Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: Missing Tenant

This is not a missing tenant issue, its a question of whether or not your tenant has abandoned their tenancy.

Your tenant may have met with foul play, or decided to live in Paris, you don't know, and I don't either. It is unusual to have a tenant take off for that long, but they have no obligation to advise you of their plans, rather their obligation is to pay their rent.

You need to post notices and mail them to the last known address (sounds dumb, but if you read the statute you'll see the requirement).

If you have a rental application on file, you could ask a private investigator to use that information to look for your missing tenant. (It would be cheaper than a lawsuit if you are wrong).

You are responsible for your property manager's conduct. Their willingness to empty out the place suggests that it's time to get a new property manager, as you can be liable for their wrongful conduct.

Your obligations are spelled out by statute, and there is a recent case about your obligations to safely store your tenant's possessions and the period of time you have to do this.

You don't have a right to dispossess this tenant of their tenancy without a judge's order. So, you have to go get that order which allows the sheriff to break and enter if necessary, and re-delivers the house or apartment to your custody and control so you can re-rent it.

Self help evictions in WA are simply not worth it.

If you do it properly you'll have the place back in a few weeks.

Hope this helps - Powell