring up many alarm bells in and of itself, but it hints that other parts of the lease do. It actually has no effect. Any lease provision that purports to waive WRLTA rights is inoperative. The effect of the inoperative provision may ruin the whole document, or the court may read the document as if that provision was absent (if possible).

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Answered on 2/14/12, 4:54 pm


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