Part of Seattle tenant protection law struck down by court

SEATTLE — A Seattle policy meant to reduce evictions after the end of the city’s eviction moratorium has been struck down by the Washington State Court of Appeals.

The Seattle Times reports an ordinance the City Council passed in May 2020 said tenants who fell behind on rent and faced eviction could, for six months following the end of the moratorium, assert a defense in court if they self-certified that they suffered financial hardship and couldn’t pay the rent.

City leaders pointed to the rule as one key to the city’s emergence from a nearly two-year ban on almost all evictions. As they allowed the eviction moratorium to expire Feb. 28, Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle City Council members cited a suite of city tenant protections including the six-month rule as ways of helping vulnerable tenants stay housed as evictions resumed.

In a written decision Monday, the Court of Appeals upheld other city protections, but said the six-month eviction defense “deprives the landlords of their property interest without due process by not affording them the opportunity to test the veracity of a tenant’s self-certification of financial hardship.”

The lawsuit also challenged the city’s ban on evictions during winter months and a law allowing tenants to repay pandemic debt in installments. A King County Superior Court judge last year upheld all but one small portion of the laws. The Court of Appeals affirmed that lower court ruling but added the decision against the six-month rule.

The Rental Housing Association of Washington, which represents landlords and sued the city over the rental regulations, said in a statement: “We are grateful for the Court’s decision, which stops the cycle of debt for housing providers and residents trapped in Seattle’s ongoing COVID-19 eviction ban.”

The city attorney’s office did not immediately say whether it plans to seek a review of the case from the state’s highest court.

The Rental Housing Association said it would “continue to examine our issues with Seattle’s winter eviction ban.”

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