Washington Landlord Responsibility to provide heat

Submitted by Cocogoat5 t3_11by422 in Washington

Hi All,

I moved to WA several months ago and signed a lease in a less than ideal room for rent in a shared house. There is no A/C or heating in the room that I live in and it is getting very cold in the winter. However, the common areas do have central heating. I want to get out of the lease and move somewhere nicer but the landlord says they will take my security deposit.

Can I break my lease citing that the unit does not meet habitability conditions under washington tenant law? http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=59.18.060

Thanks!

16

Comments

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Darqologist t1_ja13s26 wrote

RCW 59.18.060

Landlord—Duties.

(9) Maintain the dwelling unit in reasonably weathertight condition;

(11) Provide facilities adequate to supply heat and water and hot water as reasonably required by the tenant;

You could try.

23

punkmetalbastard t1_ja0njph wrote

I would say that having heat in a bedroom is a reasonable request so yeah, I think according to the law in this state he would be breaking the law by not providing it. Look into tenant resources and see what you can do to keep your deposit and be able to move somewhere with heat. Here in Seattle, I was able to get a free 30 minute consultation with a lawyer involving a deposit issue that was very helpful

22

doktorhladnjak t1_ja15txt wrote

Have you talked to your landlord about it? They're only required to provide heating. They could literally satisfy this requirement by giving you a space heater after you asked about it. If they don't do that, you might have a case to break your lease but I'm not even sure about that. The expectation might instead be that you buy yourself a heater and deduct its cost from rent as a "repair".

12

Logical-Currency3160 t1_ja1wy7k wrote

He is going to try and keep you're security deposit anyway, that's how that game works.

He probably only has to provide heating, not pay for it, since its a bedroom id just get a cheap space heater and wait our you're lease.

6

BilloTBaggins t1_ja1vwwo wrote

You can buy a little heater at costco for $90 and it’ll keep a room toasty

5

gainsguy t1_ja201wm wrote

Yes, you can break the lease. RCW 59.18.090 states the tenant does have the right to break the lease after the appropriate timeframe expires starting from when the landlord received a written repair request and the repair still goes on uncompleted within a reasonable time.

Refer to the tenant repair fact sheets from WashingtonLawHelp.org for more details on how to make the written repair request.

3

zer04ll t1_ja4s21c wrote

No you cannot, the house has a working furnace and your room is not an efficiency or studio apartment it is a shared dwelling. Get a space heater. WA does not require that every room in a shared home have its own thermostat and heater/ac that's unreasonable. What you do is get everyone to agree to a higher temp for the house and use fans as they are intended or use a space heater in your room. Either way, you will use more electricity.

3

[deleted] t1_ja23r3i wrote

Why don't you buy a space heater?

1

Salmundo t1_ja3y545 wrote

An inexpensive space heater would solve your problem. Under $40 at a hardware store, Target, Fred Meyer, Amazon, etc.

But it sounds like you’re looking for a lever to break your lease. Maybe find a local tenant rights group to help. And it might be smoother if you had someone lined up to take over your lease.

1

mrgtiguy t1_ja41mh8 wrote

r/legaladvice

1

Qman1991 t1_ja1epd5 wrote

Just be honest with your landlord and try to arrive at a compromise. Why be a dick about it?

−7

mjarrett t1_ja0ry0d wrote

If there was no built-in heat source when you signed the lease, you're probably out of luck. You knew what you were agreeing to. As long as there's some safe way to heat the room (like an electric heater), it's habitable.

−13

Rocketgirl8097 t1_ja1jihx wrote

That doesn't absolve the landlord from the legal requirement.

7

mjarrett t1_ja1kbjq wrote

At worst the landlord could be forced to provide a $20 space heater, and even that could be debatable.

The point is that the landlord has plenty of very cheap remedies that avoid responsibility for breaking the lease, and holding the tenant responsible until it's re-rented.

0