Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

Re: landlord tennant law

It depends on who was responsible for the fire. If the fire was caused by you (the tenant) then you have a duty to cooperate with him to remove yourself.

if the fire was not caused by you then your landlord may have a duty to re-home you pending repairs or pay for you to relocate. The statute is RCW 59.18.085. YOu will need to alert the city or county where you live because they have to declare the place unlivable for purposes of this statute.

But your landlord's obligation is to provide you with a place to live, which includes a place to keep your stuff. If something has interfered with his ability to provide you with a place to live and keep your stuff, then no, the answer is not "get out" the answer is to figure out what you need to be accomodated.

Landlords can be very pushy in interpreting the law to their advantage, which is not necessarily the same as what a judge would do or what the law says.

Go read the Residential Landlord Tenant Act at Title 59, Chapter 18 and figure out why the fire started. That'll tell you what to do next.

Your landlord cannot contract around his own negligence. If the fire started because he failed to maintain the electrical system, you will have remedies.

If the fire started because you left the stove on, that could be a different result.

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell