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Vol. 22 Issue 8
August 2013
Published 22 Years
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PUGET SOUND APARTMENT OWNERS, PROPERTY MANAGERS & MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL
Published in association with: Washington Apartment Association, IREM & Washington Multifamily Housing Association
Vacancy under 5% in Pierce; Thurston and Kitsap Improve Seattle - Apartment Insights 2nd quarter results show rents climbing and vacancies declining in all three counties, according to Tom Cain of Apartment Insights. The data are from his Seattle firm’s statistics and trends on 50+ unit properties in Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston counties. VACANCY: 5.59% The market vacancy for conventional, stabilized 50+ unit properties in all three counties is 5.59%, down from 6.24% last quarter. The vacancy rate was 6.76% a year ago. The vacancy rate for all properties including those in lease-up is 6.22%, down from 6.97% in the first quarter. Continued on page 3
Tenant Survey Results Revealed re: Seattle’s Food Waste Collection In Seattle, all multi-family properties are required by law to subscribe to a food and yard waste cart and make it available to residents. Why does Seattle require yet another container? Here are several important reasons: • Food and yard waste can be turned into rich compost, and used to amend soils in gardens and landscapes. Tests show that compost results in healthy strong plants, reducing the need for pesticides or insecticides. Sending this great resource to the landfill is like throwing your vitamins and protein powder in the garbage can! • It costs the City more money to send this material by train 300 miles to the landfill in Oregon than to deliver it to the local compost facility. Continued on page 7 Professional Publishing, Inc PO Box 30327 Portland, OR 97294-3327
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The Landis Bomb Part 1 of 2 In October of 2012 Washington State landlords were, in this attorney’s humble opinion, kicked in the teeth by the Division 1 Washington Court of Appeals. This very unwelcome dental work came in the form of the Landis case. For those interested, that is Landis & Landis Construction, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company vs Nicola Nation d/b/a Nation Management, 286 P.3d 979 (Wash.App Div. 1 2012). While this case is new enough that its impact has not yet been fleshed out in subsequent courts, it seems likely that this case will accomplish four unfortunate things from the landlord perspective and one from the tenants view. First, this case seems likely to mean that a tenant can both unilaterally cancel a rental contract without any notice to the landlord based on habitability claims. Second, it will likely minimize the need for a tenant to actually inform the landlord of any alleged habitability claims before effectively using those surprise claims as a defense of an eviction that Continued on page 4 Page 6
Chapter 27 Institute of Real Estate Management INDUSTRY INVITED TO IREM’S FALL LEADERSHIP.. Page 14
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS – CRITICAL TO OUR MISSION Page 17 Washington Apartment Association
TOP SEVEN REASONS TO USE RENTAL PAYMENT HISTORY DATA