OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced on Tuesday that he was extending and expanding the moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a release on the governor's website, the moratorium now goes until August 1. It also contains a list of expansions to the proclamation, including:
- Prohibiting landlords from retaliating against tenants who invoke rights and protections granted in the moratorium
- Allowing evictions due to urgent property damage, but excluding non-urgent damage and conditions that were or should have been known before the pandemic
- Establishing a defense for tenants in lawsuits if a landlord doesn't offer a reasonable plan for repayment
- Creating a minimum of a 14-day stay at a hotel, motel or other dwelling "in order to trigger the application of this proclamation"
- Allowing owners to evict tenants if the owner plans to sell or live in the property with a 60-day notice
- Exempting rent increase for commercial properties that were executed in a rental agreement prior to the declaration of a state of emergency on Feb. 29
Other restrictions that were present in the original order are also still standing, according to the release.
