Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington
Fair and Reasonable?
My wife and I are buying a house and breaking our current rental agreement (with 8 months remaining on the lease) to do so. Our landlord is very angry about our departure and our fear is that he will do his best to NOT find a new tenant so that we have to keep paying rent.
According to RCW 59.18.310, we may be liable for ''All rent accrued during the period reasonably necessary to rerent the premises at a fair rental, plus the difference between such fair rental and the rent agreed to in the prior agreement, plus actual costs incurred by the landlord in rerenting the premises together with statutory court costs and reasonable attorney's fees.''
What constitutes a ''fair rental'' and how much time is considered ''reasonably necessary'' to find a new tenant? Our landlord already told us that he plans to raise the rent on the unit that we are vacating before renting it out again. So, how high can he raise it before we're no longer liable? And how can we prove or disprove that he put forth his best effort to find a new tenant if we are liable?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Fair and Reasonable?
WA follows the rule that landlords of residential premises have a duty to mitigate their losses and re rent the premises. In my experience, the most a court is going to award is one month's rent.
You don't have to do a thing to prove or disprove his efforts to re-rent, that is his job.
All the emotion around this is not actionable. There is a concept in WA law called the economic loss rule. he doesn't get to recover extra just because he's angry.
When you move out be sure to take pictures and do your walk through with the landlord.
Depending on how your contract is worded (damage or security) you may or may not get your deposit back.
Congratulations on buying a house. With any luck, you'll never have to deal with a landlord again.
Elizabeth Powell
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