Washington State Question

[Amelia Marie]

I secured a new job in Yakima, Washington (moving from Minnesota). I have 3 dogs, so it was difficult to find a place to rent. I found a place, signed a lease, and secured UBoxes to ship to this address. Not that it matters except to me, but I moved the closing of my house up one month to secure this place. I had one other location that would take the dogs and it was a difficult choice. I texted this landlord in question to make sure I had the unit. He wrote back-it is yours. You can turn down the other place.

About two weeks before I was to move, the landlord called and said the current tenant was refusing to leave and he was going to have to cancel my lease. I totally panicked, because I had nowhere to live. I could not believe he could do this. Eventually, he admitted that this woman also had a lease (for another 3 months), and he had let her out early to be nice (but had nothing in writing).

Long story short, this started a cascade where I had to turn down this job offer. I could not find a place to rent with 3 dogs. I was preapproved for a loan but the houses are just way overpriced and in terrible shape in my price range. My items are still in storage and I had to move to Illinois where my family is.

Can they do this? I have tried calling attorneys and they all have been saying they only represent landlords. I have wondered if they are really even landlords, but he said he coaches track and seemed like a "real" person.

What really gets me is they have no remorse, especially the wife. It really bothers me that people can be so heartless. The husband agreed to pay my storage fees for a month, but then said he had to talk to his wife. I called to follow up (with all 3 dogs in my car and my car filled with my belongings). He said, "Now, who is this? Oh yeah I totally forgot about you.".

I would love any advice (or just general commiseration would help, too! : ))

[TenantNet]

Sorry to hear about your predicament. First, LL/T laws are usually local. State laws differ from other states, and in some areas cities and towns might have their own laws.

You are out-of-state. The venue as far as I can tell would be in Wash. state. That means if you were to file a court complaint, it would have to be in Washington (or Yakima), and likely you would need a local attorney and you might have to establish standing to sue. And as you know, lawyers can cost more than you would like.

I'm not sure this is a landlord tenant issue. Do or did you have a signed lease? Usually, in our view, LL/T issues are for tenants in place: overcharges, lack of services, harassment and evictions.

Would you have any Federal or State Fair Housing claims? That can be based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual preference, religion and maybe other things. We're not experts on that, but a denial of housing, if based on being a member of a protected class, can be a basis for a complaint.

What solution do you want? A place to live in Yakima (I've been to Yakima, it's not that great), money, what?

Who is the villain here? The LL will claim the existing tenant will not move, but you say that person still has 3 months on that lease, and where to bring suit. So it get complicated and murky.

What sort of complaint would it be? Is the unit rent regulated (I don't know if Wash. has rent regulation, or in what cities it would be). What would be the complaint? The only think I can think of is fraud (on the part of the new LL) and that you relied on his misrepresentations. But proving that might be difficult and his excuse might hold.

Stop talking about your three dogs, please.

I don't expect you to answer all these questions. But consider what it would take to fix things. Believe me, you are not the first person to experience this sort of thing.