Question About Rent in Washington State

Was this a signed lease? From what I have read the landlord voided the lease by ending the lease early. If a tenant moves out of a apartment early and they sign a lease they must still pay for whatever months are left on the lease. So he probably had someone to move in for December and would get paid for that plus your daughter owes December because she moved out before the lease was up.

You should really go to this site, atg.wa.gov/ResidentialLT/default.aspx

Look to the right at that site and you will see landlord/tenant law book. Also you can call the attorney generals office and probably file a complaint.

As far as the landlord calling you about her not paying, there is not much you can do, though I am not positive on that.

There are laws against this sort of thing. Unfortunately there may not be much she can do now. Firstly there is no eviction unless is is officially through the courts, they can't just call and say, "Get out, you are evicted". Especially with a lease in place. For one, she would have had to violate the lease in some way, then the landlord would have to prove it in court.

Had she paid her rent, she could not have been evicted. Had she paid when the 3 day notice was given, then by Washington law, she could not have been evicted.

On the same token, the landlord has 14 days to refund the deposit. The landlord can't make a tenant pay for normal wear and tear of the property.

As I see it now, she stayed in the unit rent free for 11 days...a court will not care that she needed time to move out. Unfortunately, it is only her word of the verbal demands to move out..all the landlord has to say is, "I don't know what she is talking about...no rent came in on the first so I issued a 3 day notice. No rent still came in and the tenant did not vacate the property until the 11th."

So by law the landlord is entitled to those 11 days. Take the normal rent amount and divide it by 31. Then take that number and multiply it by 11. Call the landlord and inform them to deduct this amount from the deposit and to send her the remainder.

Unfortunately, it sounds like this landlord is completely unscrupulous and unfortunately as far as the law goes, it all looks bad on your daughter...as it looks to a court, it seems your daughter did not pay rent and 'broke the lease' by moving out early...so the landlord could sue for all of December rent.

It is too bad you didn't come and ask about this while it was going on, your daughter had alot of protection, but I wonder that the landlord did it verbally just for this reason..because they basically faked your daughter out of the apartment and made her look responsible for it.

That's not right, and the landlord did basically trick her, for all the reasons goldenbast said.

Unfortunately, in a court of law, what are the facts that can be proven? Your daughter's claim in court is basically all hearsay - there is no witnesses, really no proof. She could hope the apartment manager wouldn't risk going to jail by perjuring himself under oath -- but even if he lied under oath, how could she prove he was lying?

Now if the landlord sues for the last month's rent, your daughter could counter-sue for the security deposit. If he claims any damage (other than reasonable wear & tear), he would need to show receipts evidencing any of that deposit withheld. If he can't prove damage, the two claims will "cancel" each other out, and they'll each probably have to pay their own court costs.

I'm sorry this happened, and sorry we couldn't give better advice under the circumstances. Unfortunately I think she will have to chalk this up to a life lesson, and in the future make sure she gets everything in writing.

If your town has a department of housing or human needs, she might file a complaint with them just to get it on record.

I forgot to say how sorry I am that this happed to your daughter! It made me angry. Because this same type of thing just happened to me! My state laws say that a landlord has to give you a written notice to vacate..he never did..then all of a sudden at court he magically produced a notice, just signed by him and dated. I objected, but the judge asked me why the landlord would fake it? Gee...I don't know...to get around having to do it????

I am so sorry it happened but have her countersue if they do and also mention that you hope the landlord doesn't get caught in the lie at court, would hate to see the landlord goto jail for perjury. :)

Has somebody else moved in? If so the landlord is only able to collect for the amount of time before the new tennant moved in.

Also did anyone witness the landlord telling her to move out?

Also if somebody moved in right after she moved out then if this goes to court she can subpenoa the rent documents for the new tennant and see if they were signed prior to her moving out.

Thanks for the replies.



My daughter did not break the lease. The manager told Daughter to leave before the lease ended. The manager is the person who broke the lease. She told her to move out before December rent was due.

I told Daughter not to talk to Manager without another person present.

If sued, can the court award more than the filing fee and the rent due?

Thanks you.

We all understand it was not the daughter that broke the lease. We were just saying that in the eyes of the law it will look like she did, unfortunately. It basically comes down to your daughter s word over the landlord and since they both contrast, the judge will have to look at the hard facts...there was a lease and the daughter left before it was up....as we said, all the landlord has to say is, "She is lieing your honor..she just didn't pay rent and then up and left." Unfortunately the judge will have to side with that because that is the only facts that can be proven...even if the landlord did trick her into it. The only way the judge will see the truth is if the landlord slips up and says something wrong.

At the least your daughter should have listened to you and had a witness present..that would have given her a lot more protection.

But generally the court will not award more then the court costs and the December rent. She should try to fight it every step of the way.

Remember goldenbast her daughter has that one piece of evidence, the note left on the door telling her to vacate the premises or pay.

One could argue the merit to that letter if she still has it in her possession.

Actually the 3 day notice just hurts the daughter more. I am willing to bet my right arm that posting that notice is exactly what the landlord was aiming for. Think about it, they have the manager call the daughter and verbally tell her she is being evicted. The daughter doesn't pay the December rent and SWOOP! Just what the shady landlord wanted. Now said landlord can legally run down and slap a 3 day notice to the door and look like they are playing by the rules. Anyone brings up the phone call all the landlord has to do is blink slowly and reply, "Call? What call? She didn't pay her rent, so I posted the 3 day. She had three days to pay, yet she still did not pay and further, did not vacate the property for8 more days."

This is a scummy, lowlife thing to do and it sounds like this landlord is unethical enough to do it.

Washington has two party laws in regards to recording calls, unfortunately. I would have suggested she get the scummy landlord on the phone and record all the BS, but she would have to disclose that she is recording and the landlord will know something is up and clam up.

If she does get sued, she can fight it, explain what happened, perhaps show a pattern of rental payment (never late before?). She can also point out to the judge that deposit is due and that if the judgment is granted, it can be offset by that.

if the notice to vacate was predicated on the tenant's breach of the lease agreement (lack of payment); and she chose to vacate rather than pay she is still obligated to the terms of the agreement; meaning to the end of the lease term if the premises are not re-rented