RD House is a member of the Rental Housing Association of Washington.
More about the earlier passed legislation:
When taking applications, they will be barred from asking about records. And in choosing tenants, they will be barred from rejecting people due to their records.
The only people who may be denied rental housing will be those listed on sex-offender registries because of adult convictions, and landlords denying housing to such people will still need to demonstrate a legitimate business reason for doing so.
In most states including Washington. landlord responsibilities include protection of their tenants and impose a legal duty on the landlord to take steps to protect their tenants from criminal activity. The best means to reduce the likelihood of being held responsible for the criminal acts of tenants is to perform a thorough credit, background and criminal screening of all applicants when renting out a property.
As a result of this conflict of purposes, we suspected this legislation would face legal challenges. We will update this story as it develops.
As a result of this conflict of purposes, we suspected this legislation would face legal challenges. We will update this story as it develops.
Current article:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-sued-over-law-meant-to-help-renters-with-criminal-records-get-housing/
Previous article:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-set-to-prevent-landlords-from-considering-applicants-criminal-records/